by Tamara Chuang | Colorado Sun | March 12, 2019
As Colorado considers adopting a zero-emissions vehicle mandate, some electric SUVs, crossovers and pickups are coming soon
On any given day in Colorado last year — excluding Sundays, of course — 14.6 electric vehicles were sold. That included 1.4 Chevy Bolts, 2.9 Nissan Leafs and 6.6 Tesla Model 3s, according to data provided by Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.
But what wasn’t selling at local dealerships were the Hyundai Ionic, Fiat 500e or Honda Clarity Electric. That’s because those electric cars and numerous others just aren’t available in Colorado. Some say it’s because Colorado doesn’t yet have a zero-emissions vehicle mandate and automakers skip states without such quotas. Others say it’s because Coloradans prefer pickups and not sedans, let alone versions that run on electricity, and dealers don’t want unwanted cars sitting on their lots.
“It’s difficult to get the fine-grained data to really prove to what extent things are demand-limited versus supply-limited,” said Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, whose own purchase of a Prius Prime Plug-in Hybrid took months — and he had to get it shipped in from another state. “…But if you can’t find them at the dealer, you’re much less likely to buy it.”