By Alexandr Godonoaga, owner and lead electrician, Cob Services LLC. Illinois electrical contractor license #26-00032356.
I get this call from office managers and property owners most weeks. We are thinking about a couple of EV chargers, what is that going to run us?
The install numbers have held fairly steady this year. The incentive picture has not. The federal tax credit that used to sit at the center of every one of these conversations closed on June 30, and a lot of the advice still floating around, including the earlier version of this page, was written while it was alive. So this is the current version: what a port actually costs in Downers Grove, what money is still on the table, and which of it is gone.
The thing that changed: the federal credit is finished
Section 30C, the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit, does not apply to property placed in service after June 30, 2026. That came out of the 2025 budget law, and the date has passed.
Two things worth being precise about, because I saw this oversold repeatedly while it was still running.
If you completed a project and the equipment was operational on or before June 30, you can still claim it on the return for that tax year. The credit did not disappear retroactively. If your chargers went live in the first half of the year and nobody has raised this with you, ask your accountant before you file.
And the “30 percent” figure that got quoted at businesses was usually wrong. For commercial property the base credit was 6 percent of depreciable cost, capped at $100,000 per port. The 30 percent rate applied only where the installation met federal prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. There was also a location test: the property had to sit in a qualifying low-income or non-urban census tract, which a good deal of Downers Grove did not. If you budgeted a project on 30 percent without checking either condition, the gap is worth finding now rather than at tax time.
I am an electrician, not your accountant. Run all of this past whoever does your taxes.
What is still available: ComEd make-ready
This is now the main money, and for most Downers Grove properties it is the better program anyway because it pays for the part that actually costs you.
Downers Grove is ComEd territory. ComEd put roughly $70 million into EV rebates across northern Illinois for 2026, and more than $29 million of that sits in the Business and Public Sector Make-Ready Rebate Program. Make-ready means the infrastructure: the conduit, the trenching, the panel work, the feeders that get a site ready for chargers. That is the expensive half of a commercial job, and it is the half the federal credit never covered well.
The published 2026 amounts are up to $5,000 to $7,500 per port for Level 2 sites, and up to $450 to $675 per kW for DC fast charging. The higher end of each range goes to projects in or serving equity investment eligible communities, and more than half of ComEd’s EV budget is reserved for those.
Two practical notes. These are annual funds and they get claimed, so timing matters more than it used to now that the federal deadline is not driving everyone’s calendar. And ComEd’s EV rebate programs generally run through approved service providers who submit the application on the customer’s behalf rather than the customer applying directly. Confirm how that works for make-ready specifically before you pick an installer, because choosing the wrong contractor can cost you the rebate outright.
What a Level 2 port costs installed
For most Downers Grove businesses, offices, retail, restaurants, small multifamily, a Level 2 charger is the right tool. It fills a car over a few hours, which is exactly how long cars sit in an office lot or a shopping center.
Installed, a single Level 2 port typically runs $3,500 to $15,000. That range is wide because the charger is the small part. The unit itself might be $1,000 to $10,000 depending on features and networking. Everything else is labor, conduit, trenching and whatever your building needs electrically to feed it.
Doing several at once drops the per-port number substantially. You trench once, do the panel work once, and pull one permit for the whole job. Multi-port installs often land closer to $3,500 to $6,000 per port. If there is any chance you will want a second or third later, price them together now. Coming back in two years to add one costs nearly what the first one did.
| Scope | Typical 2026 range |
|---|---|
| Single Level 2 port, installed | $3,500 to $15,000 |
| Several Level 2 ports installed together | $3,500 to $6,000 per port |
| DC fast charging | $60,000 to $180,000+ per port |
Planning numbers, not a quote. Ours come in writing after somebody walks the site.
What moves the number
Distance from your power source, more than anything else. A charger on a wall near the electrical room is a short run. Chargers at the far end of the lot mean trenching across pavement, and trenching is where budgets come apart. If you have any say in where the ports go, that decision moves the price more than the brand of charger ever will.
Your existing service is the other one. Spare capacity means we tap in and you are fine. No spare capacity means a panel or service upgrade stacked on top of the charger work. That is why I will not quote this over the phone. I need to see the panel and the service.
If you want to understand how capacity actually gets calculated before anyone walks your building, the same arithmetic applies on the residential side and we walked through it in detail here.
Load management, which can save you the service upgrade
This is still the most useful thing on this page.
The old assumption was that every port needs its full rated power available at all times. Under that math, four ports on an older building often meant an expensive service upgrade purely to cover a theoretical peak that never happens. A lot of businesses got quoted a frightening number and dropped the project.
The code has permitted designing around a managed load rather than nameplate load for several cycles now, including the edition Downers Grove enforces. An energy management system monitors total site draw and shares available power across the ports, backing them off when the building is busy. Cars sitting in a lot for six hours do not care whether they charged at full rate the entire time.
In practice this often means several Level 2 ports on your existing service without touching the panel. Not every installer designs for it, because it takes a bit more work up front. Ask whoever quotes you whether they are using load management and how they are sizing it. If the answer is vague, get another quote.
Correcting something about code and licensing
The earlier version of this article said that under “the 2026 code,” any hardwired commercial charger has to be installed by a licensed electrician. That framing is wrong in two ways and I would rather fix it than leave it up.
First, the National Electrical Code does not license anyone. It sets installation requirements. Licensing and contractor registration are handled by the state and the municipality, and in Illinois that means the village.
Second, and more importantly for your project: Downers Grove enforces the 2020 National Electrical Code with village amendments, not the 2026 edition. You can see the adopted code list on the Village’s permits page. Anyone quoting your job against a code edition the village does not enforce has not looked up which jurisdiction you are in, and the amendments are the part that catches people, because they differ from Naperville, Lisle and Aurora next door.
None of that changes the practical advice. A hardwired commercial charger is permitted work, it gets inspected, and you want a licensed contractor doing it. Unpermitted electrical work on a commercial property becomes a problem at your next insurance review, at sale, or at the worst possible moment if there is ever a fault. But get the reason right.
The Downers Grove permit process, specifically
This is the part most cost articles skip, and it affects your schedule more than your budget.
Permit applications in Downers Grove go through the village’s online portal only. There is no walk-in counter submission. First review runs roughly ten business days, and if staff comes back with comments you are expected to respond within five. Build that into your timeline before you promise anyone a live charger by a certain date.
Inspections are requested through the portal or by calling 630-434-5529, and the village asks for 48 to 72 hours notice. Commercial projects may also carry a bond, which is refunded a few weeks after final inspection passes. If you are unsure which application type covers your scope, Community Development is at 630-434-5515 and it is worth the call before you submit rather than after a rejection.
We handle the application, the uploads, the comment responses and the inspection scheduling on jobs we do. It is part of the price rather than a line item.
Do you actually need DC fast charging?
Probably not, and I will talk you out of it if the answer is no.
DC fast chargers are the highway units that fill a car in minutes. They run $60,000 to $180,000 or more per port because they need serious power and frequently a utility-side upgrade, which adds both cost and months. They make sense for a fleet depot, a truck stop, or a high-turnover retail site where nobody parks for long.
For an office lot or a shopping center where cars sit for hours regardless, they are overkill. Level 2 does the same job for a fraction of the money. Anyone pitching DC fast charging to an ordinary business without a turnover argument to back it up is selling rather than advising.
Frequently asked questions
Is the federal EV charger tax credit still available in 2026? No. Section 30C does not apply to property placed in service after June 30, 2026. Projects operational on or before that date can still be claimed for that tax year. Confirm with your tax professional.
What EV charging rebates can a Downers Grove business still get? ComEd’s Business and Public Sector Make-Ready Rebate Program, which had more than $29 million available for 2026 at up to $5,000 to $7,500 per port for Level 2 and up to $450 to $675 per kW for DC fast charging. Higher amounts go to projects in or serving equity investment eligible communities.
How much does a commercial Level 2 charger cost to install? Typically $3,500 to $15,000 for a single port, dropping to roughly $3,500 to $6,000 per port when several go in at once, because the trenching, panel work and permit are shared.
Do I need a service upgrade to add EV chargers? Often not. Load management lets several ports share your existing capacity instead of each needing full rated power available at all times. Whether it works for you depends on your current service and your peak building load, which requires a site visit to determine.
Which electrical code applies in Downers Grove? The village enforces the 2020 National Electrical Code with local amendments. Neighboring jurisdictions are on different editions, so confirm which one governs your address.
How long does the permit take? First review is about ten business days through the village portal, with five business days expected for your response to any comments. Inspections need 48 to 72 hours notice. Plan the whole approval cycle into your schedule, not just the install days.
Can I add ports later instead of all at once? You can, but it usually costs close to full price again because you repeat the trenching, the panel work and the permit. If a second or third port is even a possibility, it is worth at least running the conduit now.
Get a real number for your site
Send us your address, roughly where you want the ports, and a photo of your electrical panel and service. We can usually tell you over the phone whether load management gets you there or whether a service upgrade is in play, and which ComEd rebate tier your site falls into, before anybody comes out.
Call (630) 427-5923 or request service online. Free estimates and a licensed electrician on the phone rather than a call center. More on our commercial electrical work in Downers Grove, our commercial work in Naperville, and if this is part of a larger build, our new construction electrical page.
Cob Services LLC, 2020 Calamos Ct Suite 200, Naperville, IL 60563. Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, emergency line 24/7. Serving Downers Grove, Naperville, Lisle, Aurora, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, La Grange, Hinsdale and Burr Ridge.
About the author
Alexandr Godonoaga is the owner of Cob Services LLC, a licensed commercial and residential electrical contractor serving Downers Grove and the surrounding Illinois suburbs. Illinois electrical license #26-00032356, ICC-certified for EV charger installation. He walks every commercial estimate personally.
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm current rebate eligibility with ComEd and the program administrator, and confirm any tax position with your tax professional. Incentive amounts and code adoptions change; verify before you budget.