Denver’s latest round of electric bike rebates were gone in 20 minutes

Get ’em while they’re hot! Denver’s latest round of e-bike rebates proved that demand still far exceeds supply when it comes to the city’s electric bicycle subsidy program. The latest round of rebates, which was opened last week, was exhausted in just 20 minutes.

Denverites flooded the city’s online portal to apply for an electric bike rebate, which offered to take $300 off the price of a new e-bike for all Denver residents. Income-qualified residents could receive an even higher rebate of $1,200.

The total rebate amount is slightly lower than the rebates offered last year as part of Denver’s rebate program, but that didn’t stop city residents from snatching up the latest round of rebates.

Additional rounds of rebates will be launched five more times this year on March 28, May 30, July 24, September 26, and November 28. Those wishing to grab one of the rebates on future rounds should camp out on the city’s online portal here.

As popular as the rebates are, it was reported that 46% of the rebates granted last year went unused. That doesn’t mean that they were wasted, but rather that residents had 60 days to apply the rebate before the funds were automatically returned to the pool for future applicants.

We’ve also learned more about the impact of those Denver e-bike rebates, with the city announcing that $4.77M in vouchers were provided, leading to the purchase of $9.34M in electric bikes. Around 2/3 of those vouchers went to income-qualified applicants.

The city reported that the e-bikes purchased as part of the program were ridden 26 miles (42 km) per week on average, and replaced 3.4 car trips each week.

Denver’s e-bike rebate program has become one of the most famous in the US, though it is far from the only electric bicycle incentive program. The state of Colorado will soon be playing catchup by launching its own e-bike incentive program.

Vermont was the first in the US to launch a statewide e-bike incentive program, and we’re now seeing other states such as New York and Oregon proposing legislation to create their own statewide e-bike subsidy programs.

California has already allocated over $10M for a statewide e-bike subsidy, though it hasn’t rolled out yet. The California e-bike incentive is expected to begin later this year.

The e-bike industry has seen a bit of a roller coaster ride on pricing over the last several months, though many companies have found themselves in an overstock situation leading to relatively lower prices than usual this time of year.

Favorable pricing combined with increasingly widespread e-bike incentive programs have both helped fuel the rising wave of e-bike adoption in the US, which had already received a massive jump start over the last few years during the pandemic.

If you’re looking for some of the best electric bikes in the market at every price range, check out our compilation. Electrek has tested more electric bikes than any other media outlet, compiling detailed articles and videos to cover their features, advantages, and disadvantages.