Colorado Has 17 NEVI Fast-Charging Sites Open. Another 33 Are Awarded, Not Operating.

Colorado now has 17 NEVI-supported fast-charging locations open, while another 33 awarded locations remain under development, according to an Aug. 27 update from the Colorado Department of Transportation. That makes 50 NEVI-funded projects that have either opened or been awarded — not 50 operating charging sites.¹

The distinction matters as Colorado moves toward a different milestone: Fully Built Out status under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. CDOT says the state is making substantial progress toward that status, but its current release describes Federal Highway Administration confirmation as a future step rather than saying Colorado has already received it.¹

Under FHWA's current NEVI guidance, once a state determines its designated Alternative Fuel Corridors are fully built out and the U.S. transportation secretary certifies that determination, remaining NEVI funding can be used for charging infrastructure on any public road or in other publicly accessible locations.² That would give Colorado more geographic flexibility for whatever NEVI funding remains, without implying that every charging gap has disappeared or that the state has already cleared the federal gate.²

Round 9 is still proposals, not projects

Colorado's next DC Fast-Charging Plazas award round could move the buildout again. The state says Round 9 attracted 22 applications proposing 73 locations, including at least one proposal in seven of 10 Priority Communities. Awards are expected in September.¹

Those 73 locations are application proposals. They are not 73 awards, construction starts or future operating stations. The same status discipline applies to the 33 already awarded locations: CDOT describes them as under development, separately from the 17 sites it counts as open.¹

Colorado's 2025 NEVI plan provides useful historical context, but not a current count of what remains. At the time of that plan, the state estimated that approximately 20 additional locations needed awards to approach Fully Built Out status.³ That estimate came from an earlier network snapshot and should not be equated with today's 33 awarded projects or the 73 locations proposed in Round 9.¹³

The 83% figure is a different measurement

CDOT's new release also says 83% of Colorado's state highway network is within 30 miles of a DC fast-charging station.¹ That figure is a statewide coverage metric spanning public fast chargers from multiple funding sources; it is not Colorado's NEVI Fully Built Out determination or a federal certification percentage.¹²⁴

It is not a new peak, either. CDOT's own FY2026 performance scorecard lists an FY2025 comparison value of 83%, followed by 84% in the first quarter and 82% in the second quarter. The agency said the second-quarter decline reflected the closure of a remote DC fast-charging station in Julesburg.⁴ The Aug. 27 update puts the measure back at 83%.¹

That history shows why the coverage number should not be treated as a simple completion counter. It can fall when an existing station closes, while the NEVI Fully Built Out process is a separate determination about the state's designated Alternative Fuel Corridors and the federal program's spending boundary.²⁴

The old fixed-spacing shorthand is also outdated

FHWA revised its NEVI guidance in August 2025 and gave states more flexibility to determine appropriate distances between charging stations and when their corridor systems are fully built out.² That makes the old shorthand that NEVI universally requires a station every 50 miles a poor description of the current federal guidance.

Colorado did retain 50 miles as a state program target in its federally approved 2025 plan. But the plan also said some gaps greater than 50 miles could reasonably be treated as built out when geography, existing charging or other mitigating factors justified an exception.³

So Colorado's current position is more specific than either 83% complete or 50 sites open. The state reports 17 NEVI-supported locations operating and 33 awarded locations still under development; it is evaluating another round of proposals; and it says it is progressing toward a federal status that would broaden where remaining NEVI funds may be deployed.¹²

The next concrete public checkpoints are the Round 9 awards expected in September and any state or FHWA record establishing that Colorado's Fully Built Out determination has advanced through the federal certification process.¹²

Sources

Footnotes

1. Colorado Department of Transportation, “Colorado nears a fully built-out statewide electric vehicle fast-charging network” — Aug. 27, 2026. https://www.codot.gov/news/2026/august2026news/colorado-nears-statewide-ev-fast-charging-network Establishes the 17 open / 33 awarded-under-development NEVI snapshot, 50 open-or-awarded total, Round 9 application counts and September award expectation, current 83% coverage figure, and CDOT's future-facing Fully Built Out characterization. CDOT's substantial progress framing is an agency characterization. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. Federal Highway Administration / Federal Register, “National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program Guidance,” 90 FR 39025, Document 2025-15370 — effective Aug. 13, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/13/2025-15370/national-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-formula-program-guidance Establishes the current interim-guidance posture, the state-determination/Secretary-certification boundary for broader NEVI use, and greater state flexibility on station spacing and buildout determinations. Rechecked during M20 drafting on Aug. 28, 2026; no later superseding NEVI buildout guidance was identified in that current-source search. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Colorado Department of Transportation / Colorado Energy Office, “2025 Update of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program Deployment Plan for Colorado” — September 2025. https://www.codot.gov/programs/innovativemobility/assets/colorado-2025-nevi-plan_final.pdf Establishes Colorado's historical estimate of approximately 20 additional award locations, its retained 50-mile state target, possible reasoned exceptions and the state-determination/FHWA process described in the approved plan. It is historical planning context, not proof of current Aug. 2026 site gaps or certification status. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Colorado Department of Transportation, “Fiscal Year 2026 Wildly Important Goals — Quarter 2 Progress Update” — FY2026 Q2 scorecard. https://www.codot.gov/performance/assets/fy-26-wigs-quarter-2-scorecard.pdf Establishes the separate 30-mile highway DC-fast-charging coverage series of 83% for the FY2025 comparison, 84% in Q1 and 82% in Q2, plus CDOT's explanation that the Q2 decline reflected closure of a remote Julesburg station. This metric is not limited to NEVI-funded sites and is not the federal Fully Built Out test. ↩ ↩² ↩³