California may be the spiritual home of fun cars like the Mercedes-AMG G63 and the Porsche 911. But it’s far from the optimal place to drive them, as traffic can be horrific. Not coincidentally, California uses high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on highways to promote carpooling, reserving the far left lane for cars with two or more occupants. The state also incentivizes electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids by allowing owners a clean vehicle sticker that permits them to use HOV lanes, regardless of how many people are in the car.
The clean vehicle sticker program is popular; California sold nearly 200,000 of them in 2024. However, it may end later this year.
Federal Legislation Permitting the California Clean Vehicle Stickers Is Expiring
According to Automotive News, the federal law authorizing California to offer electric vehicles access to its HOV lanes expires on September 30th. California has a pending bill to extend the program through the end of 2026, but doing so would require federal reauthorization. That would mean California would have to work with a potentially hostile Trump administration to extend the program.
Trump has gone to almost cartoonish lengths to disincentivize EVs. And House Republicans have explicitly targeted California’s Clean Air Act waiver, which the state has used to promote electric vehicle production.
But There Could Be Some Wiggle Room To Save California Clean Vehicle Stickers
Extending clean vehicle stickers in California may not be dead on arrival. The lawmaker sponsoring California’s reauthorization bill is a Republican. It’s possible Elon Musk could step in to help save the incentive. Even if Tesla is losing market share, California remains America’s most important market for EVs and Teslas. Tesla has been selling more than 200,000 vehicles per year in the state. Losing an EV incentive would, presumably, hurt Tesla’s sales. And Donald Trump is now encouraging people to buy Teslas.
TopSpeed’s Take
More people should buy EVs. They help save the planet. They are becoming better and more affordable. They excel at the humdrum that everyday driving owners actually do with their cars, especially in heavy California traffic. Incentives to buy them may be going away. So, on a surface level, losing more incentives to purchase EVs is terrible, and this stinks if you own an EV in California.
However, one could argue it’s time to revisit this particular incentive. Getting more EVs on the road helps reduce traffic emissions. However, the original purpose of HOV lanes in California and elsewhere was to alleviate traffic (not just make it pollute less). Sending hundreds of thousands of extra vehicles into those lanes diminishes their value and reduces the incentive for drivers to carpool. In an era where electric vehicle sales are becoming more mainstream — particularly in California — it may be worth questioning how much of an effect this incentive still has.
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