Under a new law, the state Public Utilities Commission has opened public comment for investor-owned utilities looking to establish their electric vehicle infrastructure.

SB19-77 requires utilities by May 2020 to submit applications detailing how they can promote the spread of electric transportation options, the cost of which they are allowed to recover via their rates.

“If the utilities aren’t involved, the only folks that can afford electric, in the short run, are those that can pay to put Level 2 charging in their garage,” said one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, referring to the voltage of EV chargers.

“If a utility can sell more power and do it at a rate that really helps to undergird the fixed costs of the system, then everybody benefits,” said another sponsor, Rep. Chris Hansen, D-Denver.

Hansen clarified that while utilities must submit an application to the PUC, it is possible that they might find it disadvantageous to build out charging infrastructure. However, he sees an opportunity for utilities to sell more power, while calling the environmental benefits “massive.” 

Over the past three years, the number of EVs registered in Colorado has doubled. EV Hub put the number at 22,800 as of August 2018, including battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Colorado is among the eight states with more vehicles per 1,000 residents than the national average, with California at the top of the list.

The state has roughly 2,100 charging outlets, more than its’ neighbors, but one-tenth as many as California has.

Priola said that his personal cost-benefit analysis makes electric vehicles worth it for him, and, given their small number of moving parts relative to internal combustion engine transportation, could be a “major disruptor” in the market for any vehicle type.

“Imagine a bus that pulls away from a bus stop fast like a car, not slow like a fully-loaded diesel dump truck,” he said. “This will also benefit the public with better traffic flow, cleaner air, lower costs to the transit agency.”

Part of the bill’s intent was to deliver EV options to low-income and underserved communities.

“I think there’s been some misconception that EVs are only for rich people,” Hansen said. “That may have been the case seven or eight years ago. But now that is definitely not the case. We wanted to make sure that the [utilities’] plans were inclusive of the whole state.”