Golf Mill Chevrolet, Niles

How it ran

Pre-approval before the order, the grant to be awarded upon full installation.

A dealership that puts chargers on its lot is not only buying chargers. The ports have to land somewhere the existing service can carry, the conduit path has to cross a lot that keeps selling cars while the trench is open, and the question of whether the building's service capacity covers the new load has to be answered before anyone signs an equipment order. A second store starts from the same question.

On top of the utility filing, this project carried an Illinois EPA grant application and the administration that follows it. Both tracks run on the same rule: pre-approval comes before the purchase order. Utility programs do not pay retroactively, and equipment bought ahead of an approval forfeits the money it would have earned, so applications go in before equipment is ordered. Lori Ward brought the ComEd dealer opportunity forward, streamlined the infrastructure setup under the ComEd rebate program, facilitated the reimbursements, and connected the group with EV Energy Group LLC — John Truckenbrod — and Christopher B. Burke Engineering — John P. Caruso, PE. The field work was performed by a licensed electrical contractor under LAW Ventures' coordination.

The $196,000 utility incentive is secured. The $640,000 Illinois EPA grant is award-pending: the Cranes' letter states it is to be awarded upon full installation, so we describe it that way rather than counting it as banked.