The largest EV fast-charging network in the US rolled out in Illinois at the end of last week. Governor Pat Quinn and representatives from the Illinois Tollway, 350Green LLC and 7-Eleven, Inc. made the announcement last Friday, noting in a news release that drivers can now “charge an electric vehicle in under 30 minutes using the current fast-chargers at 7-Eleven sites at four Tollway Oasis locations, and will soon be able to charge vehicles at all seven Tollway Oases.”

“We want Illinois to be the greenest state in America,” Governor Quinn said. “By installing the largest network of cutting edge fast-chargers, Illinois will continue to support green jobs and provide people with environmentally-friendly and affordable travel options.”

Illinois has a ways to go to catch up to green leaders like California, Oregon, and Washington, but it’s nice to see that it has such enthusiasm for this topic and is aiming so high, and the roll out of this EV fast-charging network certainly doesn’t hurt!

Here are some more details on the network:

Through the Chicago-Area EV Infrastructure Project, 26 fast-chargers have been installed, with 73 total fast-chargers planned. Eight of these are currently in place at Tollway Oases along the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) at the Des Plaines Oasis and on the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80) at the Lake Forest Oasis, O’Hare Oasis and Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis. The installations, managed by 350Green, were performed by Chicago-based JNS Power & Control Systems.

EV infrastructure is rolling out across the nation quite fast these days — the West Coast Electric Highway is well under way, Europe’s largest EV fast-charging network got the green light in January, Spain just got 100 EV charging stations in March, and I see news about new EV charging stations* going up across the US nearly every day. It might take stepping back a bit, but if you pay attention, you can see that we are in the midst of a transportation technology revolution.