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From Holyoke to Dolores, plus Silverton, Cañon City, and Aurora, too: $22 million in grants for fast chargers

 

Grants that will create 290 new fast-charger ports at 46 different locations across Colorado were announced recently by the Polis administration.

“Colorado is building one of the most comprehensive EV charging networks in the country,” said Shoshana Lew, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation. “We believe that nearly every Coloradan will have access to DC fast-charging within a matter of years.”

Colorado has more than 100,000 registered EVs, and the pace of adoption has been growing, with 17.1% of all sales in the third-quarter of 2023 attributed to EVs. By 2030, Colorado hopes to bump that to 50% of sales as more diverse and lower-cost EVs enter the marketplace. Taming range anxiety – the worry that a car will be stranded with a depleted battery – is part of that effort.

As of February, direct-current fast chargers were located within 30 miles of 78% of the state’s geographic area.

The money for this latest round of grants comes from the 2021 federal law called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act coupled with Colorado’s Community Access Enterprise.

Notable in this round of grants is the effort to couple the charging stations with businesses where travelers are accustomed to stopping now for gas and a bite to eat.

Two stations — in Aurora and Colorado Springs — will be at 7-Eleven stores. Circle K Stores will be sites of charging stations in Brighton, Denver, Durango, Greenwood Village and Pueblo.

For those traveling I-25, the Love’s Travel Stops at Walsenberg, Pueblo and Fountain, as well as in Burlington and Canon City, are targeted for fast-charging stations.

If you really want to get into the detailed weeds of the charging stations in Wheat Ridge, La Junta, Sterling, and several dozen other locations, check out the state energy office website here. This map is kind of useful, too.

Allen Best
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