Coloradans will once again get a shot at big savings on e-bike purchases through the relaunch of a popular state rebate program after a year-long hiatus.
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The program will provide $1,000 discounts toward the purchase of a new e-bike to more than 2,800 income-qualified residents over the next year, the Colorado Energy Office announced Thursday. The rebates are part of the state’s broader work to reduce greenhouse emissions and meet its climate goals.
The poor air quality that has plagued Denver over the last few days is a great reminder of the need to reduce emissions, said Will Toor, the executive director of the Colorado Energy Office. He was set to announce the initiative’s return this morning with Gov. Jared Polis at a bike shop in Wheat Ridge.
“Helping folks replace car trips with e-bike trips is one really cost-effective way to address pollution in Denver and the whole Front Range area,” Toor said ahead of the event.
Who qualifies?
Coloradans who make 80% or less than their county’s area median income will qualify for the rebate. For metro Denver, that means single people who earn up to $80,640 per year, or a household with an income of up to $115,200 for a family of four.
Why did the rebate go away?
The state first offered a similar rebate in 2023, but the program ended after the money allocated to it by the state legislature ran out in 2025. During that time, nearly 8,000 Coloradans used the program to buy e-bikes.
The rebates totaled $9.75 million, according to the energy office. More than 34,000 people applied for the rebates.
What’s available this time?
Now the Colorado Energy Office is using $3 million from the state’s Community Access Enterprise to pay for the rebates. The enterprise is funded primarily through fees consumers pay on residential deliveries of online shopping purchases, like those from Amazon, Toor said.
The relaunched program differs from the previous iteration in a few ways.
Coloradans who earn between 80% and 100% of their county’s area median income will no longer have access to the rebates. The application is also shorter and simpler, said Sarah Thorne, a senior program manager with the Colorado Energy Office.
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In addition to the standard $1,000 rebate, customers can also apply a $300 discount to the purchase of a cargo e-bike as well as a $300 discount to an adaptive e-bike. The e-bike must be purchased from a retailer participating in the program.
How do people apply?
Those who are interested must submit their name and contact information to a lottery. If they are randomly selected for the rebate, they will then need to provide documentation of income and residency.
The first application window will be open from 11 a.m. on Aug. 24 to noon on Aug. 31. A link to the registration portal will be available online on the program’s website. The application will reopen once each quarter.
What other incentives are available?
The relaunched program is in addition to an existing $225 tax credit discount for e-bike purchases. The tax credit is available to all Coloradans, regardless of income, and is applied at the time of purchase from participating retailers.
The tax credit will increase to $450 on Jan. 1, Toor said.
While e-bike buyers can use both the rebate and the tax credit on a single purchase, they cannot combine the state rebate with those offered by local governments, like Denver’s popular e-bike rebate program.
The vast majority of people who used the rebate from the first iteration of the program said they would not have bought an e-bike without the discount, according to a survey by the Colorado Energy Office. Those e-bike buyers, on average, replaced at least two vehicle trips a week with an e-bike ride, according to the survey.
Not only did those rides reduce emissions, but they also saved the rider parking and gas money, Toor said.
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“For a lot of people, it’s also just a great way to get around,” he said.
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