Colorado adopts zero-emission vehicle standard

Colorado adopts zero-emission vehicle standard

Colorado adopts zero-emission vehicle standard in push to increase adoption of electric cars

Polis vows more action to cut pollution and combat climate change

Michael Ciaglo, Special to the Denver Post

An electric car charges at an EVgo Fast Charging station outside REI on Platte Street Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018 in Denver.

By Bruce Finley | bfinley@denverpost.com | The Denver Post

PUBLISHED: August 16, 2019 at 12:40 pm | UPDATED: August 16, 2019 at 3:41 pm

Colorado air commissioners voted 8-1 on Friday to adopt a zero-emission standard requiring that at least 5% of automakers’ vehicles available for sale by 2023 be electric, advancing the shift Gov. Jared Polis ordered toward clean energy and healthier air.
This decision aimed at offering drivers more models of electric cars — combined with state efforts to reduce pollution from the oil and gas industry and accelerate the phase-out of coal-fired power plants — reflects rising concerns about climate change and ozone air pollution at levels that for a decade have violated federal health standards.
Colorado’s new requirement doesn’t force drivers to buy zero-emission vehicles, which include plug-in hybrids as well as fully electric cars. It requires automakers to increase sales of these ZEVs from the current 2.6% of cars sold in Colorado to 6.23% by 2030.
Automakers supported the measure because it gives them “early action” credit for vehicles sold before 2023.
“It is a modest proposal in the face of a critical threat. Where the federal government refuses to act, states must lead. Time is of the essence,” said Garry Kaufman, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division.
Earlier this year, Polis ordered state health officials to increase the number of electric cars available in Colorado, and on Friday he lauded state air quality control commissioners’ decision.
“It is only the beginning,” Polis said in a statement. “Colorado must continue to reduce smog and increase consumer choice.”
Colorado now joins 10 other states — California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont — that have implemented electric vehicle standards. Other western and midwestern states are expected to follow, in part because this was the first time automakers backed such a measure.
CDPHE director Jill Hunsaker-Ryan, who served previously as a county commissioner and helped lead a Coalition of Colorado Communities for Climate Action (CC4CA), said this vote reflects what will be an “unrelenting commitment” to ensure clean air.

“We’re charged up and ready to roll,” she said.
Leaders of those 27 predominantly rural communities facing climate change impacts welcomed the state action. CC4CA director Jamie Harkins, mayor pro tem in Lafayette, said local governments are pleased and that the ZEV mandate “will save money for Colorado families and businesses across the state.”