More electric vehicle charging stations are coming to Springfield in the near future. City, Water, Light and Power presented a grant-funded plan to the Springfield City Council’s Committee of the Whole Oct. 14 detailing the proposal for 40 charging ports across nine locations, mostly downtown.
The Community Charging infrastructure grant provides funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and is administered through the Illinois Climate Bank (also known as the Illinois Finance Authority) which listed the city of Springfield as one of almost 50 preselected partners for the program. State records show Springfield was awarded almost $630,000 through the grant, the most so far for any grantee.
Tom Chi, projects manager at CWLP, informed Illinois Times he anticipates the 20 dual-port chargers will be installed by the beginning of March 2026 at nine different locations across Springfield.
“We prioritized some locations that needed minimal infrastructure upgrades,” he said. “That would help us keep cost down and speed up deployment.”
The city plans to install level two alternate current chargers that require electric vehicles to convert the electricity being charged. It is a slower but less expensive method as opposed to direct current fast chargers, though Springfield already has 15 of those fast-charging stations as well, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
“We’re looking at level two charging,” Chi said, which are not the direct current “fast chargers you see near interstates.”
According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, fast chargers can charge an electric vehicle from empty to 80% in 30 minutes. The U.S. Department of Transportation notes that level two chargers take more time to charge vehicles from empty, typically 8-10 hours for fully electric and 1-2 hours for a hybrid vehicle.
Ideally, people would visit shops and restaurants while their vehicles charged, Chi told the committee. He added some property management agreements still need to be finalized, so all the locations are pending final approval.
List of proposed locations
Downtown locations, 24 ports:
- Municipal Complex, four ports
- Bank of Springfield Center, four ports
- Lincoln Home, four ports
- Y Block, six ports
- Old State Capitol, six ports
University of Illinois Springfield, four ports.
Freedom Drive, four ports off of Veterans Parkway near shopping complex.
2300 Wabash Avenue, four ports near White Oaks Mall.
Chatham Square Center, four ports.
He also clarified to the committee that the cost of installing fast chargers would be expensive as four ports could cost anywhere between $750,000 and $1.5 million.
High-speed charging at Midtown Inn
The state is increasing the number of fast chargers near highways through another U.S. Department of Transportation effort called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which was temporarily suspended by the Trump administration in February before the funds were released in August.
Interstate 55 will see the largest increase in charging stations after this round of funding, with seven to be built along the interstate. Universal EV, a Texas company, was awarded about $850,000 to build five ports at Midtown Inn, 3125 Wide Track Drive.
The initiative will invest more than $18 million into building out fast charging stations across the state. Universal EV was awarded about $3.3 million to install four charging stations, including others located in Atlanta, Mattoon and Okawville.
The next application period for funding is anticipated in late 2025, according to the press release announcing the release of federal money.
This article appears in October 16-22, 2025.
At the Midtown Inn? I wasn’t aware that the homeless people living at the Midtown Inn were driving EVs. Amazing! Maybe next they will build some EV chargers at the Red Roof Inn down the street.
Nothing says the Land of Lincoln, like spending 4-10 hours to charge your EV at the Midtown Inn. No EV owner is going to spend money to do that. They will just plot their course to the next supercharger down the road, and be back on the road in 30-minutes. They will go unused, and the $850,000 will be wasted.
Unless my EV is special, I have never spent “4-10 hours” at a DC fast charger. The AC chargers that take 4-10 hours will be mostly downtown – “destination chargers” as they’re called. A great option for tourists with plenty of time who want to allow their car to trickle charge some while walking around. The DC charger is going in at Midtown Inn, and will likely take 20 minutes to use per session.
Why would they install DC faster chargers at a rundown motel with no nearby amenities? Also, there’s a Tesla Supercharger at the nearby County Market so why not just add a non-Tesla station there or at the JC penny. If they are going to add a charging station at a hotel without amenities within walking distance, they should add level 2 for overnight charging. If they are really set on Dirksen, they need to move somewhere it’s still close to the interstate and by restaurants.
My guess is that with chargers now available at the Stevenson exit (JiffiStop), potential future chargers at Circle K locations at the Clear Lake and Sangamon exists (Circle K is aggressive with its charger installation as a company), that left South Grand as the other exit without CSS charging, and this is the “best” location they could negotiate for the chargers to be installed. I think it would have been better to install them at the Burger King in the JC Penney parking lot, but they might have run into problems with private property owners not wanting the chargers installed there (or lack of available electric service). A less than ideal location, for sure, but maybe the owners of Midtown Inn see it as a way to boost their business.
In reading the comments here and on social media, I am further convinced that we need to invest in reading comprehension programs!
I cannot possibly address all of the ridiculous comments, but the one regarding charging for 4-10 hours at Midtown Inn is really showing a the lack of reading comprehension. The slower AC chargers are mostly going downtown, and are being spearheaded by CWLP. The faster DC chargers are going to at Midtown Inn. Still, I will concede it is a questionable location for them to be installed with few amenities nearby. I will continue to charge my vehicle at other locations, if I’m being honest.
20 minutes. Who think that’s fast? Furthermore, if there’s just one person ahead of you, it’s 40 minutes. And that assumes that the chargers isn’t broken, which many times they are. For a family traveling with 3 kids all under 7, 20 minutes is a lifetime.
All assumes 20 minutes is anything but a pipedream
I’m sure the US may have some access to cyber attacks but it’s not anywhere near the scale and ease China would have by building the tech in the first place. You can easily find such a video by searching YouTube for it when watching the video at normal speed, but when you watch the video frame-by-frame, you see the first shot is fired. The prosecution is going to make the argument that he he could have easily avoided the whole scenario by retreating backwards instead of pressing forward. Oh, that’s right, he drove the economy into the f—— ground and now he needs a welfare check from Daddy America. I think it’s a pretty compelling argument, and will result in f a lesser-included charge at a minimum. It’s interesting that the activists are still so adamant that this finding would make the activists very upset, because an involuntary manslaughter conviction will result in a I think a jury could find involuntary manslaughter even if they accept that The prosecution won’t even attempt to make that argument. I’m sure the US may have some access to cyber attacks but it’s not anywhere near the scale and ease China would have by building the tech in the first place.
My wife
20 minutes is a lifetime.
Indeed. I agree.
For a family traveling with 3 kids
all under 7,
20 minutes is a lifetime.
All assumes 20 minutes is anything but a pipedream.