ComEd and Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Celebrate EV Readiness Milestones Across Northern Illinois
As electric vehicles continue to reshape transportation across the United States, local governments are playing an increasingly important role in paving the way for widespread adoption. This week, ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (Caucus) celebrated that commitment by honoring nine communities that successfully graduated from the 2026 EV Readiness Program during a dedicated award ceremony held in Northbrook, Illinois. The recognition marks a significant milestone not only for the individual municipalities involved but for the entire Northern Illinois region as it positions itself as a leader in clean transportation infrastructure.
What Is the EV Readiness Program?
The EV Readiness Program is a collaborative initiative spearheaded by ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to help municipalities across Northern Illinois prepare for the growing demand for electric vehicles. As EV adoption accelerates nationwide, local governments are often the first line of response when it comes to updating zoning laws, streamlining permitting processes, and developing the infrastructure needed to support charging networks. This program gives communities the tools, frameworks, and guidance necessary to make those transitions smoothly and efficiently.
Through the program, participating municipalities receive structured support in reviewing and modernizing their local policies to better accommodate EV infrastructure. This includes examining building codes that affect the installation of EV charging stations, updating permitting workflows to reduce delays for residents and businesses seeking to install chargers, and engaging community stakeholders to build local momentum around clean transportation goals. Graduates of the program emerge with actionable plans and a stronger foundation to meet the needs of current and future EV drivers in their communities.
Nine Communities Step Into the Spotlight
The 2026 cohort represents a diverse cross-section of Northern Illinois municipalities, each bringing its own unique characteristics and challenges to the table. By completing the program, these nine communities have demonstrated a concrete commitment to clean transportation and to making electric vehicle ownership more accessible for their residents. While the full list of honorees reflects the program's regional reach, each graduating community is recognized for taking meaningful steps to embed EV readiness into local government practice.
The award ceremony held in Northbrook served as both a celebration and a call to action for the broader region. It highlighted the fact that EV readiness is not just a state or federal concern — it is a local one. When individual municipalities update their codes, train their staff, and engage their communities, the cumulative effect across a metropolitan region can be transformative. The recognition of these nine communities sends a clear message to others: the tools and support exist to make this transition, and the benefits are well worth the effort.
Why Local EV Readiness Matters
One of the most persistent barriers to EV adoption is what experts call "charging anxiety" — the concern among potential buyers that they will not be able to find convenient and reliable places to charge their vehicles. While public charging networks continue to expand, home and workplace charging remain the most common and convenient options for most drivers. That is precisely where local government policy plays a critical role.
When a municipality has clear, efficient permitting processes for EV charger installation, homeowners and businesses can install charging equipment faster and at lower cost. Outdated or complex permitting can add weeks and hundreds of dollars to the process, discouraging investment. Similarly, updated building codes that require EV-ready conduit in new construction ensure that future residents will have access to charging without expensive retrofits. These are exactly the kinds of policy changes the EV Readiness Program is designed to facilitate.
Beyond individual installations, communities that plan proactively for EV infrastructure are better positioned to attract economic development, support fleet electrification, and align with state and federal clean energy goals. Illinois has set ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and transportation is one of the largest contributing sectors. Local EV readiness is a foundational piece of meeting those targets.
ComEd's Role in Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition
As one of the nation's largest electric utilities, ComEd has made clean transportation a central pillar of its broader energy strategy. The company serves approximately 4 million customers across Northern Illinois, and as EV adoption grows among those customers, so does the importance of a grid that is reliable, resilient, and ready to handle increased demand. By partnering with local governments through the EV Readiness Program, ComEd is helping to ensure that the infrastructure on both sides of the meter — from the grid itself to the community policies that govern charging installations — is prepared for what is coming.
The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, which represents more than 275 municipalities in the Chicago metropolitan area, brings essential regional coordination to this work. By convening local leaders and providing a shared platform for learning and collaboration, the Caucus helps communities of all sizes benefit from collective expertise and shared resources rather than navigating the EV transition in isolation.
Looking Ahead: Building Momentum for EV Adoption
The graduation of nine communities from the 2026 EV Readiness Program is an encouraging sign of progress, but it is also a reminder of how much work remains. Across Northern Illinois and the broader Midwest, communities at varying stages of readiness will need continued support, investment, and policy leadership to meet the demands of an increasingly electric future.
- Updating local permitting and zoning codes to reduce friction for EV charger installations remains a priority for many municipalities not yet in the program.
- Training municipal staff and building inspectors on EV infrastructure requirements ensures that policy updates translate into real-world efficiency gains.
- Engaging residents and local businesses in the EV conversation helps build the community support needed to sustain long-term investment in clean transportation.
- Coordinating with utilities like ComEd to understand grid capacity and upgrade timelines enables smarter local infrastructure planning.
As more communities follow the lead of this year's nine honorees, Northern Illinois has an opportunity to position itself as a national model for regional EV readiness. The collaboration between ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus demonstrates what is possible when utilities, local governments, and community stakeholders work together toward a shared vision of cleaner, more sustainable transportation. For the communities that graduated this week in Northbrook, the ceremony marked not an ending but a beginning — a foundation from which to build a more electric future, one municipality at a time.