There has been some talk about allowing Hybrid vehicles in the HOV lane w/ a single person. This might be OK if hybrids are very high MPG vehicles. But lets think this thing through a bit first.
HOV lanes were created to ease congestion, by encouraging carpooling, hence less cars on the road. Yes this will save fuel, but this is a secondary reason for HOV lanes. By allowing single person vehicles you are eroding the incentive to carpool by causing more congestion in the HOV lanes.
Also hybrid vehicles, while more efficient then their non-hybrid counterparts, does not mean that the car itself is very efficient. IIRC a Ford Escape SUV gets 32 MPG, should this be allowed while a conventional Saturn gets 38 mpg and would not be permitted (assuming single passenger) in HOV lanes?
Not to mention that Diesel cars usually can get better MPG then a gas vehicle (about the same MPG gain as a hybrid), why are these vehicles not allowed, if we are allowing Hybrids?
we in detroit don’t have such lanes. going by what you say, though, no. it wasn’t very well thought of. it sounds to me like the local government trying to…i don’t want to say “force”, but i’m lacking a more precise word…force people to drive in carpools or hybrids. i suppose it could also be construed as not “forcing”, but merely placing hybrid owners at an advantage. if the municipality wants to reward such behavior, and if the bulk of the populace feels similarly, then have at it.
‘Function creep’. If such lanes were created solely for the purpose of reducing congestion, then yes, this is a strange move. However, I’d be surprised if among all the reasoning for the original creation of HOV lanes, environmental concerns were not an issue. In which case, they’ll be able to argue that encouraging hybrid technology, even though it’s in its relatively-unimpressive infancy, is a valid use of HOV lanes. (Not my opinion, just a hypothetical political stance.)
In seriousness, though, aren’t the figures you give an average for hybrids? And if they’re running on electric for a greater proportion of operation while in slow traffic, will the localised pollution not be much less than that for economical ordinary vehicles?
In California, at least, just simply being hybrid doesn’t qualify you for HOV access. Only certain models do. (In other words, I think the hybrid SUVs are excluded.)
Ah, here’s something:
California’s law would allow to hybrid vehicles that get at least 45 miles per gallon to have HOV access, and limits the statewide number of permits to 75,000. The law also allows state officials to close access on HOV lanes deemed to be too crowded.
Actually, it’s NOT limited to hybrids. The State Air Resources Board (in California it’s CARB) publishes a list of cars eligible. Granted, they’re pretty much mostly alternative fuels. So I get what you’re saying, but there you go.
Virginia in the DC area has been allowing single passenger hybrids in the HOV lanes for a while now. The current exemption is set to expire in June. Not sure if the legislature is going to extend the exemption or not. What with seeminly every third car being either a hybrid or a single-passenger cheater, a lot of the time the HOV lanes confer no advantage at all. Especially I-66 where the HOV lane is not physically separated from the standard lanes like it is over on I-95.
Anyway, I don’t like it. Around here, traffic is a HUGE issue and allowing single drivers to use the HOV is just ignorant.
All of the non-electric/non-hybrid vehicles that are allowed are CNG vehicles…they’ve been outfitted to run on compressed natural gas.
But I have to question what some of these electric vehicles are…I’ve never heard of them. Are they only available in California? I’m talking about the Nissan Altra, dating all the way back to 1998, the electric Chevy S10 and GM EV1, the electric Ford Ranger, Ecostar and Think!, the Dodge Caravan Electric dating back to 1993.
Also there are a couple of toyotas that seem to run on Hydrogen, the FCHV fuel cell hybrid dating back to 2003.
I drive up to the DC area every 2-3 months. The biggest scofflaws–other than the outright cheaters you cite–seem to be people in minivans/SUVs with tinted windows. How can the police verify WHO is in these cars? (You can peek, if you look at the right moment.)
One problem, how does an observer tell if the car is a hybrid or not? Lexus is producing hybrid versions of a number of their cars that can only be distinguished from non-hybrids by the fact that the tiny model name badge on the trunk ends with an ‘h’ (GS450 v. GS450h, for example).
Actually, for a car registered in Virginia, there is a legal limit to tinting, and you can be ticketed/fined/pulled over for being over the tinting limit.
So if you are seeing lots of dark windows, it may be predominantly out of state drivers. Who, in all fairness, may not completely grok the HOV concept.
I agree with divemaster about I-66. The HOV lane is a joke. Though I do so love the sweet, sweet flavor schaedenfreude (sp?) when I see a singler getting busted for driving n the HOV lane. At any rate, from what I hear the Hybrid exemption will not be renewed in VA. The lanes are nearing or exceeding their capacity.
The one HOV lane we have in New Orleans which is a pair of lanes on the newer, wider Crescent City Connection has a low speed limit due to a steep onramp at the beginning of the New Orleans side of the bridge.
A cop stands there…you have to pass within a few feet of him, and he can see if you have more than one passenger through the untinted (hopefully) windshield. If you don’t, you get a ticket.
This really only happens during rush hour…the rest of the time there’s just a cop sitting in his car playing solitaire on his laptop. The lanes are open 24 hours and the flow of traffic switches directions during part of the day. I can’t remember ever going from the Westbank to New Orleans on it, but there was only one time I went the other way and never saw a cop, and that was in the middle of the night.
Cops are known stakeout the I-95 HOV offramps in Arlington during the evening rush. The Shirlington exit is a great spot for this, the cops park in the entrance portion which is unused during the evening.
I’m not sure about most here, but the Think! is basically a glarified golf cart, fully electric (and enclosed). They had recharge hookups near some train stations around NYC 'burbs for recharging. They looked scary to drive or be in around ‘full’ cars at any speed above the conventional golf cart would go.
In Virginia, the license plate number will end in “CF” for “clean fuel.” My understanding is that only cars with such tags are exempt from the HOV occupancy rules. So, you may *think *you have an exempt car, but if the plate doesn’t have that “CF” on it, you don’t.
The GM EV1 was an experimental vehicle that General Motors made several years ago. They were leased out (not sold) in California, and when the leases expired GM took them all back. GM didn’t let anyone keep them because the cost to replace the batteries (when the originals wore out) would be enormous. Several thousand dollars. GM figured that the electric cars would probably end up being a public relations nightmare, so they withdrew them.
As for the Think!, I saw it at the Detroit International Auto Show a while back, and I agree with kanicbird. It’s a golf cart with delusions of grandeur.
In California, you have to apply for a special permit to drive your hybrid vehicle in the HOV lane. You also must attach highly visible decals on the rear bumper as well as on the left and right sides near the rear of the vehicle.