Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is thinking big for his state. Recently the governor traveled to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. He shared his vision for his home state, aiming to have 1 million electric vehicles on road by 2030. It is the goals written by the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. The act is a wide0ranign decarbonization bill signed into law by Pritzker in September.
At the beginning of the month, the governor shared his vision for his home state as, “Illinois intends to become the best place in North America to drive and manufacture an electric vehicle.”
He has been repeating the same message in many of his public appearances. Prior to the conference in the UN, he also talked in London at the International Business Leaders. The governor believes that this can yield victories for his administration based on growth and carbon reduction. Pritzker said in the panel discussion at the UN Conference, “This is about economic development as much as it is about saving our planet.”
In numbers, this vision amounts to the state having 1 million electric vehicles, which is ambitious considering the state has 34,363 licensed electric vehicles by October this year. As for benefiting the automakers, the new law and the tax credit known as the REV act could be the backbone for this shift. It will attract private investors while also pushing customers to opt for EVs.
Focus on implementation and distribution
Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell accompanied Pritzker on the European trip. Mitchell said, “We have sent a very clear market signal not just in the United States, but now across the world, that this is going to be the place if you want to make, manufacture or drive an electric vehicle, to do it,”
With the new laws passed, the focus turns to implementation and distributing more than $200 million in state and federal funding for the rollout of charging infrastructure. Mitchell and other advocates behind CEJA recently spoke to Capitol News Illinois about the next step for meeting EV rollout goals, the strengths of the two laws that aim to get Illinois there, and other actions the administration has taken.
Mitchell further stated, “It’s incredibly important if we are going to be successful as a state and environmentalists are to be successful across the country, that we couch this issue in jobs, jobs, jobs,” Illinois’s approach is unique and it addresses both the demand and supply chain.