mwalsh said:^ I do wonder how many of the 36,000+ currently issued are actually with new vehicles that aren't sold yet, but dealers have registered them via the recent process allowing for such.
The article mentions that of the 40k quota, 12k were issued just in the last 4 months alone. I believe that's roughly the total *US* sales in that same time period of the biggest selling PHEVs (PiP, Volt, Energi series).
I would bet that California dealers reserving them for unsold cars is a big reason behind the sudden surge in the number of issued green stickers.