Colorado Adopts Zero-Emission Vehicle Standard in Line With California

The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted to approve a zero-emission vehicle mandate, which requires more than 5 percent of vehicle sales in the state to be electric vehicles by 2023, according to an Aug. 16 press release. The requirement rises to more than 6 percent of sales by 2025. Automakers will get credits for each vehicle sold depending on its zero-emission range.

The proposal is a result of six months of negotiations that resulted in a consensus agreement between the Colorado Department of Transportation, the state’s energy office, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and the Association of Global Automakers. The program also includes an early action credit option for sales during model years 2021 and 2022, in a bid to encourage greater model availability as soon as January 2020.

The program stems from an executive order issued by Democratic Governor Jared Polis in January detailing initiatives and strategies aimed at facilitating a transition to electric vehicles and directing the agency to develop a rule for a ZEV program. Last June, the previous Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper issued an executive order requiring the state to adopt California’s vehicle emissions standards.

Colorado will be the eleventh state, after California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, to implement low-emission and zero-emission vehicle standards, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Colorado is a signatory to a seven-state agreement entered into in 2017 to develop the Regional Electric Vehicle West EV Corridor spanning more than 5,000 miles of highway across major corridors to reduce range anxiety and allow smaller communities to plug into the regional system. The state offers a $5,000 tax credit for passenger electric vehicles and has a goal to get 940,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2040.