The City of Pueblo wants to incentivize its residents to buy electric vehicles and reward those who already drive them by offering free access to publicly-owned EV charging stations in the city.

The incentive could save electric vehicle owners $1.35 per hour of charging through September 2024.

The city received a $80,000 grant award from the Colorado Energy office to install six new EV chargers around the city, bringing the number of public stations to nine by mid-2023, the city said in a news release Friday.

“Many people know I am a big supporter of electric vehicles and the improvement to our transportation infrastructure,” Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar said. “This is one way the City of Pueblo is able to incentivize electric vehicle users and to reward those who have already made the switch.”

The grant funds are part of Colorado’s Charge Ahead, which has been in place since 2013, said Matt Mines, the program’s senior manager.

Mines estimated that, since 2013, more than 2,000 charging stations statewide have been funded at a cost of about $20 million.

This year the program has about $9 million available to applicants, which can include municipalities, counties and even private businesses and multi-family housing, but not private homes.

The program funds 80% of the cost for the equipment and installation, depending on the type of charger, with a 90% match for income qualified and disproportionately impacted communities.

A part of the money comes from the Volkswagen diesel settlement, EV registration fees and the Community Access Enterprise 9.6 cents per retail delivery fee imposed by Senate Bill 21-260.

As of Sept. 1, nearly 64,000 EVs ply Colorado’s roads, supported by about 3,600 charging ports, mostly concentrated along the Front Range from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins, according to data the state tracks.

Energy consumption for EV charging jumped dramatically since the beginning of the Charge Ahead program, averaging 107 kWh in 2013 to 1,375 kWh in 2021.

A “pretty significant gap” remains to be addressed in the transition to EVs, Mines said, citing a 2020 analysis from the International Council on Clean Transportation on Colorado’s transportation infrastructure.

Mines said he is also looking forward to federal dollars beginning to flow to Colorado from the five-year, $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which funds charging stations located along designated alternative fuel corridors.

In Pueblo, five Level 2 dual-port EV charging stations and one dual-protocol direct current fast charging station (DCFC) will be installed by mid-2023. Three Level 2 dual port chargers will be located at the Main Street Parking Garage, two Level 2 dual port chargers will be located at the Weisbrod Parking Garage, and one DCFC will be located at the Pueblo Memorial Airport parking lot.

Pueblo’s EV chargers are billed through the Charge Point app, which is available for Amazon Alexa, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Apple Watch and Wear OS by Google.

The city will pay the bill during the free charging period.

Currently, Pueblo has three existing Level 2 dual-port EV charging stations. One is located at 114 S. Main St. in the parking lot next to the Main St. parking garage, one is located at 214 Grand Ave. at the southeast corner of the parking garage, and another is located at 210 W 8th St. in the public parking lot at 8th St. and Court St.