California HOV stickers running out by Sept? Really?

Talking to a guy at my work with his shiny new PiP with the CA HOV stickers. He told me, he heard from the dealer that stickers would likely run out by September. I looked it up, and CA allots 40,000 stickers. That's less than half how many were allotted for the now expired standard hybrid HOV stickers (the yellow ones).

I'm sure the dealer was saying this as a sales tactic. The question is, was he lying, telling the truth, or guessing?

Anybody know how many stickers have already been sent out?

Hmm. I think I just answered my own question.

According to http://www.ktvz.com/automotive/31167633/detail.html, 7057 Volts and 3638 PiPs have been sold year to date. Toyota says they hope to sell 16,000 by the end of the year. With Chevy selling an average of 1400 a month, that should be about 33,000 cars by the end of the year. So even if 100% of these cars sold in California, they shouldn't run out by then.

Someone just received their stickers in the 1800 range. So there are still 30,000+ stickers to go.

No way they will run out by Sept. They are just on #1800 or so on the stickers that they have given out, and even with cars other than the Prius plug-in qualifying for the HOV lane, they won't come close to 40,000. In fact, I doubt that there will be a need for 40,000 stickers even by Jan. 1, 2015, when the HOV lane program is scheduled to end.

Every person I've talked to (except Dianne w.) have told me to hurry before the stickers sell out. The sticker is a huge selling point to me so I worry until I think about it some more.

My question is, is that really rational? With roughly 10,000 Plug-ins sold (pure EVs get a different sticker, with no limit set yet), and roughly 20% of those selling in CA (based on 1800 stickers given out), even in plug-in sales *triple* in rate, that's roughly 40,000 cars sold in America by the end of the year. With 20% of them in CA, that's still only 8,000 stickers.

So I'm a bit relieved, but I will check with CARB every few months, to see where the numbers are. Just in case.


BTW: I missed the boat on the original HEV yellow stickers by about a year. Didn't that program get extended a couple of times passed the original sticker expiration?

I'm sticker #0158X. He lied.

To answer Mormegil, yes, the yellow sticker program did get extended; I'm not sure if it was once or twice, but at least once.

It lloks like a mix. I just checked the last page on the green sricker thread, one that arrived today was in the 1900s, and another was mid 2039 or so.

I better keep an eye on that thread.

I thought the 40k cap was for the white & green stickers? Or is it just the green stickers?

According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) website, the green stickers are capped to 40k, and the white stickers have no set cap yet.

Rumor has it the green stickers will not be extended but the white one probably will since they are ALL electric in 2015..

Just got mine on Friday, June 8th. #EH02027.

So roughly 37,976 Left, minus a few hundered in processing...

So unless You think roughly 12k PiPs/Volts will sell per month in Cali I'm pretty sure they will last through September.

Yes, I'm thinking at this rate they will never hit the 40k that they did with the yellow stickers.

I still remember when I bought my HCH2.. received a big tax rebate that next year. Bought my LCD
TV.. It's tiny compared to the sizes that are out today.. And I think I paid like $3000 for it. Now they are half that price.

I'm pretty sure that the 40,000 cap is only for the green stickers.

However, there is a cap on the $1,500 rebates, and that money may be gone by September.

I must be dumb in math. I'd guess 12(months) times 1,400 cars per month would be less than 1/2 of 33,000 cars. Oh wait ... maybe you're counting both manufacturers.

Ya gotta count anything built that will take a green sticker into consideration.

Right now, that's just VOLT post-March production and PHEV Prius. Personally, I feel there will be more stickers than cars for at least 2 years.

I have been quite candid and honest with folks. Right now, getting a sticker is a no-brainer. But, the CA tax money of $1500 will run out long before the stickers will. That's what a concern would be, if there was one!

He didn't say which year


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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?t1b2eb

Unless the law is updated, the green decals turn into pumpkins on Jan 1, 2015.