Electric car charging stations are being installed in the parking lot of the Bank of America branch on Roosevelt Road and Euclid Avenue. According to Oak Park Village Planner Craig Failor, Bank of America, 6720 Roosevelt Rd., had more parking spots than required by code. The bank leased eight spaces on the property’s southeast corner to Electrify America, a company that owns and manages non-proprietary electric vehicle (EV) chargers throughout the United States.
“They’re basically trying to create a network, so that EV cars could be able to drive from one side of the country to the other and have places to charge on major roads and cities on the way,” said Kimley-Horn Civil Analyst Jared Roberts.
Electrify America hired engineering firm Kimley-Horn to help carry out the project. The installation of charging stations in Oak Park is part of a nation-wide initiative by Electrify America.
Roberts has worked on 10 installation projects through Electrify America in the state of Illinois so far. Construction in Oak Park started in the last couple of weeks.
The eight Bank of America spots will become four charging stations.
“The charging equipment pads that actually send the electricity to each of the dispensers have to go somewhere,” said Roberts. “For this site in specific, it went in a place where previous parking spots were.”
Roberts expects completion of construction in the next couple of months.
“It’s not a huge construction effort besides laying all the electrical lines and making sure everything is working,” said Roberts.
The Electrify America chargers offer a much faster charging experience for EV drivers.
“Home chargers for cars can take six to eight hours to charge your vehicle; these ones that are coming in are supposed to charge your vehicle in 15 to 20 minutes,” Roberts said. “It’s supposed to be the next generation of electric vehicle charging.”
The charging stations are conducive to almost every type of electricity-dependent vehicle, as well as current EV models and future EV models.
In the state of Illinois, Electrify America has built charging stations in Bloomingdale, Evergreen Park and Oswego. Electrify America is also putting in stations in Aurora, Lake Zurich and Rosemont, in addition to Oak Park.
