Colorado is moving ahead with $5 million in state spending on new EV fast-charging plazas while it waits for the restart of promised federal money.
The state round of funding should help create 56 chargers around Colorado, from Montrose to Limon and in between. The Colorado Energy Office said the grants, the seventh round of such awards to spark public and private sector entities to locate important chargers, will add significantly to the 1,400 ports already available across the state.
State officials are emphasizing it’s Colorado money being spent to emphasize the divergence in federal and state clean energy policies since Trump took office for his second term. One of the first actions Trump took was to pause $5 billion set aside for a national fast-charging network for the burgeoning EV market.
In addition to the basic debate over subsidizing electric vehicles, the Biden administration was also criticized for not spending the authorized money quickly, and seeing only a couple of the charging stations underway. A reliable, affordable network of fast EV chargers, built at logical intervals, is one key to eliminating the “range anxiety” factor some potential buyers have when considering an EV versus an internal combustion engine.
Nevermind the criticism, most states did not want to lose access to the $5 billion federal pot, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined other states in suing the Trump administration to release what the states said was legally authorized spending. They won a federal judge’s injunction in June.
“This grant program is a valuable reminder that, despite the headwinds, we are undaunted and remain clear-eyed and focused on continuing to build enough public electric vehicle charging infrastructure to meet Colorado’s goal of supporting 940,000 light-duty EVs on Colorado roads by 2030,” Energy Office chief Will Toor said, in a release.
The state-funded stations should come online in 2026 and 2027, and will add to 13 already-completed state-subsidized charging sites on the Front Range, Frisco, Pueblo, Cortez, Longmont, Limon and more.
The new grantees are Helios Charging, for Ridgway and Fairplay stations; eCAMION USA Inc., for Denver, Mancos, Naturita and Woodland Park; Electric Era Technologies for Commerce City; and, Tesla for Glendale.