High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes
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For years, green-car buyers in California have enjoyed a special perk: access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes that can whiz past gridlock, even with just a single occupant. Now, updates to the rules signed into law in October by Governor Jerry Brown will likely change the way owners and shoppers view the coveted carpool-lane stickers and how they seek to retain the coveted privilege. In less than a decade, officials in California want to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles on the road by five-fold, to 1.5 million by the end of 2025, according to a January report by local station...
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CA plug-in carpool-lane access bill up for vote; here's why some oppose it
Several months ago, the allocated supply of "green stickers" that give buyers of new plug-in hybrid cars access to California carpool lanes expired. So you think that a pending bill in the California state legislature to expand that supply would get the support of plug-in electric car advocates...
John Voelcker -
2017 Chevy Bolt EV sales could go as high as 80,000, says analyst
The question of how many electric cars can be sold in a single year remains a topic of hot debate as the U.S. market awaits the launch of the 200-mile Chevy Bolt EV at the end of this year. The world's best-selling electric car, the Nissan Leaf, had its highest-sales year in the U.S. in 2014, when...
John Voelcker -
Carpool-Lane Access: Very Important For Electric-Car Adoption, It Turns Out
A new study claims carpool-lane access significantly boosts electric-car sales in California.
Stephen Edelstein -
CA Green Stickers All But Gone; Q1's Plug-In Hybrid Sales Suffered This Year: UPDATE
All good things must come to an end, and so it is with the green stickers that give plug-in hybrid drivers access to California's freeway carpool lanes with just one person in the car. A total of 70,000 stickers were allotted, and the supply is now almost exhausted. A bill to allocate 15,000 more...
John Voelcker -
German State To Test City 'Eco Lane' For Cleanest Cars, Carpools
Carpool lanes have been an accepted part of the landscape in California for more than 40 years now. But they're less well-known in Europe, where bus lanes have taken priority instead--largely due to pervasive and well-accepted mass transit systems. But now Germany is planning to test the concept of...
John Voelcker -
California surveyed applicants for the state electric-car incentive program, and will put the results online.
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Does Nissan Leaf Supplant The Prius As Loathing Target For CA Drivers?
If you've never lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may not have heard of "Mr. Roadshow," the nickname of San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Richards. Nor will you know how important his columns are, covering traffic, congestion, freeways, law enforcement, cars, and all the other topics...
John Voelcker -
CA Carpool-Lane Stickers For Plug-In Hybrids Run Out By May--Or Sooner
One of the major incentives for buying a plug-in electric car in California is the coveted sticker allowing single-occupant travel in the carpool lanes on the state's crowded freeways. Now, the supply of stickers for plug-in hybrids that can travel on battery power alone but also have an engine as...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Volt Plug-In Sales Surge In CA, Outsells 'Vette Too
It's quite the morning for electric-car news today, but we didn't want to let one from yesterday slip by either. After a lumpy start to sales of the Chevrolet Volt, it appears that California dealers now can't keep the range-extended electric car in stock. According to an analysis of registration...
John Voelcker -
Virginia’s Hybrid HOV Lane Perks: Anything But Easy
For years, we’ve covered California’s High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane access perks for drivers of ultra-low or zero-emissions cars. Reasonably simple to understand, with a few exceptions, California’s HOV lane rules allows drivers of qualifying vehicles fitted with official HOV...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Want To Drive Your Green Car In CA HOV Lanes? Here’s How
If you live in California, you’ll know that buying a green car can come with impressive perks, including purchase rebates of up to $2,500 and access to the state's High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. But you can't just start driving in the HOV lanes if you own a qualifying electric, hydrogen...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
California's high-occupancy vehicle lanes, which emptied out last July as 85,000 hybrids lost their access, are about to start admitting more cars. This week, Chevy dealers in California are receiving their first 2012 Chevrolet Volts fitted with the right emissions gear to give drivers access to HOV lanes. And they're being joined by 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid models, which are starting to arrive at California Toyota dealers. Both vehicles qualify for the coveted green stickers that give California drivers access to HOV lanes during rush hour with only a single occupant. $1,500 rebate...
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HOV-Lane Eligible Chevy Volts On Sale In California Next Week
Earlier today,General Motors confirmed that it has restarted production of the 2012 Chevrolet Volt at its Detroit Hamtramck facility. In addition, the automaker has confirmed that it is now producing Californian-market Volts, complete with a low emissions package that enables them to qualify for...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevy Steps Up Volt Sales Efforts With 'Quad $0' Lease In California
With last month's sales of the 2012 Chevy Volt less than half what they were in December, Chevrolet has stepped up its efforts to sell its innovative but pricey range-extended electric car. And it's doing it the old-fashioned way, by "putting money on the hood," as salespeople say. According to...
John Voelcker -
Can Your 2012 Chevy Volt Use California HOV Lanes? It Depends
When General Motors launched the Chevrolet Volt in 2010, the state of California decided that it didn’t meet the required emissions standards needed to classify it as an Electric Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle (e-AT-PZEV). At Launch, No HOV Lane Access As a consequence...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield