Colorado’s adoption of electric vehicles surpasses California in market share, according to report

Coloradans are now purchasing electric vehicles at a higher rate than any other state, according to a new report from the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management.

The report compared electric vehicle sales across the United States in the third quarter of 2024, and showed Colorado surpassing California to reach the highest electric vehicle market share in the country. 

The report claimed that electric vehicles made up 25.3% of all new vehicles sold in Colorado this quarter. Eighty-two percent of the electric vehicles were fully electric, while the remaining 18% were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.  

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In October, the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association released a report that showed Colorado’s electric vehicle market share grew from 16.1% in the second quarter of 2024 to 21.9% in the third. The report found that hybrid and plug-in vehicles had a 15.9% market share for the first nine months of the year, up from 12.5% in 2023. The report claims this made Colorado second in the nation for electric vehicle sales during those nine months. 

Matthew Groves, CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association, said that while the association believes the trend in this latest report from the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, it is uncertain of the methodology and therefore, its conclusion. 

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“We knew this day would come, and we welcome it. We just want to be able to properly quantify the success,” Groves said. 

How many electric vehicles are there in Colorado? 

As of Nov. 7, Colorado had 156,281 electric vehicles and 5,561 public charging ports (both Level 2 and DCFC), according to a dashboard created by Atlas Public Policy in partnership with the Colorado Energy Office. This was an increase of around 3.32% from Oct. 7. 

The dashboard utilizes data from state vehicle registration, the U.S. Department of Energy, ChargePoint, EV Connect and the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Statewide, this equates to about 27 electric vehicles per 1,000 people. Adoption in some of the resort communities across Colorado’s Interstate 70 mountain corridor is among the highest in the state. Based on the November data, Pitkin County has 53 electric vehicles per 1,000 residents, making it the highest in the state. Boulder County had around 50 electric vehicles per 1,000 residents, and Denver County had 42. Eagle and Summit counties had 33 and 35 per 1,000 residents, respectively. 

These mountain communities also have a high ratio of charging ports. Statewide, there is less than one Level 2 port — the most common electric vehicle charger in Colorado — per 1,000 residents. In Summit County, there were around 5.5 of these same chargers per 1,000 people. In Pitkin County, there were 4.6 per 1,000 people. 

Why is EV adoption on the rise in Colorado? 

Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Energy Office shared both aforementioned reports in a news release in early December, indicating that the high adoption in Colorado is due to a lot of upside in the state. 

“Between investments in charging infrastructure and generous incentives to bring down purchase and lease costs, our commitment to making electric vehicles an affordable and reliable option for Coloradans is paying off,” said Will Tour, the office’s executive director, in a statement. 

Groves agreed that the state’s vehicle purchase incentives are heavily influencing this adoption. 

“It’s what separates us from other states. You can lease multiple brands of (electric vehicles) for cheaper than an Uber ride to the airport,” Groves said. 

Colorado’s Energy Office currently offers a $5,000 tax credit for electric vehicle purchases in addition to rebates for income-qualified residents to trade in old or high-emitting vehicles as well as incentives and grants for charging infrastructure. 

The federal government also offers a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicle purchases as well as a credit for at-home charging stations. 

Many local municipalities and utility providers — including Holy Cross Energy, Xcel Energy, Black Hills Energy, Yampa Valley Electric Association, the town of Vail and more —  offer incentives and rebates for the vehicles and charging infrastructure. 

The ability to stack these various incentives has led to adoption in mountain communities, said Gina McCrackin, Eagle County’s Climate Action Collaborative manager at Walking Mountains.

Colorado’s deployment and investment in public charging infrastructure, including at multifamily developments, has also contributed to this rise as has residents’ attitude, McCrackin added.  

“Generally, our culture here and our political climate is quite progressive, and so that certainly influences the appetite to adopt in the first place,” McCrackin said. 

What happens if, and when, incentivizes change next year?  

While tax credits and incentives are abundant for Coloradans today, the future is likely to bring some uncertainty.  

The federal $7,500 electrical vehicle tax credit — created under President Joe Biden’s administration — is one of many climate-related expenses that President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to eliminate. 

In 2025, Colorado’s tax credit for electric vehicles will drop from $5,000 to $3,500 as part of planned decreases meant to stagger as adoption increases. 

Groves said he expects “some regression in 2025.” 

For electric vehicle adoption to continue to increase, Groves said electric vehicles need to rival traditional internal combustion engine vehicles in both performance and cost. On performance, Groves said “we’re hitting the fulcrum” where electric vehicles are becoming competitive. On cost, however, it’s the rebates that were “bridging that delta,” he said. 

Despite the pending state decrease and federal uncertainty, there’s hope for future adoption in Colorado. 

“I think the state of Colorado will continue to be supportive of EV adoption because they have to be,” McCrackin said. “They have really ambitious climate action goals, and I don’t see the state of Colorado stalling out on continuing to promote EV adoption and provide incentives for doing so.”

As part of its ambitious climate goals, Colorado’s Energy Office has a goal to have 940,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030 as the state moves to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Groves noted that amid federal uncertainty, “Colorado has discovered a pathway to success.”  

“We should pursue it until the wheels fall off,” he added. “Maybe we’re all wrong and the rebates aren’t why consumers are buying. If that’s true, we’d look pretty silly to back off our strategy just because the money is drying up.”

Josh Chetwynd, the director of climate communications for the state of Colorado, said in an emailed statement that regardless of changes, “consumers in Colorado and across the country have made it clear: electric vehicles are here to stay and demand will continue to grow.” 

“While removing the federal electric vehicle tax credit would increase costs for families and individuals who want cleaner, more affordable transportation options, we expect demand for EVs to remain high, especially as the market continues to become more competitive, driving the costs of EVs down even more,” Chetwynd added. 

Outside of funding, time will support continued adoption, according to Groves.

“Five years ago, you might not have known anyone who drove electric, you might not have taken a test drive, or you might not have had a selection in your manufacturer of choice,” he said. “Today, we’ve probably flipped all three of those.”

McCrackin said she remains hopeful that electric vehicle adoption will continue as education increases and local municipalities and communities in Colorado continue to invest and subsidize electric vehicles and infrastructure. 

“We can continue to lean on the programs and incentives that we have now,” McCrackin said. “I think it’ll just be more pushing from an education and logic-based standpoint onto consumers and the public because we can’t lean on the very large federal incentives that are likely to go away.” 

This includes remaining opportunities around transitioning business and government fleets to electric, which can have exponential impacts, McCrackin added. In Eagle County, Walking Mountains has led initiatives to support electric vehicle infrastructure at multifamily housing developments, to familiarize consumers with the vehicles and more, she added.  

“In the absence of this awesome backbone that we’ve had over the last four years for climate funding … leaning into the state and then local governments, as well as local coalition building, is going to be more important than ever if we desire to keep the momentum on our progress that we want to keep,” McCrackin said. “There’s definitely progress and momentum, and I think we will continue to see that rise.”