SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, CA. (Pain In The Pass) >> Drivers of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids across California will soon lose their privileges to drive in the carpool lane with only one person in the car, as the Clean Air Vehicle Decal program is set to end at the end of month.
These decals have marked more than a million electric and hybrid cars in California since 2001 and will no longer be valid after September 30, 2025.
Starting October 1, 2025, the decals will no longer be valid, and vehicles must meet occupancy requirements in the high-occupancy vehicle lanes HOV (Carpool Lane) and pay required tolls, or risk facing fines.
The California DMV sent a statement saying in part, “The federal government’s decision to eliminate this smart and popular program will hurt hundreds of thousands of California drivers, and these drivers will have to pay the price of sitting in traffic.
Unfortunately, loss of Clean Air Vehicle Decal program access will mean less traffic in the HOV lanes, but sadly more drivers in regular traffic lanes.
California is now looking at other options to provide this service back. At this time no timetable of a restart.
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