To support environmental sustainability, Rush is expanding access to electric vehicle charging for staff members, faculty, students, patients, visitors and the communities we serve.
Rush is creating a master plan for EV charging ports at Rush University Medical Center to allow EV drivers to maximize the number of electric miles driven to and from the campus. This ties directly to our mission of improving community and human health. By providing infrastructure to encourage EV use, Rush is helping reduce pollution from vehicle emissions, which improves local air quality and reduces our collective contributions to climate change.
EV Charging Best Practices
To ensure we can attain our program goals of expanding access to EV charging and maximizing EV miles driven, please follow these best practices while charging at Rush:
- Charge only when you need it. There are hundreds of EVs that visit our campus daily and only 29 charging ports.
- Move your car when it’s fully charged whenever possible so the next vehicle can charge up.
- Holster the connector and hang the cord after use to prevent damage.
- Please provide feedback about our EV charging program. Sharing your feedback and experience will help our EV charging program improve.
Expansion project updates
Rush University Medical Center started with just four EV charging ports available in the main parking garage. Due to high demand, these four ports are nearly always in use, making it difficult to find an available station. To address this and support the growing number of EVs visiting the campus, the Rush Facilities, Capital Projects and Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES) have collaborated with our partners at Resource Innovations to develop a pilot project to expand EV charging options.
The expansion project resulted in the installation of new EV charging ports in the Joan and Paul Rubschlager Building parking garage, as well as in the main RUMC parking garage. Blink chargers have been selected as the standard throughout Rush garages going forward. Details for these chargers are outlined below.
Blink EV charging stations
- Locations:
- First floor, main parking garage (Paulina/Harrison)
- Second floor, Rubschlager Building parking garage
- Charging type: Level 2 (will add approximately 25-30 miles of range for every hour of charging)
- Connector plug: J-1772
Next steps in the expansion project:
Additional Blink chargers will be installed at the Rush North & Harlem location.
How to use our Blink chargers
- Download the Blink app (Apple App Store or Google Play) and log in to your account. Or you can charge as a guest by entering your billing data directly in the app
- Blink indicator lights inform you as follows:
- Green – ready to charge
- Blinking blue – actively charging
- Steady blue – charging complete
- Red – charger issue/malfunction
- Select the charger you’re planning to use in the app
- Pricing is displayed directly on the charging unit and in the app
- The charger will flash green
- Plug in to start the charge
- The charger’s light will turn blue to indicate the charge has begun
For more support, visit Blink’s FAQ page.
FAQ
Rush has a goal to maximize the number of EV miles driven by those bringing EVs to our campus. The installation of these new chargers is the first phase in developing a strategy that meets the ever-changing needs of EV drivers who come to Rush, and supports Rush's ambitious sustainability goals.
The installation of this amenity was funded in part by rebates from the ComEd Make-Ready Rebate Program, Rush Facilities and our Environmental Sustainability team.
The primary difference is the speed at which your vehicle charges. Level 1 chargers are the slowest and are sometimes referred to as “trickle chargers” as they only add around 5 to10 miles of range for every hour you charge. Level 2 chargers are faster and can add 25 to 30 miles of range for every hour you charge. Though Rush does not currently have Level 3 chargers onsite (also known as DC fast chargers), they are very powerful and can fill an empty battery in well under an hour. (“Full” typically is considered to be about 80% charged, to protect the battery.)
At Rush, we’re committed to making electric vehicle charging fair, transparent, and easy to use for everyone who works, learns, or visits our campus.
Here’s how we arrived at the $0.25 per kilowatt-hour rate:
Real electricity costs
We purchase electricity from ComEd at a variable rate, meaning the cost we pay per kWh fluctuates hour-to-hour depending on demand and grid conditions. While there are times when energy prices spike above $0.25/kWh, there are also times they’re lower. Averaging these out helps us set a rate that’s consistent and predictable for our users.
Charging infrastructure investment
Each Level 2 charger we install costs approximately $8,000, including the equipment, installation, and all the supporting infrastructure. We amortize that investment into the charging rate so the program is sustainable over the long term.
Ongoing service & support
We partner with Blink to provide reliable networking, payment processing, and maintenance. These services ensure a smooth experience every time you plug in, and they’re factored into the per-kWh rate.
Planning for the future
This rate also plans for growth. As EV adoption at Rush increases, we’ll be adding more chargers across the main campus and at off-site locations. Setting a rate that covers current costs and supports future expansion helps us build a charging network that serves everyone well.
Competitive & user-friendly
To put it in perspective, public EV charging across Chicago typically ranges roughly $0.20–$0.35 per kWh, and many commercial stations charge even more, especially for fast charging. Setting our rate at $0.25/kWh means we’re offering a cost-effective option that compares favorably with the local average, while still maintaining service quality and infrastructure growth.
Our EV charging stations are a shared campus resource, and overstay fees help ensure they’re available when others need to charge.
Once a vehicle has finished charging, remaining parked in an EV space prevents other drivers from accessing the station, even though no energy is being delivered. Overstay fees are designed to encourage drivers to move their vehicles once charging is complete, keeping stations open and accessible throughout the day.
To be fair and flexible, all chargers include a one-hour grace period after charging ends. This gives drivers ample time to return to their vehicle before any overstay fees apply.
The goal isn’t to generate revenue. It’s to support fair access, efficient use of charging infrastructure, and a better experience for everyone on campus as EV adoption continues to grow.
Rush worked with a consulting team to identify the best vendors for this pilot effort and weighted numerous variables before settling on Blink, such as its reputation with health care facilities, cost, maintenance and operational needs, commitment to sustainability, U.S. manufacturing location and more.
The garage adjoining the state-of-the-art Joan and Paul Rubschlager Building was built to have the capacity and infrastructure for EV charging. Retrofitting other parking facilities across campus would be more costly and take more time. However, the EV charging master plan aims to look at the feasibility of expanding EV charging elsewhere.
Absolutely! You do not need to be a staff member or visitor to the Rush campus to use these chargers. Although there is a fee to access the Rubschlager Building garage, one of the goals of this project is to broaden EV charging access across the Illinois Medical District and the West Side. Future phases of the master plan will bring additional options and access for EV charging.
Please fill out this form and select whether you’d like to report an issue with one of our chargers or provide feedback about your experience using one.