Illinois has opened two funding channels for fleets willing to take diesel trucks off the road and put battery-electric ones in their place.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency recently announced the launch of its Clean Trucks Program, pairing grant money for vehicle replacement with a contract effort to give fleets hands-on technical guidance. Both pieces sit under the agency’s broader Driving a Cleaner Illinois initiative.
Most fleets will look at the grant money first. Illinois EPA has posted a Notice of Funding Opportunity with roughly $935,000 behind it, covering up to 45% of the cost of swapping an eligible diesel Class 5-8 truck for a new battery-electric one. The source is the State Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program, which lets participating states run grants, rebates, and loans to cut diesel emissions.
The second piece, the Clean Fleet and Freight Concierge Service, carries an estimated $3 million in contracts. Illinois EPA will not staff it. The agency is seeking qualified firms to run the service and advise small and medium fleets statewide on electric trucks and the charging they require.
The program is meant to help fleet operators “lower emissions, reduce fuel costs, and strengthen Illinois’ clean transportation future,” according to Illinois EPA Director James Jennings, adding that the Concierge Service is aimed at operators interested in moving from diesel to electric who do not know where to start.
The $3 million traces back to the U.S. EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. Illinois EPA received CPRG funding in 2024 to support zero-emission commercial vehicle and infrastructure deployment across the state, including the Concierge Service.
Illinois EPA is seeking Concierge firms for a Northern Region and a Southern Region, and it defines those regions as the areas served primarily by the PJM and MISO utility grids. The state is organizing fleet electrification advice around grid territory rather than around county lines or metropolitan areas.
That choice sits close to where truck electrification projects actually stall. Vehicle selection is the tractable part. Available capacity at the service point, the scope and duration of an interconnection study, and the cost and schedule of any distribution upgrade are set by the utility and shaped by the regional transmission organization it operates within. ComEd territory in and around Chicago falls under PJM. Ameren Illinois territory downstate falls under MISO. Two fleets running comparable duty cycles on either side of that line can face different timelines to energize the same charger.
The Clean Trucks Program is not the only Illinois money available to fleets buying electric trucks. Round 9 of the state’s Volkswagen settlement funding remains open, offering up to $18 million for all-electric trucks. That opportunity covers Class 4-8 local freight trucks at 14,001 pounds GVWR and above, along with Class 8 port drayage trucks at 33,001 pounds and above. Class 4-7 port drayage trucks are not eligible.
The Round 9 cost share is larger than the DERA program’s and varies by applicant type. Government applicants receive 75% of eligible costs and contribute 25%. Non-government applicants receive 50% and contribute the other half. The minimum award is $100,000, in-kind contributions are not accepted, and applicants must own both the trucks and any requested charging infrastructure. Fleets that lease their trucks are not eligible. Illinois EPA posted the opportunity on September 10, 2025, and is taking applications on a first-come, first-served basis until the funding is depleted. Applicants must pre-qualify through the state’s Grant Accountability and Transparency Act portal before applying.
Fleets mapping out where chargers already exist can check the state’s interactive map of public charging stations, which covers more than 450 sites supported or funded by Illinois, including stations built under the Illinois Department of Transportation’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. The map filters by Level 2 and Level 3 ports and by site type, and separates stations that have been awarded but are not yet online from those currently operating.
Illinois EPA directs fleets with questions about the DERA funding to its Driving a Cleaner Illinois team at epa.deragrants@illinois.gov.
