California No Longer Issuing HOV Carpool Stickers to Hybrids
Hybrid cars are a huge hit in California and for a number of reasons. The first reason you might think of is the that citizens of the fine state are concerned about the environment. And while that might be true, there’s also a more self-serving reason, namely, that the California DMV issues 85,000 “Clean Air Vehicle” stickers to hybrid cars owners allowing them to drive in the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) or carpool lanes.
According to spokesman Steve Haskins, the DMV has now received as many request as it can fill and so no more passes will be given out.
As a result, those looking to purchase a hybrid like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight to avoid rush hour chaos are now out of luck.
Instead those folks will now be heading over to Nissan to pick up a Leaf, as a new California Bill allows EVs and cars running on compressed natural gas to drive in the carpool lanes – at lest until 2015.
[Source: HybridCars.com]
[Photo Credit: EVNut]
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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Actually, the 85,000 yellow HOV decals ran out a long time ago. They were scheduled to expire in January, 2011. The new law just passed in CA extends that date to July, 2011, and provides for white HOV decals to be issued to low fuel and no fuel vehicles like CNG (propane) powered, electrics, and plug-in hybrids. These will be the next generation of "Carpool hybrids". Gene Chamson CarpoolHybrids.com