Black Hills Energy & Colorado Leaders Advance Transportation Electrification Goals in Southern Colorado

BLACK HILLS ENERGY, COLORADO LEADERS ADVANCE TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION GOALS IN SOUTHERN COLORADO 

PUEBLO, Colo., Aug. 15, 2022 – “Join the EV Rev­o­lu­tion,” was the theme of today’s park­ing lot cel­e­bra­tion at Black Hills Ener­gy with local lead­ers gath­er­ing in Pueblo to share how elec­tric vehi­cle infra­struc­ture and adop­tion is gain­ing momen­tum in South­ern Col­orado. 

The event, spon­sored by Black Hills Ener­gy, drew EV experts and enthu­si­asts from across the state, includ­ing Pueblo May­or Nick Gradis­ar, Chris­t­ian Williss, senior direc­tor of Trans­porta­tion Fuels and Tech­nol­o­gy from the Col­orado Ener­gy Office, the Col­orado Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion, and vol­un­teers from Dri­ve Clean Col­orado, a non-prof­it coali­tion ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing peo­ple make deci­sions that bring about clean­er air in Col­orado through clean trans­porta­tion and effi­cient mobil­i­ty choic­es. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives were also on hand from Pueblo Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege to share how high­er edu­ca­tion is estab­lish­ing career path­ways for stu­dents inter­est­ed in the trans­for­ma­tion of auto­mo­tive tech­nol­o­gy. 

“We believe that elec­tri­fy­ing the trans­porta­tion sec­tor is a group jour­ney,” said Kel­lie Ashcraft, Black Hills Energy’s vice pres­i­dent of Col­orado Oper­a­tions. “We’re proud to do our part by help­ing grow elec­tric vehi­cle adop­tion and infra­struc­ture in South­ern Col­orado through our part­ner­ships with our cus­tomers and through our Ready EV rebate pro­gram, which makes EV charg­ing more afford­able and more con­ve­nient.”  

The Ready EV pro­gram has three main com­po­nents: 

• Rebates to sig­nif­i­cant­ly low­er the cost of elec­tric vehi­cle charg­ing equip­ment for homes and busi­ness­es   
• Upfront elec­tric vehi­cle pur­chase rebates for income-qual­i­fied cus­tomers to sup­port the equi­table adop­tion of EVs  
• A new time-of-day rate option to sup­port EV charg­ing that could lead to bill sav­ings  

“We’re excit­ed to cel­e­brate EV infra­struc­ture and charg­er rebates in South­ern Col­orado in part­ner­ship with May­or Gradis­ar and the Col­orado Ener­gy Office,” said Nick Wag­n­er, Black Hills Energy’s vice pres­i­dent of Col­orado Reg­u­la­to­ry Affairs and Pol­i­cy. “Through our Ready EV pro­gram, we’re sup­port­ing the adop­tion of elec­tric vehi­cles, remov­ing bar­ri­ers to EV own­er­ship and help­ing our cus­tomers learn about the many ben­e­fits of EVs, includ­ing their avail­abil­i­ty in South­ern Col­orado.”  

“The num­ber of elec­tric vehi­cles in South­ern Col­orado has more than dou­bled since 2016, and yet there’s still much poten­tial for growth,” said Pueblo May­or Gradis­ar. “We’re eager to work with com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, like Black Hills Ener­gy, to meet the grow­ing demand for EV infra­struc­ture and to do our part to sup­port the clean ener­gy tran­si­tion. The City of Pueblo has recent­ly start­ed with begin­ning to elec­tri­fy the fleet of Pueblo Police Depart­ment and we look to expand our EV fleet through­out our city depart­ments in the future. ”   

“Elec­tri­fi­ca­tion of the trans­porta­tion sec­tor is a crit­i­cal strat­e­gy in reduc­ing green­house gas emis­sions and improv­ing air qual­i­ty across the state,” said Chris­t­ian Williss, senior direc­tor of Trans­porta­tion Fuels and Tech­nol­o­gy at the Col­orado Ener­gy Office. “I applaud Black Hills Ener­gy and oth­er like-mind­ed orga­ni­za­tions who are lead­ing the tran­si­tion to elec­tric vehi­cles by  pro­vid­ing resources to help cus­tomers pur­chase EVs and save mon­ey in the process.”   

More infor­ma­tion about Black Hills Energy’s Ready EV pro­gram is avail­able at https://www.blackhillsenergy.com/efficiency-and-savings/welcome-ready-ev/welcome-colorado-ready-ev.  

Black Hills Cor­po­ra­tion 

Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) is a cus­tomer focused, growth-ori­ent­ed util­i­ty com­pa­ny with a tra­di­tion of improv­ing life with ener­gy and a vision to be the ener­gy part­ner of choice. Based in Rapid City, South Dako­ta, the com­pa­ny serves 1.3 mil­lion nat­ur­al gas and elec­tric util­i­ty cus­tomers in eight states: Arkansas, Col­orado, Iowa, Kansas, Mon­tana, Nebras­ka, South Dako­ta and Wyoming. 

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