Even in Idalia, soon a fast-charger to refuel passing EVs

In urban and rural places, Colorado now has 1,100 fast-charging ports. But how many aren’t working?

by Allen Best

If you drive on Interstate 70 east of Denver and then get off at Strasburg or Byers, you can then follow U.S. 36 across Colorado’s sometimes lovely high plains.

The highway never gets congested, at least in the experience of this writer. It’s hard to believe it’s the same highway that connects Denver to Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park. On the eastern plains, you will go through hamlets called Last Chance, Arikaree and Joes before you arrive in Idalia.

Idalia is home of the Wolves, as a marquee in front of the local high school proclaims. Getting a restaurant meal is tough, but you soon will be able to get your EV juiced up because of a high-speed charging station.

The fast-charger in Idalia is among 168 new ports to be placed at 29 locations across Colorado as a result of $17.3 million in federal grants. The money appropriated by the 2021 law called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was funneled through the Colorado state government. In selecting the locations, state energy officials aimed to fill the gaps along the federally designated alternative fuel corridors in Colorado and, in some cases, add charging ports at places already getting high use.

U.S. 36 takes a roller-coaster ride in the vicinity of Last Chance, east of Denver, a very different landscape than for the highway between Denver, Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo/Allen Best

Idalia, in addition to being on U.S. 36, is also between Burlington and Wray, which are connected by U.S. 385, a two-lane north-south highway along Colorado’s eastern edge.

“We are nearing a point where almost every corner of the state is within easy reach of a DC fast charger,” said Shoshana Lew, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Colorado now has 1,100 fast-charging ports of which 480 have come about from the federal program.

You would expect easy access to fast-charging stations along the interstate highways. Fast chargers are also becoming more available on the two-lane highways. Traveling on U.S. Highway 160 as the Griswold family did on their way to Walley World in the 1983 film “Vacation,” you will soon have access to eight fast charging stations from Walsenberg to Cortez, a distance of 267 miles. Still not like filling up with gas, but getting closer.

It all sounds good, but stories also abound of EV drivers arriving at charging stations only to find them out of commission.

In southeastern Colorado, John Stulp has never regretted buying a Ford 150 Lighting pickup in 2022 but he has learned to be careful when planning his trips.

Stulp travels frequently in a triangle between his home farm near Lamar, another farm near Yuma, and an apartment in Lakewood. He has Level 2 chargers at each location and can park the pickup at night with the battery at only 25% of capacity and have it fully charged in the morning.

That being said, he has had a few anxious moments after learning that the fast-charging stations where he expected to get refueled were out of operation. In one case, he neared Flagler, a town along I-70, expecting to refuel there. He did get to Burlington with 5 or 6 miles of charge left on his battery. He has had the same experience at other locations, although without cutting it so close.

As for the economics of EVs, they remain sound. Stulp – a former Prowers County commissioner as well as the state water czar in the administration of Gov. John Hickenlooper from 2010 through 2018 — says

gasoline would have to drop below $2 a gallon to be competitive with the cost of electricity at public charging station costs. That electricity costs about three times as much charging at home.

Generous state credits in 2025, the highest in the nation, coupled with federal tax credits, have fueled sale of EVs and plug- in hybrids. Together, the two were responsible for 25.3% of all new car sales in the third quarter, surpassing California. Some think that EV sales will surpass 30% of all new car sales in the year’s final quarter.

Colorado now has an estimated 161,000 EVs or plug-in hybrids on its roads. It has a goal of 940,000 by 2030.

Greg Poschman, a Pitkin County commissioner and EV owner himself, says he has no problems getting charged on his trips between Aspen and Denver. Usually, he will stop at Frisco or Georgetown, just to be sure.

However, Poschman says he can see why the charging station buildout will be necessary to accommodate all the new EVs on the road.

The new round of funding will yield fast-charging stations at the following locations: