MassDOTDrivers of nonplug-in hybrids are being urged to use the plate, despite their cars not having a plug. Above, the plate for noncommercial vehicles.The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced this week that it would make special license plates available for purely electric, plug-in hybrid and regular hybrid vehicles, becoming the second state, after Hawaii, to do so. The optional plates, which cost $20 with no annual fee, feature the letters EV, or EC for commercial vehicles, and a graphic of a car mated with a plug.
“The plates are kind of cute, aren’t they?” Sara Lavoie, press secretary for the department, said in a telephone interview. “It will be interesting to see how many of our E.V. and hybrid drivers rush out to get sets of them.”
Last year, after reports of two fires involving Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids that had been subjected to crash tests, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urged automakers to develop postcrash procedures for their E.V.’s. Massachusetts’ program was designed primarily to alert first responders to take special precautions in and around such vehicles, which may include large and high-voltage battery packs. But consumer adoption, particularly in a state offering 18 specialty plates, is a wild card. Would drivers make a modest financial outlay and brave state bureaucracy for the sake of displaying the plates?
“Electric car owners are very proud of their cars and want to promote them to others, and will get the plates for that,” Rachel Kaprielian, registrar of motor vehicles at the Transportation Department, said in an interview. “And then there’s the incentive that, should you get in an accident, emergency responders will know you have a special car.”
Ms. Kaprielian added that the program primarily had a safety focus, not a revenue-generating one. “If first responders see that designation on the plate, they can act accordingly,” she said. In certain collision situations a priority might be to disconnect the batteries to eliminate shock hazards.
For drivers of hybrids that don’t plug in, the EV and plug elements on the plates may be considered misleading.
Jay Friedland, legislative director of Plug In America, a nonprofit E.V. advocacy group, said it was confusing for hybrids and purely electric cars to get the same plate. “That’s why they should just be for plug-ins,” he said in an interview. “We understand the importance for first responders, but there shouldn’t be a plug on there if they cast the net to include hybrid vehicles.”
Ms. Kaprielian said ensuring the safety of first responders trumped all other considerations. “I see where they’re going with that, but both hybrid and electric vehicles are important to identify in an emergency situation,” she said. The plug, she added, was a quick visual identifier.
Mr. Friedland said his group lobbied California’s Department of Transportation for plates with a plug symbol, but only for battery electrics and plug-in hybrids. Plug In America supports the principle of specialty plates for easy identification of cars with high-occupancy-lane privileges and for other reasons, like for quick verification of their right to occupy a public charging space.
By Wednesday afternoon, 21 Massachussetts residents had bought the plates, Ms. Lavoie said.
The Transportation Department has a list of more than 30 hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric cars that are eligible for the plates, but others will probably be added as they become available.