The little trucks known as kei trucks may soon have a big presence on Colorado roads.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Last week, Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1281 into law. It legalizes the use of kei cars and trucks on the state’s roads starting in July 2027.
Drivers who want to apply to register their kei cars and trucks will have to wait until Jan. 1, 2028, however, in order to give the state time to make the changes to the DMV and emissions systems.
Ryan Albarelli, the owner of a kei truck and an advocate for legalizing the vehicles, watched Polis sign the bill on the back of his 1990 Honda Acty with the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. William Lindstedt, on hand.
“I do really appreciate the support of Rep. Lindstedt and Gov. Polis and his office to help get this over the line,” Albarelli said. “Because at the very beginning of this process, the authority, so to speak, relayed the message like, ‘Sorry, you’re never going to get this title. Why don’t you just go pass a law?’ And I was like, ‘Okay, let’s do that, I guess.’”
The new law authorizes a kei vehicle to operate on the state’s roads and requires the vehicle to be 25 years old, issued a certificate of title, be registered, and to obey monitor vehicle traffic laws. Kei vehicles will be allowed on roads with speed limits up to 55 miles per hour. Albarelli said the bill is consistent with other states’ rules and statutes.
“We went with that kind of concept and I think that’s a fair trade-off. People really shouldn’t be taking these little kei trucks on an interstate,” Albarelli said. “It can’t go fast enough. It certainly isn’t going to be safe in a high-speed rollover or any kind of crash that’s on the interstate. So, the rule just kind of reinforces it’s something to keep around town, around where you live.”
Kei, which is short for Kei-jidōsha, which translates to “light vehicle,” has faced its share of opposition in Colorado and other states.
Albarelli, who saw kei trucks during visits to his cousin in Okinawa, Japan, purchased his kei truck from an owner of a Japanese tree-trimming company. He said he always was a fan of small and efficient vehicles.
Albarelli noted he doesn’t use his kei truck for daily commutes to work. His family has other vehicles for that.
Ryan Albarelli and his Honda kei truck in front of his Broomfield home. Jan. 29, 2025. (Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance)“I bought it just as a sort of tool around my neighborhood to go to the grocery store or the Home Depot, that are only a mile from my house, maybe take it to a parade, whatever fun little things to do with the vehicle.”
Albarelli said he was able to get a title from his county DMV. Others weren’t as successful due to other county DMVs and the Colorado State Patrol’s refusals to perform emission tests on the vehicles.
“So, all three parties were sort of pointing at each other, saying it wasn’t allowed and you couldn’t really escape from that,” Albarelli said. “So, that’s where we started digging into the law, finding other people that were stuck in the same situation and trying to find what was the best way forward to this problem.”
The Division of Motor Vehicles had pushed to ban kei vehicles last year. But that proposal was pulled.
The Division of Motor Vehicles issued a rule that stated that kei vehicles and mini trucks “do not meet the definition of Motor Vehicle” under Colorado law because they weren’t designed for American roads or North American standards.
Other states have banned them and categorized them as off-road vehicles, citing safety concerns. But some have allowed their use on public roads.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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