The city of Durango will offer e-bike rebates through a voucher system beginning in April.
Marty Pool, sustainability manager for the city, said residents can apply for e-bike vouchers between April 17 and May 14, and the city will perform voucher selection once the application window closes.
General applicants who are awarded a voucher can receive $300 rebates at the time of purchase when they buy their e-bikes at locally participating stores, he said. A $150 post-purchase rebate is available for e-bike purchases made at nonparticipating stores. And income-qualified residents can receive rebates from $500 to $1,550, depending on their income levels and where they make their purchases.
In total, the city has $50,000 to fund the program, Pool said. Half of that was allocated by Durango City Council through the lodgers tax fund while another $25,000 was received from Colorado Department of Transportation’s Innovative Mobility Office.
Program guidelines stipulate that e-bike purchases eligible for rebates can be made anywhere, including online, but the reimbursement value is greater for purchases made with participating local businesses. Income-qualified rebates are for e-bikes that cost less than $2,100 for standard e-bikes, or $2,500 for e-cargo-bikes. There is no cost limit for disability-supportive e-bikes or general applicants.
Additionally, the vouchers are only applicable for class 1 and class 2 e-bikes with electric motors that run on 750 watts or less, guidelines say. Full-suspension mountain e-bikes are not eligible.
A list of participating bike shops will be included on the vouchers, Pool said. He is working with local shops to coordinate the program.
Vouchers from the city will be needed to be eligible for a rebate. Pool warned that residents hoping to take advantage of the rebate should wait to purchase their e-bikes until after they’ve applied for and received a voucher from the city.
The goal of the program is to encourage the adoption of e-bikes to reduce the strain on available parking, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide a lower-cost transportation option than provided by traditional vehicles, according to a webpage about the program that launched on Monday.
Durango area residents, members of the Durango workforce, students attending school in Durango, and businesses and nonprofits that want to provide rebates to income-qualified applicants are eligible to apply, a program summary says.
After the application window opens, residents can pick up and drop off paper applications at the Durango Public Library and Durango City Hall.
Pool said other communities with e-bike rebate programs have seen the rebates quickly “snatched up” as soon as they were available and he expects the city’s program to be successful.
He said a great aspect of the city’s rebate program is it can be stacked with other area programs, such as La Plata Electric Association’s e-bike rebate program which offers a rebate of 25% of the purchase price up to $150, as well as the Colorado Energy Office’s rebate program for low- to moderate-income earners that is scheduled to launch later this year.
cburney@durangoherald.com
