Arizona HOV Lane access?

[dfyant]

I haven't been able to find an answer to this question. I have a volt on order but am considering delaying it until they confirm it will have HOV lane access in AZ.

Does anyone know the answer to whether it will be able to get the alternative fuel plates?

I have a Civic NG right now that has them, and I certainly don't want to give them up

[AZ EV Driver]

I haven't been able to find an answer to this question. I have a volt on order but am considering delaying it until they confirm it will have HOV lane access in AZ.

Does anyone know the answer to whether it will be able to get the alternative fuel plates?

I have a Civic NG right now that has them, and I certainly don't want to give them up

Sorry to say the answer is NOT. They currently don't allow bi-fuel vehicles, which the Volt is classified as. They learned the hard way from the mess back in the late 1990's and the Prius special deal only lasted for the first 10,000. Still grinding my teeth every time I see a Prius with the blue plate knowing that the Volt is better qualified than they are.

VIN # 0985

[JWilenchikAZ]

I am in the same boat. Just bought a Volt 2 weeks ago and had an alternative energy plate from a Honda Hybrid but was surprised to learn that I cannot transfer the plate. The woman who answered the phone at the DMV Director's office said the Volt has not been approved yet for the program as of 12-15-11 because the alternative energy plate program is tied into another federal program which hasn't approved the Volt yet. This is of course ridiculous because if any car on the planet should qualify it would be the Volt. I asked the woman at the DMV Director's office how to find out when the Volt is approved and she didn't really have an answer except to tell me to hang on to the plate and keep my eyes open

[JWilenchikAZ]

FYI - from Ed Stillings at the federal Department of Transportation:

Jack

We received your email and voicemail regarding the issuance (transfer) of energy efficient plates. I have been asked to respond since I serve as the Division Office coordinator for this program. ADOT has two similar but different programs that deal with energy efficient vehicles. The first is the alternative fuel vehicle program. In order to qualify for this program, the vehicle must operate 100% on an alternative fuel such as compressed natural gas (CNG) or electric battery. The Chevrolet Volt would not qualify for this program since it runs on both gasoline and electric power. The other program is a pilot program that ADOT started back in 2007. Congress passed legislation in August 2005 that essentially allowed States to allow single occupant vehicles which operate on hybrid technology or 100% alternative fuel to utilize high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. The legislation had some program requirements and monitoring that had to be done by the state. ADOT elected to pursue a pilot program with 10,000 vehicle cap which they implemented in 2007. At the time the program was created, only three vehicles qualified under the hybrid technology, namely the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic and Honda Insight. In recent years, many new hybrid vehicles have been developed that qualify under the legislation. The legislation however, clearly gives a State the authority to establish the program guidelines and also allows them to make the program more restrictive if they choose. Since ADOT has not expanded the program beyond the original 10,000 vehicles, they have elected not to change the original program beyond the three vehicles they currently allow. We have had some discussions with them recently regarding potential expansion of the program and with that expansion, the need to revise the program eligibility accordingly. Program expansion is not a simple process since it carries a substantial monitoring effort in order to ensure that the HOV lanes do not become degraded and effect the operation of the lanes for buses and carpools. I am copying Eileen Colleran at ADOT on this email so that they are aware of your concerns regarding the inability to transfer your hybrid plate to a different energy efficient vehicle under the current program.

Ed

Edward Stillings, P.E.

Engineering Development Coordinator

Federal Highway Administration

4000 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1500

Phoenix, AZ 85012

(602) 382-8966

(602) 382-8998 Fax

ed.stillings@dot.gov