Electric vehicle credits in Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs: sales, home, buying)

[Vision67]

Colorado Springs residents eligible for extra savings on electric vehicles

https://gazette.com/news/colorado-sp...29e034000.html

"Colorado Springs residents can now save thousands of dollars on electric vehicles thanks in part to a deal between the city and local Nissan dealers.

“We’ve seen a trend in our citizens adopting electric vehicles, and we want to help incentivize that and the environmental benefits that go along with it via savings,” said the city’s innovation and sustainability manager, Ryan Trujillo.

The $3,000 discount, offered by Nissan dealerships in the city for 2018 Nissan LEAFs, is on top of the $7,500 federal and $5,000 state tax credits offered to people who buy any electric vehicle through September.

That means for as little as $17,490, a Colorado Springs resident can have a brand new, 151-mile range electric vehicle."


I don't think that deal is confined just to Colorado Springs residents. I didn't realize that Colorado offers a $5K state tax credit for electric vehicles.

My daughter owns the previous generation Leaf in San Fran and it's a hoot to drive. The best part is no petrol ever! She just plugs it in when she gets home and it's good to go the next morning.

I sat in the new version at the Denver Auto show and the car is improved. I might consider waiting a few years and buying a used one. This makes a great second car.

[BarryK123]

I am currently in Norway, where there is a higher percentage of EVs per capita than anywhere else in the world (~100K EVs for a population of 5M). I see plenty of Teslas, saw a BMW i8, but no Nissan Leafs. Not sure why. The electric charging infrastructure here is amazing - have seen Tesla Superchargers, Tesla destination chargers, and some generic L2 chargers in various parking lots.

Also, I was on an electric ferry to cross a fjord a few days ago. No noise and no smokestack - truly amazing!

[Wheatridger]

Last year I scored a $9007 tax credit for my plug-in hybrid purchase. It cut the car's purchase price by a third. Five grand was from the state, and the rest from the Feds. You have to watch the details here, or better yet, ask your tax accountant, because 1) you must have a tax liability equal or greater than the credit, and 2) the most popular EV models (Prius, I believe) aren't included in the federal credit (once an EV model sells over 200,000 units, the credit is reduced).

My Ford C-Max Energi sold under 40,000 in four years on the market, so it's eligible for the full credit. Though not a sales success story, it's a wonderful car: quiet, smooth, comfy, powerful, and fun to drive. Coming from a VW GTI, this futuristic Ford disappoints only in styling, which is just ...odd. What's not to love about 195 hp and a first-year, 17,000 mile average of 85 mpg? It's a perfect compromise: electric on short trips, and gas/hybrid on the open road.

There's barely a handful of these cars remaining on the lots now. Remember, these credits only apply to new car sales. A word to the wise...

[BarryK123]

"1) you must have a tax liability equal or greater than the credit,"

That is true of the Federal credit, but not the Colo credit. If your taxable income isn't sufficient, a couple of ways to bump it up is sell some stock for capitals gains and/or convert a traditional IRA to a Roth.

Due to hitting the 200K threshold, the Tesla Federal credit (CO credit wis not subject to a volume of sales cap) will begin tapering and be eliminated over the next 3 quarters.

[MaritimeShipper]

Agreed, it is a tax credit for families with significant income.
While the range of the electric car in an area where cities are very spread out and charging stations are rare is a consideration, he life of the batteries is another.
A daily commute from downtown Colorado Springs to Denver is probably 130 miles.
For a commuter car, some articles say the battery needs replaced at 100,000 miles. That could be 4 years.
A remanufactured (not new) battery can be very expensive. And, used batteries impact our environment too.
The environmental impact of manufacturing a car may exceed all of the gas used or saved.
In other words, ignoring the smoke at the mines, electric company, to manufacturing to celebrate a smokeless car doesn't take the whole "cost of environmental impact" or "cash-flow return on investment" into consideration.
In locations with high population density and infrastructure, it probably is economical. In western states, the jury is out.
One of the ideas of saving gas (replaced with lower utility charges) can save the driver money over time.
If Colorado is going to keep roads up, then toll roads must replace the fuel tax.
Think about it, if 90% of cars don't pay the fuel tax of around $0.75 gal), how do the roads and bridges stay maintained?
The gas pump served as a type of toll-road in its day.
The electric car is a type of toll-road dodger using the road and facilities with everyone else paying for it.
With electronic signature systems, it is just a matter of time that downtown Denver can electronically charge a toll.
There will be those who whine about that. There will be others who take that toll cost and choose to take light rail instead of paying the toll plus parking. It will level the playing field and that gives all income levels a choice to make better decisions for themselves and the ecology.
Hopefully, battery technology gets better. I actually invest in companies working on that technology improvement. But for Colorado, its time probably has not yet arrived for electric cars to save money or significantly improve the environment.

[SkyDog77]

I was with a friend last night who just bought a Leaf and can confirm this pricing. He said he loves it so far. He puts 20-25K miles a year on his vehicle and just gave up an SUV to get the Leaf.

If I put more mileage on my car I might consider it.

[SkyDog77]

I went and drove one today. Pretty nice and pretty hard to beat at that price point.

[goldbrick]

I have a 2017 Leaf and absolutely love it but please do your research before buying an EV. The only EV's that currently can more or less operate like a normal car are the Tesla's. A 2018 Leaf doesn't have the range or the ability to charge as fast as a Tesla and there are not as many chargers available for them. All this is changing fast as EV's are sort of like PC's were 20 years ago - meaning the technology is changing so fast that anything you buy today will be super-ceded by better newer tech in a few years. Eg, the 2019 Leaf is rumored to be a big upgrade from the 2018 model.

That said, I really do love my Leaf. It is the perfect around town/commuter car but if you want to drive to Yellowstone or something?? Better think again or spend the mega bucks on a Tesla. Even Tesla has its short-comings but I don't want to get into that since their owners tend to be 'enthusiastic' about defending the brand.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by goldbrick

I have a 2017 Leaf and absolutely love it but please do your research before buying an EV. The only EV's that currently can more or less operate like a normal car are the Tesla's. A 2018 Leaf doesn't have the range or the ability to charge as fast as a Tesla and there are not as many chargers available for them. All this is changing fast as EV's are sort of like PC's were 20 years ago - meaning the technology is changing so fast that anything you buy today will be super-ceded by better newer tech in a few years. Eg, the 2019 Leaf is rumored to be a big upgrade from the 2018 model.

That said, I really do love my Leaf. It is the perfect around town/commuter car but if you want to drive to Yellowstone or something?? Better think again or spend the mega bucks on a Tesla. Even Tesla has its short-comings but I don't want to get into that since their owners tend to be 'enthusiastic' about defending the brand.

If we did this it would be to use as a city car. We would keep our Toyota Land Cruiser as the expedition vehicle.

I’m going to go check out the Chevy Bolt tomorrow as it has similar range to the Tesla and doesn’t use the CHAdeMO charging protocol. With that said, I was really impressed with the Leaf. It was much nicer than I expected. I have driven a Tesla Model S and while the Leaf is certainly not in this class, for under $20K it is a great deal.

[Wheatridger]

Before you get too excited about EVs for environmental reasons, check out what the Union of Concerned Scientists say: https://blog.ucsusa.org/josh-goldman...-and-model-960

By their map, Colorado's coal-heavy power grid offers the lowest benefit for EVs. Here, your EV's CO2 emissions equals that of a 35-mpg gas car. Meanwhile, up in the Pacific Northwest where hydro is king, you'd need 95 mpg on gas to match an EV's emissions.

I chose the plug-in hybrid option, a Ford C-Max Energi, and I couldn't be happier with that. I realize that in either EV or hybrid operation, a fossil fuel is being burned. But every local trip (under 20 miles) is now done electrically, that's great, but when I drive up to Summit County later today, I'll have no range anxieties (600+ mile range on a five-minute fill-up). I can use it like an ordinary car, and that makes it more useful to me. With an irregular schedule taking me to destinations all over the Front Range, I don't see a time when a pure EV would meet my needs.

Gas mileage?I was hoping you would ask. It's totaled 66 mpg over a 17,000 mile year.