Chicago Area Green Fleet Grant Program Now Accepting Applications
The Illinois EPA is now accepting applications for the Chicago Area Green Fleet Grant Program. Additional information including eligibility criteria, funding amounts and primary program objectives can be found on the Illinois Green Fleets website at www.illinoisgreenfleets.org. Application forms are also available at this time on the website.
The Program is limited public and private fleets operating in the Chicago area (primarily Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties). The Illinois EPA is in “application collection mode†right now and may not be able to select the first round of awardees until later this year due to new federal funding requirements. There is no set application due date. Questions can be sent directly to Darwin Burkhart at Darwin.Burkhart@illinois.gov or call 217/557-1441.
Program Overview
The Illinois EPA received $3 million in federal funding to further promote natural gas and propane vehicles and certain types of alternate fuel-powered off-road equipment in the Chicago area. A major focus of this funding is medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as trucks and buses, operated by government or public sector fleets as well as some private fleets whose vehicles serve the public (e.g., commercial school buses, airport or hotel shuttle buses, etc.). In addition, some light-duty vehicles for government fleets will be considered. The funding can also be used as an incentive for the purchase of new off-road equipment that operates with natural gas, propane, or electricity, in which such equipment would normally run on diesel fuel. Specifically, this funding is to be utilized for the following:
- For the purchase of new natural gas and propane on-road vehicles
- For converting existing conventional vehicles to natural gas or propane using EPA-certified or approved conversion systems, and
- For the purchase of new off-road mobile equipment (e.g., construction, quarry, airport, rail yard) that would normally run on diesel fuel to be powered by natural gas, propane, or electricity.
