Evanston businesses are helping to lead the way in the transition to fossil-fuel–free transportation with a jump start from the City’s Sustain Evanston program.
Last year, the program provided more than $200,000 in grants to 18 local businesses to help them carry out projects aligned with the City’s Climate Action & Resilience Plan while also reducing costs and improving customer service. Three of those businesses used their grants to cut their carbon emissions by boosting their electric vehicle capacity.
With its $25,000 grant, Collective Resource Compost Cooperative made a down payment on two Ford E-Transit vans, which together cost about $128,500.
Transportation is an essential part of the co-op’s business, which has provided compost pick-up services since 2010. Its fleet, which includes four other cargo vans and four box trucks in addition to their two new EVs, makes the rounds in more than 60 Chicago-region communities every week to collect pre- and post-consumer food scraps and deliver them to commercial compost sites, mostly on the South Side.
The new vans were delivered in mid-November.
“From what I can see it will be cheaper to charge vs. gasoline,” wrote founder Erlene Howard. And “EVs are cheaper to maintain,” she added.
A high-speed charger installed in the company’s work garage powers up both vans overnight. In the recent cold weather, each van goes about 80 miles on a charge, so Collective Resource has been using them around Evanston. (The vans normally get up to 126 miles per charge, according to Ford.)
“It is also in our plans to add solar to our garage roof during 2024,” Howard wrote. “When we get our solar, it will be great!!”
Rebuilding Exchange will also use its $25,000 Sustain Evanston grant to support electrification of its vehicle fleet.
The $80,000 project includes purchase of a Ford E-Transit cargo van and installation of a charging station outside its Hartrey Street facility. To help fund the rest, the organization plans to sell a gas-powered vehicle. The new charger will power the van, but Rebuilding Exchange also plans to make it available to the public for a fee.
”This is a really exciting opportunity for us to further our environmental mission to reduce construction waste and reuse building materials, as well as participate in broader initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” wrote Aina Gutierrez, the organization’s executive director. “We’ve learned a lot about EVs and are excited to share what we’ve learned with Evanston!”
Rebuilding Exchange works to keep materials out of landfills while training in the building trades. It will use the van to pick up and deliver salvaged building materials, Gutierrez said. The charger should be installed by the end of January, and Rebuilding Exchange expects the van to be delivered this summer.
Hewn cooks up EV chargers
With a $6,576 grant, Hewn, which operates a bakery on Central Street, installed two EV chargers and upgraded its electrical system. The new chargers are being used by employees while Hewn waits for a new electric van to arrive. Deliveries are an important part of Hewn’s business, which now includes a second site in Libertyville.
Once the electrical system was upgraded, Hewn also purchased a heavy-duty induction cooktop, which employees use when they have special baking to do around the holidays.
Hewn is known for its commitment to sustainability. The interior of the Central Street storefront is furnished in part with salvaged and repurposed materials, like windows and lights, and co-owner and Director of Baking Operations Ellen King used to serve on the Evanston Environment Board. Still, she said, “We wouldn’t have done this without the grant from the city.”
These three projects advance an important goal of Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan – “increasing the use of zero-emission vehicles and equipment, and decreasing the use of combustion-engine vehicles and equipment” – and the related goal of upgrading EV charging infrastructure.
EV gaining speed
EV ownership is rapidly increasing regionally and nationwide. In Cook County, EV registrations jumped from 2,119 to 24,978 over a five-year period ending in December 2023. In Evanston, there were 1,135 EVs registered at the end of 2023, according to Sustainability and Resilience Manager Cara Pratt’s January 8 CARP update for City Council.
For those considering a move to EVs, now is a prime time to take advantage of financial incentives. The State of Illinois offers rebates, and credits and deductions are available on federal taxes from the IRS. You can estimate potential savings with a Rewiring America calculator.
Evanston small business and commercial property owners, watch for the next round of Sustain Evanston funding, to be announced soon. Even more grant money is available this year.
Climate Watch is a series of occasional articles and essays about what climate change means for Evanston and what we’re doing locally to make a difference.
An earlier article in this series highlighted Belgian Chocolatier Piron’s installation of heat pumps and windows, also supported by the Sustain Evanston program.
It is absolutley unbelievable that a town like Evanston has little to no charging network! There are a few crappy slow chargers on central St that the same 2 apartment dwellers across the street hog and park at all day every day. Come on! Let’s get with it Evanston!
In our first month of EV ownership (VW ID4) we’ve used public chargers just to see how they would work, but we’ve never needed one. We have not installed a level 2 charger either. We’re just using the normal plug in our garage with the charger provided with the car.
If you want to use an EV for trips to Wisconsin, (or if you don’t have a parking spot with a plug accessible) you’ll need to do some research about how to make it work. But for the car your family uses in the metro area, you can be confident an EV can work for you.