Hundreds of thousands of drivers in some of the nation’s largest states will be pushed back into regular traffic lanes this fall with the expiration in September of a federal law giving single-occupant electric cars and trucks HOV lane access with state approval.
California, with more than a quarter of all EVs in the nation, has about half a million electric cars and trucks with valid HOV lane decals for 2025.
While not all are using the state’s HOV lanes every day, tens of thousands do. Pushing them back into regular traffic lanes could greatly exacerbate already nightmarish rush-hour traffic in urban areas of Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.
Similar problems could affect highway traffic in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Virginia. They are the other states that have approved single-occupant EV access in HOV lanes and whose programs will end Sept. 30 without an extension of the federal deadline.
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom last year signed a law extending that state’s program until the end of 2026, but the act is meaningless without a Congressional extension.
No Relief on Horizon
At present, there is no pending or proposed legislation to do so.
The incoming Trump administration has not been terribly supportive of EV incentives, and is being pushed by a Trump-appointed fiscal watchdog committee headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to end federal tax credits for EVS – a move that would hurt Tesla’s competitors more than Tesla.
It is unclear whether Musk supports HOV lane access for EVs. Teslas account for almost two-thirds of the approximately 4 million EVs registered in the U.S., so Musk’s customers would be most heavily affected by the loss of HOV access for single-occupant vehicles.
Aren’t HOV Lanes Aimed at Congestion, Not Emissions?
EVs have been developed as a tool to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that impact climate and toxic emissions from fossil fuels that impact human health.
HOV lanes were created largely as a tool to help mange traffic congestion by encouraging people to carpool.
But the two goals overlap because traffic congestion contributes to air quality degradation and encouraging EV sales by granting them special incentives including HOV access reduces fossil-fuel emissions. n most areas, HOV lanes aren’t overly crowded, so moving EV traffic into those lanes was seen as a way to promote both environmental and congestion reduction goals.
Congress in 2005 authorized the federal Environmental Protection Agency to allow drivers in low-emission and energy-efficient cars without other occupants to use HOV lanes lanes in states that wanted t implement such programs.
But the program was never intended to be permanent – EVs were expected to become mainstream and no longer in need of purchase incentives. EV sales in fact have grown steadily since the law was passed, but not as quickly as many had expected.
Today, they still account for less than 3% of annual new passenger vehicle sales and thr toal sold since 2000 represent less than 2% of total registered vehicles in the U.S.
What’s Next?
It is likely that the states actively promoting EV adoption will be pushing Congress to extend the deadline, as will automakers looking to bolster public acceptance of the EVs they’ve developed in response to political and public pressure.
Less certain is whether there’s case to be made that HOV lane access remains a necessary incentive to bolster EV purchases.
And totally up in the air is whether a Republican-controlled Congress and the incoming administration that appears to hold sway over it will be receptive to arguments that there is such a need.