Pritzker signs law to draw more electric car makers to Illinois
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. JB Pritzker signed a new law Tuesday that he hopes will push Illinois closer to the goal of putting a million electric vehicles on the road by 2030.
Lawmakers dubbed it the "Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act," providing tens of millions of dollars of incentives both to produce electric cars in the state and to train new workers to build them.
"Making clear to the world that Illinois is open for business and on track to be the best place in the nation to manufacture and drive an electric vehicle," Pritzker said.
Manufacturers who create new jobs related to electric vehicles get to keep up to 100% of the state income taxes they withhold from their employees' paychecks. The electric vehicle maker Rivian operates its first production facility in McLean County in central Illinois, though it is reportedly negotiating to build another plant in Texas.
The state of Tennessee has offered hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to several electric vehicle makers who have announced plans to build there, intensifying what has become an interstate bidding war.
"The Reimagining Electric Vehicles Illinois Program, or REV-Illinois for short, will be a game changer — boosting advanced manufacturing, creating jobs, and helping Illinois enact a bold, clean energy future," said Sylvia Garcia, Director of the Department of Economic Opportunity.
Gov. Pritzker has said he hopes to create a concentration of electric vehicle production that would be home to suppliers and manufacturers.