Denver will shift the income thresholds for its e-bike rebate program as the popular program to reduce emissions from vehicles enters its third year, city officials said Tuesday.

The city this year will use three income tiers instead of two to determine how much rebate money each person qualifies for. More people will be eligible for the new mid-level rebate — though fewer people with lower incomes will be eligible for the highest rebate amount.

The next round of rebate applications opens next Tuesday. Once again, the city will use a lottery system to choose from a pool of applicants. In past rounds, the vouchers were allocated within minutes. The city’s program is separate from a state e-bike rebate program.

Under the new rules, applicants from households that earn between 60% and 100% of the area median income — between $52,140 and $86,900 a year for a single person, and higher ranges for multiple-person households — qualify for a $700 rebate for an e-bike.

Those who make less qualify for a $1,200 rebate and those who make more can get $300 off their purchase. Those who qualify this year will be eligible for a $200 higher rebate at any of the three levels if they buy an e-cargo bike, which tends to cost more than a regular e-bike.

Previously, with two tiers, people who earned less than 80% of the area median income qualified for the regular $1,200 rebates, while anyone who made more money qualified for $300 rebates.

Officials with the city’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency said in a news release that they made other changes to make the application process easier for the highly sought vouchers.

People can now create an account for the online rebate voucher portal before applications open. If chosen, they will now have 90 days to redeem it, up from 60 days. The voucher portal is available at denverclimaterebates.com.

For this year’s program, rebates will open at 11:00 a.m. on Feb. 27, April 30, June 25, Aug. 27 and Oct. 29.

More than 15,000 Denverites have applied for the vouchers since the program launched in 2022 and 7,968 vouchers have been granted and redeemed, according to the city.

The $7.5 million spent on the program has reduced vehicle travel by nearly 170,000 miles every week, according to the climate office’s estimates. The program is funded through the city’s Climate Protection Fund, which was created by voters in 2020 by raising the local sales and use tax.

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