DENVER — Colorado will launch a statewide e-bike rebate program in August for low- and moderate-income residents. A date for when applications will become available hasn't been announced yet, but the state expects there will be high demand for the program.
Depending on a person's income someone can get vouchers worth $500 to over $1,000 towards the purchase of an e-bike.
"Roughly 60% of car trips are under six miles long and 75% are under 10 miles long. With transportation leading in emissions as well as the fact a majority of car trips are short trips e-bikes offer an excellent alternative to get people where they need to go," said Ari Rosenblum, a spokesperson for Colorado Energy Office (CEO) which is running the state program.
Applicants must meet a certain income qualification. Colorado Energy Office determines eligibility by income and household size. It will be based on the index Area Median Income (AMI) in a person's county of residence.
To meet qualifications for the low-income rebate, a person's household income needs to be below 80% of the AMI. To meet qualifications for the moderate-income rebate, a person's household income needs to be between 80 to 100% of the AMI.
CEO will open applications for one week every month, and then randomly select people to get a rebate after each application round closes. This is different than Denver's e-bike rebate program which is first-come first-served.
"We hope this gives more people in the state access to e-bikes who ordinarily would not have access to them either because they can’t afford them or because it wouldn’t have been an option they would have considered," said Rosenblum.
On Tuesday Denver released about 900 e-bike rebate vouchers. The city said all of them were claimed in three minutes.
The demand in Denver is high. Over 20,000 people subscribe to get alerts when vouchers are released to the public.
The city also offers an adaptive rebate for people with a disability or someone who is unable to use a standard e-bike. They could be eligible to save up to $1,400 on the sale of an adaptive e-bike.
The next round of rebate vouchers are released in Denver on Tuesday Sept. 26, at 11 a.m.
Boulder is also offering e-bike incentives in July and September. The city will randomly select applicants.
People who live in Denver and Boulder are eligible to apply for the statewide program. They just can't get an e-bike voucher from both.
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