CA electric vehicle drivers will lose special carpool lane privileges. Here’s why
Electric vehicle drivers will lose special carpool lane privileges Sept. 30.
The federally sanctioned, state-run Clean Air Vehicle Decals program — which allowed solo drivers of electric vehicles to use carpool lanes — is set to expire after more than 20 years.
Stickers will be invalid starting Oct. 1, and California drivers could be fined for violating the requirements of carpool or high-occupancy vehicle lanes. EV drivers will also stop receiving special discounts or waivers of tolls.
Congress has allowed the program to end. It was last renewed in 2015, when then-President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. That law said that states could allow “alternative fuel vehicles” to use carpool lanes. But that part of the law had an end date — Sept. 30, 2025 — and the current Republican-controlled Congress has not reauthorized it.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles stopped processing new applications for the decals last month.
A 1999 law directed Caltrans to extend carpool privileges to “clean” vehicles starting in July 2000. The law was intended to encourage more people to buy less-polluting cars. Transportation is a major contributor to the carbon emissions fueling climate change. In 2022, the California Air Resources Board said that the transportation sector accounted for 39% of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, making it the single largest contributor in the state.
As the San Jose Mercury News reported in 1999 when then-Assemblymember Jim Cunneen introduced the bill to let EVs in California’s carpool lanes, the state had a goal to have 10% of all new vehicles sold be zero-emission vehicles by 2003. In the first quarter of 2025, the California Energy Commission said, zero-emission vehicles represented almost a quarter of the new cars sold in the state.
This year, President Donald Trump has also targeted California-specific programs to limit vehicle emissions — including the state’s goal to have all new cars sold in the state be electric- or carbon-free vehicles by 2035.
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 8:14 AM with the headline "CA electric vehicle drivers will lose special carpool lane privileges. Here’s why."
