Colorado Zero Emission Transportation Support
Getting any new market or technology off the ground often requires help and support until it reaches economies of scale to compete with incumbent technology. This was true of wind and solar and it’s certainly true for battery and hydrogen electric transportation – both vehicles and infrastructure.
The State of Colorado recognizes this and has created a number of incentive programs to help foster the nascent battery and hydrogen transportation sectors.
The Colorado Energy Office has compiled a list and short description of some of this assistance in the Clean Transportation Resources Factsheet.
ZEV Rule
In 2021 Colorado adopted the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Rule. This Rule helps foster the Zero Emission Vehicle market by requiring automakers to make a certain percentage of their vehicle sales Zero Emission Vehicles.
Starting with model year 2023 (which starts on January 1, 2022), automakers must make a minimum percentage of Zero Emission Vehicles available for sale as part of their light-duty vehicle offerings in Colorado.
Starting with model year 2027 automakers must make a minimum percentage of ZEVs available for sale as part of their heavy-duty vehicle offerings in Colorado as well.
These requirements for manufacturers will help advance battery and hydrogen electric vehicle sales in Colorado, and help the State meet its Greenhouse Gas reduction goals.
Funding
To help bridge the temporary gap between electric and petroleum vehicle and infrastructure prices, Colorado SB21-260 has created three new sources of dedicated transportation funding and new state Enterprises to enable a sustainable transportation system.
The Clean Transit Enterprise housed within the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), the Clean Fleet Enterprise housed within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and the Community Access Enterprise housed within the Colorado Energy Office (CEO).
Stimulating Investment
The Advanced Industry Investment Tax Credit helps motivate clean energy investment in Colorado. Investors can earn a tax credit of 25% of their investment up to a maximum $100,000 credit on an investment of $10,000 or more. If the advanced industries business is in a Colorado enterprise zone or rural county, investors can earn a state income tax credit of 35% of their investment.
45V Production Tax Credit
Part of the US Inflation Reduction Act is provision for what is called the 45V Hydrogen Production Tax Credit. The US Department of the Treasury is has written guidance on how the tax credits will be implemented. three rules have been proposed which are sometimes referred to as “Three Pillars” consisting of "Hourly Matching", "Deliverability" and "Additionally".
The attached White Paper shows why "Hourly Matching" is completely unnecessary to demonstrate compliance with the 45V requirements to track renewable energy to qualify for the tax credit. The White Paper provides a superior way to meet all "Three Pillars" without making the 45V tax credit out of reach for most hydrogen businesses. Download A Better Alternative to Hourly Matching. pdf.
In the Media
Hydrogen-powered vehicles must be part of Colorado’s plan to get to zero emissions. FCEVs make for excellent passenger vehicles because they can travel 300-400 miles on a single tank, behaving similarly to gasoline-powered cars except with zero emissions – a key selling point when it comes to enticing all users to convert to electric. Plus with FCEVs, drivers don’t have to worry about diminished performance in cold weather, which is a fact of life in Colorado.
There’s more than one way to power an electric vehicle – Hydrogen. two options for zero-emission vehicles have emerged as commercially viable to meet consumers’ needs: battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles. It will take both batteries and fuel cells together to decarbonize emissions across the transportation sector, especially the 57% of greenhouse gas emissions from light-duty vehicles — the passenger cars we all drive.
Tech Briefs
This paper provides an overview of Natural or Geological Hydrogen.
Tech Brief - Understanding EV's
This tech brief provides a tutorial on Battery EV's Fuel Cell EV's and the differences, which highlights the use-cases for both vehicle types.
Tech Brief - Transporting Hydrogen
This tech brief provides an overview of new, alternative modes of storing and transporting hydrogen including Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers and Metal Hydrides.
Tech Brief - Sources of Hydrogen
This tech brief provides an overview of new, alternative sources of hydrogen including Geological Hydrogen Wells and extracting zero-carbon hydrogen from old petroleum wells.
Tech Brief - Environmental Benefits of Hydrogen
This tech brief answers common criticisms of hydrogen's role in the environmental movement to stop climate change, and shows how hydrogen is a critically needed component to support renewable electricity as a replacement for fossil fuels in all use cases.
Zero-carbon, renewable hydrogen from geologic wells. This paper by Viacheslav ("Slava") Zgonnik PhD explains the process. Slava is the CEO of Natural Hydrogen Energy, LLC which has offices in Denver and Paris. Copy courtesy of the author.
Colors of Hydrogen. This is a figure which shows that only four colors are needed to describe whether a source of hydrogen emits carbon or not, or is from a renewable source or not. These are the only criteria that are needed to determine the environmental impact of a hydrogen source.
Directory
Directory
The directory is a password protected Excel file listing of our contacts who agreed to have their name, e-mail, title and company listed. Contact brian.debruine@gmail.com to be listed and obtain access (or if you have misplaced the password).
Organization Documents
Bylaws
Note that these Bylaws refer to the Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 7, Articles 121 to 137. A copy can be found here.
Articles of Incorporation
Filed with the Colorado Secretary of State, 12/25/19
Newsletters
2021
2022
2023
Meeting Slides
2020
2021
2022
2023
Technical Information
California Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
The LCFS applies to fuels used for transportation. The goal of the program is to reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuel by the use of credits. Fuels with a CI below a certain level generate credits, and fuels with a CI above that level consume credits. See this guide for more detail. Also see the California LCFS website.
Description of a Fuel Cell EV
The attached link will take you to a document which describes the Toyota Mirai in detail. This will give you a good overview of the anatomy of a Fuel Cell EV
Fundamentals of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
If you would like to learn more about how hydrogen is created from renewable electricity, about the two different types of Electric Vehicles (EV's) and their characteristics, then click on the document link to the left. This gives an overview of using renewable energy for transportation.
IE4Tech 2019 Fuel Cell Industry Review