{"id":76983,"date":"2025-12-01T17:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/76983\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T17:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:56:07","slug":"ev-sticker-shock-solo-drivers-using-california-carpool-lanes-face-hefty-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/76983\/","title":{"rendered":"EV sticker shock: Solo drivers using California carpool lanes face hefty fines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Solo EV drivers using California carpool lanes will face ticketing beginning Monday<\/a> as the perk disappears.<\/p>\n

Though the benefit technically ended for solo drivers a few months ago, the Department of Motor Vehicles offered a 60-day grace period that ended Monday. Now, solo drivers face fines of up to $490.<\/a> <\/p>\n

With this, most carpool lanes require vehicles with more than two people.<\/p>\n

Here is what to know:<\/p>\n

How many people are affected?<\/p>\n

As of Aug. 14, more than half a million motorists statewide had an active decal on their vehicle to access carpool lanes. California has an estimated 1,171 carpool lane-miles, with 803 miles in Southern California and 366 miles in Northern California, according to a UC Berkeley <\/a>study.<\/p>\n

With more than 35 million total registered vehicles<\/a> in California, that means 1% to 2% of the vehicle fleet will lose access to the carpool lane, said Antonio Bento, professor of public policy and economics at USC.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the background?<\/p>\n

Federal legislation<\/a> has allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to grant solo drivers in low-emission and energy-efficient cars to use the carpool, or High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV), lane.<\/p>\n

The goal was to promote the adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles and assist in meeting environmental goals that included reducing fuel consumption and pollution caused by congested freeways, according to the U.S. Department of Energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over time, states developed incentive programs, choosing which car models to give carpool access to.<\/p>\n

California is one of 13 states<\/a> that offered this type of incentive program to its residents. Qualified drivers in the Golden State include those who drive fuel cell electric, natural gas or plug-in electric cars.<\/p>\n

Why is the perk ending?<\/p>\n

In 2015, Congress authorized California\u2019s program through a highway funding bill, but that authorization expired Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

In an effort to extend the decal program, state Assemblymember Greg Wallis (R-Bermuda Dunes) wrote Assembly Bill 2678<\/a>, which would push the end date to Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year.<\/p>\n

But the change never got the required federal approval so the extension was moot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Solo EV drivers using California carpool lanes will face ticketing beginning Monday as the perk disappears. Though the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[44405,3899,44407,7,44403,9,8,44406,44408,2194,44404,31052,2663,13937,44402,225,178],"class_list":["post-76983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-access-carpool-lane","tag-assembly-bill","tag-beginning-monday","tag-california","tag-california-carpool-lane","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-carpool-lane-mile","tag-ev-sticker-shock","tag-goal","tag-hefty-fine","tag-incentive-program","tag-mile","tag-public-policy","tag-solo-driver","tag-state","tag-vehicle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}