IEVS: California’s New Purple HOV Sticker To Debut In January 2019

https://insideevs.com/california-new-hov-sticker-debut-2019/

For new cars and used ones which have never had stickers before. Available 1/1/2019, expires, 12/31/2023, i.e. one year later than the current Red stickers. Will be interesting to see how many annual color stickers they can come up with - we had yellow for HEVs, white and green for BEVs/PHEVs respectively, then the Red ones which started the yearly sticker program. I guess we can expect blue and orange at some point.

GRA said:

Will be interesting to see how many annual color stickers they can come up with

Click to expand...

As the program is due to end 9/30/2025 (unless extended) they only need two more colors.

RonDawg said:

GRA said:

Will be interesting to see how many annual color stickers they can come up with

Click to expand...

As the program is due to end 9/30/2025 (unless extended) they only need two more colors.

Click to expand...

As the program is due to end 9/30/2025.??? Which program?

New Purple stickers Available 1/1/2019, expires, 12/31/2023, i.e. one year later than the current Red stickers.

lkkms2 said:

RonDawg said:

GRA said:

Will be interesting to see how many annual color stickers they can come up with

Click to expand...

As the program is due to end 9/30/2025 (unless extended) they only need two more colors.

Click to expand...

As the program is due to end 9/30/2025.??? Which program?

New Purple stickers Available 1/1/2019, expires, 12/31/2023, i.e. one year later than the current Red stickers.

Click to expand...

The HOV exemption program for alternative fuel vehicles ends, per Federal law, on 9/30/2025 unless extended by Congress and signed by the President. After that, HOV lanes can only be used by multiple-occupancy vehicles, or single-rider motorcycles, or mass transit vehicles, just like before.

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/californias-clean-air-decals says specifically that all decals will expire on 9/30/2025, though I think they mean to say that the program ends on that date. https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/386 mentions it as well.

It should end then (if not before), as the number of AFVs should have reached significant numbers by then (and BEVs are forecast to be at cost parity with comparable ICEs). As it is, they had to go to the new expiration after 3+ years program here in California, as the HOV lanes were getting clogged by SO cars with stickers which reduced HOV lanes below the federally-mandated minimum average speed, and they couldn't just keep adding to the total. I personally think it shouldn't be extended past 2023 here, but then I was never a big fan of the SO stickers in the first place, as it encourages the very behavior that causes the congestion. The upside, of course, is that it helped get more PEVs on the road, and they were absolutely dependent on that perk for sales here. After all, the stickers were originally supposed to expire at the beginning (or end, forget which now) of 2015, but were extended to boost sales, first to 1/1/2017, and then to 1/1/2019. For more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article218596640.html

GRA said:

It should end then (if not before), as the number of AFVs should have reached significant numbers by then (and BEVs are forecast to be at cost parity with comparable ICEs). As it is, they had to go to the new expiration after 3+ years program here in California, as the HOV lanes were getting clogged by SO cars with stickers which reduced HOV lanes below the federally-mandated minimum average speed, and they couldn't just keep adding to the total. I personally think it shouldn't be extended past 2023 here, but then I was never a big fan of the SO stickers in the first place, as it encourages the very behavior that causes the congestion. The upside, of course, is that it helped get more PEVs on the road, and they were absolutely dependent on that perk for sales here. After all, the stickers were originally supposed to expire at the beginning (or end, forget which now) of 2015, but were extended to boost sales, first to 1/1/2017, and then to 1/1/2019. For more: https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article218596640.html

Click to expand...

I would have preferred that they excluded the PHEVs and left the BEVs, FCEVs, and NGV's alone, since PHEVs are becoming more and more common. The whole point of the program was to encourage adoption of AFV's, and PHEVs are kinda helping that, but not fully since depending on their range and the needs of the person driving, the miles being driven may not be all that green.

(At my work every year we are required to fill out a carpool survey, mandated by the SoCal AQMD. One of the choices under commuting method (solo, carpool, bus, bicycle, etc.) is "Zero Emission Vehicle." They note that for those who choose this, the miles driven from home to work MUST be all electric, or hydrogen, or NGV. So someone driving their Prius Plug in 20 miles one way doesn't count, nor does someone driving a Volt 60 miles one way.)

Of course manufacturers whose BEV/FCEV/NGV lineups are paltry to non-existent would NEVER have agreed to that, and lobbied to not only ensure they don't get excluded, but will force turnover (and thus new car sales) by slowly phasing out older previously included vehicles from the program.

RonDawg said:

I would have preferred that they excluded the PHEVs and left the BEVs, FCEVs, and NGV's alone, since PHEVs are becoming more and more common. The whole point of the program was to encourage adoption of AFV's, and PHEVs are kinda helping that, but not fully since depending on their range and the needs of the person driving, the miles being driven may not be all that green.

(At my work every year we are required to fill out a carpool survey, mandated by the SoCal AQMD. One of the choices under commuting method (solo, carpool, bus, bicycle, etc.) is "Zero Emission Vehicle." They note that for those who choose this, the miles driven from home to work MUST be all electric, or hydrogen, or NGV. So someone driving their Prius Plug in 20 miles one way doesn't count, nor does someone driving a Volt 60 miles one way.)

Click to expand...

I have a different view of PHEVs. Assuming that they are chosen with an appropriate AER (as per AQMD), they provide the least cost approach for the most environmental gain until full ZEVs are cost-competitive. I do think that there should be some minimum AER required, as the number of people whose commutes don't exceed the PiP's AER is pretty small, and the same holds for a lesser extent of many of the German conversions. I've long thought that 20 miles AER (ca. 50% of all American commutes) was a good number, and pretty much all PHEV manufacturers are moving to provide that or more now.

As for letting them in the HOV lanes, the only way to really handle that is to use transponders or some other method of signaling that you are running ZEV in the appropriate areas - I expect we'll start to implement congestion pricing and/or ZEV-only zones in U.S. cities in the not too distant future, as other countries have already done.

GRA said:

As for letting them in the HOV lanes, the only way to really handle that is to use transponders or some other method of signaling that you are running ZEV in the appropriate areas - I expect we'll start to implement congestion pricing and/or ZEV-only zones in U.S. cities in the not too distant future, as other countries have already done.

Click to expand...

LA's "HOT" lanes (I-10 and I-110) already do that. Curiously, the I-15 HOT lanes in San Diego County simply require the HOV stickers, no transponder required even for solo occupied vehicles. It would probably be too expensive to implement them on otherwise free HOV lanes.

RonDawg said:

GRA said:

As for letting them in the HOV lanes, the only way to really handle that is to use transponders or some other method of signaling that you are running ZEV in the appropriate areas - I expect we'll start to implement congestion pricing and/or ZEV-only zones in U.S. cities in the not too distant future, as other countries have already done.

Click to expand...

LA's "HOT" lanes (I-10 and I-110) already do that. Curiously, the I-15 HOT lanes in San Diego County simply require the HOV stickers, no transponder required even for solo occupied vehicles. It would probably be too expensive to implement them on otherwise free HOV lanes.

Click to expand...

Stickers-only for HOV lanes in the Bay Area, although we do have a few 'Tesla' (formerly 'Lexus') HOT/HOV lanes here which use transponders. I'm not a fan of HOT lanes - it smacks too much of "let them eat exhaust"* to me. At least the wealthier AFV buyers have to choose now between the stickers and the rebate, or else don't qualify for the latter, and the state's implemented new subsidies to make it easier for people much further down the economic scale to buy one of these cars and also get the HOV benefits. Hopefully, the more egalitarian approach will eliminate the backlash and avoid calls for Aux Barricades!




*A modern version of "Let them eat cake".