Arizona will end program that allowed some hybrid vehicles to use HOV lane
Helena Wegner
Arizona is ending a program that allowed drivers of certain hybrid cars to use the carpool lane even if just one person was in the vehicle.
The Energy Efficient Plate Program lets plug-in hybrid cars, and some older non plug-in hybrids, use the high-occupancy vehicle lane if they had the "energy efficient" license plates that display a blue sky with white clouds.
Doug Nick, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, said the federal law that authorized the energy efficiency program expired Sept. 30 and the state won't issue any more such plates starting March 2.
"We have no choice but to follow the law and when that expired, we joined all the other states," Nick said.
Current plate-holders will continue to have access to the HOV lane, but the plate loses its validity if the car is sold, transferred or traded, according to ADOT.
Before the March deadline, hybrid car owners with an eligible plate can transfer it to another eligible vehicle.
The program started in 2007 and had a cap of 10,000 license plates, Nick said. Every few years, the program opened to more participants. More than 5,600 vehicles have the "energy efficient" plate.
Drivers of alternative energy vehicles with plates that look similar but say "alternative fuel" are not affected. Those vehicles are fully electric, or have another non-gasoline fuel source and include cars like the Tesla Model 3, S and X, Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt EV, and Audi E-Tron.
Some OK with change in policy
Michael Roberts, a sales manager at AutoNation Toyota, said he thinks hybrid and electric vehicles should not have access to the HOV lane.
While allowing electric and hybrid vehicles access to the carpool lane created an incentive to buy more energy-efficient vehicles, Roberts said the program offered these plates for the wrong reasons.
"You get the worst efficiency (for) electric or hybrid (cars) … on the highway in the HOV lane," Roberts said. "That is the very worst that you can do for these vehicles."
When a hybrid car is in stop-and-go traffic, regenerative braking restores more energy and requires less gasoline consumption while freeway driving uses the gasoline engine for power, Roberts said.
Jim Stacks, a former hybrid energy efficient plate holder and president of the Phoenix Electric Auto Association, said he doesn't have a problem with the halt of the energy efficiency program because new cars can fully run on electricity.
Stacks upgraded from a Prius plug-in hybrid to a Chevrolet Spark EV — a total electric car. His wife drives a Tesla Model 3.
"I drive electric because it is so much better — no gas tank, no transmission, no oil changes," Stacks said.
When he owned a plug-in hybrid vehicle, Stacks said he avoided driving on highways.
Instead, he preferred side streets that allow "hypermiling"— driving at a lower speed while getting twice the mileage — and "regenerative braking" — putting energy back into the vehicle from braking.
Contact the reporter at Helena.Wegner@arizonarepublic.com.