Colorado’s new plan aims to have 2.1 million electric cars on the road by 2035

Rivian field service technician Ian Voss makes adjustments underneath a Rivian R1T electric truck before delivering it to a customer at the Rivian service center in Denver on February 8, 2023. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

More than 2 million electric cars and SUVs on Colorado roads by 2035. About 1,700 public fast-charging ports and 5,800 Level 2 chargers installed or in the works by 2025. Zero-emission vehicles accounting for at least 30 % of new average media sales. and heavy vehicles by 2030.

These are just some of the milestones in Colorado’s new electric vehicle plan released Tuesday. The final draft builds on two earlier plans and is intended as a blueprint for electrifying the state’s transportation, the source of about a quarter of Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions.

While the new plan drew praise from some quarters, the trucking industry questions how realistic some of the goals are. The Colorado Motor Carriers Association has proposed an alternative plan that would phase in the requirements, provide exemptions and encourage the use of renewable natural gas and compressed natural gas as a bridge.

Previous plans called for 940,000 electric vehicles in Colorado by 2030 as part of efforts to address air quality and climate change. There are currently around 70,000 electric vehicles in the State, less than 2% of the total.

But Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Office of Energy, noted that electric vehicles would account for 10.5 percent of new car registrations by 2022.

“When you look at the momentum of the industry, the level of investment we’re seeing from the auto companies, the political support at the national level through the (federal) Inflation Reduction Act, the political support here in Colorado and just the enthusiasm that I think there is in the public as more people realize the benefits and advantages of electric vehicles, I think we’re really reaching a tipping point,” Toor said.

The Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act allocates billions of dollars to build networks of charging stations. The Inflation Reduction Act extends tax credits for electric vehicles.

And the Colorado General Assembly and state officials have approved programs to help people buy electric vehicles and install chargers and are considering legislation to strengthen state tax credits. Regulated utilities offer discounts through their plans to help electrify the transport sector.

Toor expects legislation to be introduced that would increase state tax credits to cover the expected shortfall as domestic manufacturing picks up. Federal tax credits require certain levels of household content on electric vehicles.

Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement that the state is making sure Coloradans can save money and have access to electric vehicles of all types. The data-driven plan “is part of our work to fight for clean air, save people money and protect our environment now and for generations to come,” he said.

“Most of what the administration said it would do in the 2020 plan has been completed or is underway,” said Travis Madsen, director of the transportation program for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project in Boulder.

“There are a lot of new policies that have been enacted and will be implemented in the next couple of years that I think will take us to the next level,” Madsen added.

An important focus of the new electric vehicle plan is the electrification of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and school and transit buses. One of the goals is to have 35,000 electric trucks on the road by 2030 and 100% of new sales to be electric by 2050.

“Although they are a smaller number of vehicles, they account for a disproportionate amount of the pollution due to pollution from diesel trucks and buses,” said Toor.

According to the state Department of Transportation, heavier vehicles produce about 22 percent of greenhouse gas emissions while accounting for less than 10 percent of all vehicles on Colorado roads. Includes school buses, delivery vans, work trucks and semi-trailers.

A hearing is set for April 19 before the state Air Quality Control Commission on the proposed Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which would require a percentage of vehicles sold in Colorado to be each even more electric.

A coalition that includes community and environmental justice organizations pushed for hearings on the clean truck rule a year ago, said Juan Roberto Madrid, GreenLatinos’ clean transportation and energy policy advocate.

“Everything seemed to be moving toward announcing the regulations and having the hearing last year,” said Madrid, who attributed the delay to politics. “Although it was delayed, we are pleased that the rulemaking is happening,”

Electrifying trucks, buses and other large vehicles is important to communities disproportionately affected by pollution, both in urban centers and in rural areas, Madrid said.

Toor said in an email that the state is focusing first on plans for the right infrastructure and incentives to support the adoption of electric trucks by fleets.

However, the Colorado Trucking Association said in an alternative proposal that while it supports the transition to “zero or near-zero emissions trucks,” it does not believe the clean truck rule is feasible. The proposal, based on California’s rule, doesn’t fit Colorado’s particular needs and challenges, including the terrain and cold climate, said Greg Fulton, the association’s president and CEO.

“What we’re looking at is how do we end up with a plan and an approach for Colorado that achieves both diesel emissions reductions and greenhouse gas reductions,” Fulton said.

California’s adoption of the rule assumes Colorado is on par in terms of EV numbers, investment and planning, but it’s not, Fulton said.

Under the federal Clean Air Act, states must follow federal vehicle emissions standards or essentially adopt those enacted by California, which was granted an exemption to develop its own rules. SWEEP’s Madsen said the idea was to prevent automakers from having to meet multiple standards across the country.