Naperville residents are charging ahead with electric vehicles.
The number of electrical permits issued by the city for installing charging stations has more than doubled in the first quarter of 2023 compared to last year.
Last year 25 permits were issued for EV chargers between January and March; this year there have been 66.
In March alone, Naperville issued 31 permits to install chargers compared to 12 in 2022.
A survey released this week by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 8% of U.S. adults say someone in their household owns or leases an electric vehicle, or EV, and 8% say their household has a plug-in hybrid vehicle.
The number of electric vehicles in Naperville has more than doubled in less than three years.
Data from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office show there were 2,825 EVs registered in the city as of March of this year, compared to 1,149 in December 2020.
That means of the 53,234 Naperville households, a little more than 5% of Naperville households have an electric vehicle.
Rising gasoline prices could be driving more Naperville residents to consider going electric.
The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey shows more than 6 in 10 Americans cite saving money on gas and vehicle maintenance as reasons to purchase an EV.
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The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the Chicago Metro area rose to $4.31 Thursday, up from $3.78 a month ago, according to AAA.
The price increase comes after Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries earlier this month announced plans to cut oil production by more than a million barrels per day beginning in May to prop up oil prices.
While gasoline prices are higher than a month ago, the average cost of a gallon of unleaded this week still is less than the $4.46 per gallon a year ago.
The biggest drawbacks to purchasing an EV, according to the survey, are cost, infrastructure and technology.
To encourage people toward cleaner energy, Naperville offers a rebate of up to $700 on level 2 and level 3 electric vehicle charging stations.
To qualify, the completed application and required documentation must be submitted within six months of installation.
Getting the power to charge an EV from the sun also can be another incentive.
Bill Novack, the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development director, said the city has seen a big push in the last few years toward installing solar panels power as more residents turn to renewable energy.