On Tuesday, July 6, Primera Engineers joined ComEd in the celebration of their very first electric vehicle (EV) charging station available for public use. Located in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, this is the first EV charging station on a public right of way street in the state of Illinois. ComEd will continue to explore this unprecedented territory as they install public EV charging stations throughout the Chicagoland area. The Multi-Unit Dwelling (MUD) station intends to serve the area’s residential properties and promote the use of electric vehicles among the community.

Members of Primera’s Utilities division and EV charging station team, led by civil engineer, Joe DiVito, PE, designed and engineered the charging station. The team designed the necessary electrical distribution equipment, performed calculations for the charging station’s power services and facilitated the extensive Grant of Privilege development and submittal process. While this is ComEd’s first public charging station, Primera has designed the site power distribution for approximately 850 EV charging stations located across six ComEd facilities to date. Primera has helped ComEd progress toward their 10-year initiative to incorporate electric vehicles into their fleet.

With the design and installation of these charging stations, ComEd and Primera prove their dedication to creating clean technologies to improve the health and safety of local communities. This project encourages the use of EVs by reducing costs and inconveniences that may prohibit customers from utilizing clean energy designs. While designed to assist citizens of low-income and environmental justice communities, the project is also in compliance with Illinois’s new clean energy law, promoting environmental health and safety throughout the State of Illinois. Through these public charging stations, ComEd and Primera are helping to make the use of EVs more accessible for all communities, ultimately eliminating the presence of harmful emissions and bettering the health of citizens.

“We’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to support ComEd on an infrastructure project like this,” explains Elizabeth Odegaard, Primera’s Project Delivery Department Manager and project manager for this project. “It’s a chance to have a positive impact in our community and on the environment. We’re looking forward to increasing that impact,” she continues.

You can read more about ComEd’s plan to provide education and infrastructure support to remove barriers to electrification and deliver significant environmental and air quality improvements for communities here.