HOV lanes on highways, also known as High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, are designed as both a means of traffic control and of decreasing vehicle pollution, extending for thousands of miles in over 20 states. Traditionally called “carpool lanes”, HOV lanes require a full permit and minimum number permits of vehicle occupants for use during peak hours. They’ve always been considered a treat for drivers who carpool, and recently, for EV drivers, who are allowed to drive in these special lanes, with or without passengers. 

The Clean Pass Sticker program allows eligible low-emission, energy-efficient vehicles to use the HOV lanes, regardless of the number of occupants. This program benefits electric vehicle owners by providing the stickers to them with a faster and more efficient commute. 

The History of HOV Lanes 

In the 1970s, HOV lanes and toll roads were introduced as a reward program for carpooling. The idea was that the number of cars on the road, and therefore the pollution they created, would decrease, in exchange for paying for drivers having the ability to bypass the worst and most frustrating traffic congestion. 

According to the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Center, “the Federal Highway Administration allowed state transportation agencies to spend federal funds on HOV lanes beginning in the 1970s, although it was not until a 1990 policy statement that FHWA began to have federal regulations to encourage HOV lane development in transportation first.” The 1990 Clean Air Amendment restricted funds for HOV lanes to states federally mandated program to reduce air pollution. 

Soon after the advent of HOV lanes however, studies found mixed results about whether they actually decreased pollution or were effective for traffic control. Once considered the answer to decreasing particulate matter in the air, carpool lanes got a reputation for being a waste of money and space, mostly because those of the vehicle owners who used them usually met minimum requirements or didn’t meet them at all if use of commercial vehicles in the carpool lane was not well-policed. 

“Rethinking HOV”, a document from 1993 on the use and misuse of HOV lanes for motor vehicles on highways, suggests that 2 occupants in a gas-fueled vehicle should not be considered “high-occupancy” vehicles and use of the lane by buses and motorcycles only should be encouraged. Cars were big polluters and that was the end of the story. 

The EV boom changed all that by creating cars with zero tail pipe emissions, a technological breakthrough that would never have been considered possible during the heyday of HOV lane creation. 

HOV Lanes and EVs 

For years, HOV lanes have been exclusively for vehicles with multiple occupants, but new changes have made all hybrid vehicles and electric only vehicles exempt regardless of number of occupants. According to the Department of Energy, “The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act (SAFETEA-LU), enacted in 2005, allowed the EPA to define single occupant vehicles as low emission and energy-efficient electric vehicles permitted to use HOV lanes.” 

Federal law allows states to decide to make electric vehicles exempt from rules for HOV lanes and several other traffic regulations, like tolls and fees to drive a car cross-country, return to city limits, or cross tunnels and bridges. 

As traffic has increased, so has the number of EVs on the road. States that were the earliest adopters of allowing EVs to use HOV lanes – Arizona, California, and Virginia—found that use of hybrid electric vehicles in the HOV lane was a bigger motivation to purchase EVs than they ever predicted. Since then, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah, have joined their ranks, with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Oregon promising to re-evaluate their HOV lane rules in the face of EV expansion. 

While financial incentives for electric vehicles, such as rebates and tax credits, can be easier to predict as motivation for other vehicle owners to purchase EVs, non-financial motivation can be just as strong, or even stronger, but more difficult to predict. Despite early failures, carpool lanes have proven not only a way to decrease pollution on America’s roads but increase the number of EVs driving on them.