Illinois Expanding Electric Vehicle Network Along Historic Route 66 Corridor

A network of charging stations could make a road trip from St. Louis to Chicago more likely in an electric vehicle, without having to haul a generator. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s office has announced an initiative to add seven fast-charge stations between the metro-east and Chicago along the historic Route 66: Edwardsville, Carlinville, Springfield, Lincoln, Normal, Pontiac, Dwight, and Plainfield.

The $1 million investment in greener technology comes from $400,000 each in federal and state sources, and $200,000 from BMW, Mitsubishi, and Nissan, which all make electric vehicles. Each station would have a fast-charge station as well as a standard level 2 station, which are already scattered throughout the state and the metro-east.

Edwardsville, the only city in the metro-east in talks with the state and Nissan for a charging station, still has a number of issues to work out, including where the charger might be.

Electric vehicles are still a small segment of vehicles on the road, but it is rapidly growing, says industry expert Andrew Barbeau, who is a consultant for Illinois on this project. There are about 10,000 electric and hybrid vehicles in the state now. The additional charging stations are for those yet-to-come EV owners, he says.

The stations most likely to be added, the CHAdeMO and SAE connectors, charge certain cars fully within 15 to 20 minutes, which appeals to the state as well.

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