Do you own an electric car?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, there were 36,520 registered electric vehicles in Illinois at the end of 2021. That put the state in ninth place nationwide, but those vehicles don’t amount to even one half of one percent of the more than 10.5 million motor vehicles in the state (based on 2020 Federal Highway Administration data).

In January, Kelley Blue Book said the average purchase price of a new car of any type exceeded $48,000. That’s a hefty mark, but the same figure for just EVs cleared $66,000. Over six years, the electric option costs an extra $250 per month in principal alone, aside from any investment in charging infrastructure.

Those with the means to choose either – simply being in the new car market speaks to a degree of financial comfort – certainly could evaluate gas savings, incentives from utility providers, proximity to charging stations or other perks and challenges.

But Illinoisans also can consider the EV industry beyond their own purchasing power. As with conventional cars and trucks, building vehicles is big business: huge factories, lots of jobs with good salaries and benefits and ripple effects on local economies through enterprises that feed the final product.

On Tuesday, the state announced the first incentive package through last year’s Reimagining Electric Vehicles Act, which will provide about $2.2 million worth of relief to Decatur’s T/CCI Manufacturing. The company plans to spend $20 million reworking a factory to make EV compressors here instead of China and India, according to Capitol News Illinois. The changeover will add 50 new jobs and shouldn’t jeopardize the existing 103 positions.

CNI said Gov. JB Pritzker’s office connected that announcement to an earlier statement regarding $15.3 million of state money for Richland Community College along with $6 million to Decatur itself to build a training and research facility in conjunction with T/CCI. The company and Richland also plan to partner with the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering and Northern Illinois University to develop an academy centered around EV advanced engineering, software technology and accredited apprenticeship programs.

These investments represent faith in electric vehicles as a growth industry and an understanding that research and development are core components of a successful domestic manufacturing operation. By partnering with higher education institutions at multiple levels, state leaders demonstrate a long-term commitment to investing in the quality of its workforce and deploying strategy to hopefully provide sustainable employment for people who graduate from such programs.

I can’t afford an EV today. Maybe you can’t either. But we can both appreciate an attempt to diversify Illinois’ economy and prepare future generations to contribute and hopefully benefit from developing trends.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.