RePo
Well-known member
The '13 Leaf is up for it's first Texas State Inspection. In Houston they do emissions testing as well (but we all know EVs are safety inspection only).
Took it to my regular Mr. Sticker- they were closed and waved me on. OK, fine. Lots of competitors. Drove to find the next inspection joint down the road. It was a gravel used-tire sales barn with staff members of middle-eastern decent. Fine by me, this ought to be fun.
Drove it in, said I was in for my state SAFETY inspection. No prob, guy rolls out the state computer and starts tapping away at his usual emissions inspection. I tell him again it only needs the $7 safety inspection. While waiting for the computer to log in, he looks for the gas cap to test. I told him it's an electric car, it doesn't have one. He ignores that, and calls over to his associate to about what to do with this car. Reply come back "It's a hybrid". So he picks Hybrid in the state computer and it asks the engine size. I tell him it doesn't have one. He calls to his associate again, who comes over this time. Together they pop the hood with a flashlight and start reading every sticker under there to find out the engine size. The other guy announces it's a 1.8 liter. Dude enters that in the state computer and next it asks for the number of cylinders. I tell him zero, it's an electric car- adding No gas, No gas cap, No engine, No transmission. He doesn't believe any of that, so together they search for the fuel filler to show ME that it's a hybrid and uses gas. Now I just watch them look behind the license plate (like my '79 Olds), in the wheel wells and around every fender. They tell the computer to skip the test and plug into the ODBII connector to read the emissions status from the engine computer. It tries for 120 seconds and finally times out with an all RED FAILed emissions test- no response from engine diagnostics. I mention again that it doesn't even have an engine. They decide to quit the test and start over on the state computer. This time I join him and point to each option stating with SAFETY ONLY inspection. He click through the horn/lights/wipers PASS and the system finally prints it's passing inspection page.
They (since they get it now) starts the questions- how far, how fast, how charge. I tell them it goes 80 miles on a charge. Big red flag for this guy- he says "But how do you drive it to Austin <city 200 miles away>? UM, I don't. I have another pig in the garage that I take on long trips, this is a "FREE" local commuter car. They want to see charging ports, looking for outlets to charge in their shop. I gloss over this with a simple "Yes, I can use that".
I hope they enjoyed their education, I gave them a tip as they didn't seem to be able to make change for a ten.
And a smile. I'll have to do this every year for a while.
Took it to my regular Mr. Sticker- they were closed and waved me on. OK, fine. Lots of competitors. Drove to find the next inspection joint down the road. It was a gravel used-tire sales barn with staff members of middle-eastern decent. Fine by me, this ought to be fun.
Drove it in, said I was in for my state SAFETY inspection. No prob, guy rolls out the state computer and starts tapping away at his usual emissions inspection. I tell him again it only needs the $7 safety inspection. While waiting for the computer to log in, he looks for the gas cap to test. I told him it's an electric car, it doesn't have one. He ignores that, and calls over to his associate to about what to do with this car. Reply come back "It's a hybrid". So he picks Hybrid in the state computer and it asks the engine size. I tell him it doesn't have one. He calls to his associate again, who comes over this time. Together they pop the hood with a flashlight and start reading every sticker under there to find out the engine size. The other guy announces it's a 1.8 liter. Dude enters that in the state computer and next it asks for the number of cylinders. I tell him zero, it's an electric car- adding No gas, No gas cap, No engine, No transmission. He doesn't believe any of that, so together they search for the fuel filler to show ME that it's a hybrid and uses gas. Now I just watch them look behind the license plate (like my '79 Olds), in the wheel wells and around every fender. They tell the computer to skip the test and plug into the ODBII connector to read the emissions status from the engine computer. It tries for 120 seconds and finally times out with an all RED FAILed emissions test- no response from engine diagnostics. I mention again that it doesn't even have an engine. They decide to quit the test and start over on the state computer. This time I join him and point to each option stating with SAFETY ONLY inspection. He click through the horn/lights/wipers PASS and the system finally prints it's passing inspection page.
They (since they get it now) starts the questions- how far, how fast, how charge. I tell them it goes 80 miles on a charge. Big red flag for this guy- he says "But how do you drive it to Austin <city 200 miles away>? UM, I don't. I have another pig in the garage that I take on long trips, this is a "FREE" local commuter car. They want to see charging ports, looking for outlets to charge in their shop. I gloss over this with a simple "Yes, I can use that".
I hope they enjoyed their education, I gave them a tip as they didn't seem to be able to make change for a ten.
And a smile. I'll have to do this every year for a while.
