The town of Breckenridge, in partnership with Xcel Energy and the nonprofit Colorado CarShare, launched an electric vehicle sharing program on June 28 aimed at expanding transit options for residents. 

The program provides two electric cars housed in the town’s South Gondola parking garage that can be reserved up to four months in advance for trips as short as 15 minutes or as long as multiple days.

Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Owens, in a statement, said the initiative “enables households of residents and visitors alike to forgo car ownership, reduce the number of cars in the household, or leave cars at home when visiting.”

As part of the triaged effort, Xcel provided rebates to CarShare to purchase the vehicles while helping fund the town’s procurement of new chargers. The town is also set to provide a total of $5,000 in subsidies to residents who use the vehicles through CarShare. 

CarShare, which operates more than 60 electric vehicles along Colorado’s FrontRange offers a three-tiered pricing plan based on usage. The plans are for drives that are less than 5 hours each month, more than 5 hours and for up to 50 miles per day. Once a plan is selected, the price for a trip is then adjusted based on time and distance. 

For example, a 10 mile trip lasting under an hour can cost less than $5, according to the nonprofit’s price calculator. A trip lasting 100 miles and 20 hours, likely a multi-day excursion, can cost just over $100.

While town officials envision the program will be most beneficial for locals, it will also be open to part-time residents and visitors.

“The program is intended to support low-to-mixed-income residents, including local workforce,” stated Brooke Attebery, town communications and marketing coordinator, in an email. “It allows folks to save upwards of thousands of dollars per year over individual car ownership. It will likely also benefit (second) home owners who may now be able to forgo having additional vehicles here, as well as visitors from other parts of Colorado.”

The two vehicles are both equipped with snow tires and one also has a ski, snowboard and bike rack. Attebery states that those coming from the Front Range coming to ski may now be able to ride share or take the Snowstang while still having a vehicle in the area when needed.

Stay up-to-date on all things Summit County. Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: SummitDaily.com/newsletter

The program comes off the heels of a $243,000 electric bike initiative that launched in May with similar goals. Called Breck E-Ride, officials deployed 75 bikes housed in more than a dozen stations across the town. 

With stations positioned near workforce housing neighborhoods, the bikes are designed to provide car-free travel for residents needing to get to work, a store or a point of interest in the town. 

Council members have hailed that initiative as an investment in reducing carbon emissions, curbing vehicle congestion and expanding public transit. 

In a previous interview, Breckenridge council member Todd Rankin said, “With environmental goals, there’s not one silver bullet to fix it. “I think all of these incremental, small things hopefully add up to a bigger success story.”

In a statement, CarShare Executive Director Peter Krahenbuhl said the shared vehicle program “is suitable for those who wish to reduce their carbon footprint; who commute using public transit, walking, bicycling, or other alternative modes; or who want to reduce their monthly transportation costs.”