VA Hybrid Tags

Best to contact DMV directly and ask the question. Like most bureaucrats, anticipate a "NO" answer, but if they say yes, then you can pursue finding the second generation tags.

 

I can answer this question, because I have the grandfathered 1st generation VA clean fuel tags. I've had them on my 2003 Gen I Prius, then on my 2007 Gen II, and now on my 2012 PiP.

The trick seems to be to, once you have any gen VA hybrid tags, to transfer these tags as you replace a hybrid vehicle (or now an EV) with another hybrid/EV. When my GenII gt zapped by lightning and declared totaled as a result in July 2011, just as I started a mid-career master's program in downtown Wash DC where yu DO NOT want to drive and park every day if you can avoid it, I kept the plates and registered them onto the new PiP in April 2012 as it became available (I used Zipcar throughout the school year when I really needed it). never a problem from the DMV. My original 2003 clean fuel plates are starting to get a bit faded now, especially the Clean Fuel yellow diamond around the planet Earth symbol.

There are three VA Clean Fuel plate generations, and the difference lies in the color and location of the Planet Earth symbol. The original 2003 plates had a yellow symbol background, and the symbol was to the left of the alphanumerics. The Gen II plates had a blue symbol background, and the symbol was to the right of the alphanumerics. The Gen III (current) plates' symbol is green, and the symbol is midway (centered) between the six registration alphanumerics. That's the ones on our new Ford Fusion Energy. Once VA upgrades to a new generation of clean fuel plates, only the newest generation is the version issued for newly registered owners (on demand!) - but as long as the original user of the older plates retains or upgrades directly between hybrids/EVs, the older plates issued to that owner retain their original HOV use privileges.

The only practical difference between the three generations of clean fuel plates is the increasingly restrictive HOV lane single-person use here in Northern VA. Our newest plates on the Ford Fusion are only good on the Dulles Toll Road (and also on all the HOV lanes in the rest of Virginia outside of NoVa).

The proven lesson in VA seems to be: once registered as a hybrid/Ev owner, keep replacing that car with another (better) hybrid/EVs.

Hope this is helpful.

 

As stated by Dadof Hedgehog, I believe basically you are out of luck. You would have had to already own Clean Fuels tags, and transfer those to a new car. The best VA Clean Fuels tags (logo on the left) ended in 2006. They have complete free HOV access. The next best Clean Fuels tags (logo on the right - good for I66) ended in 2011. The current Clean Fuels tags (logo in the middle) are really stinky but you do get HOV access on Dulles Greenway. You can still get those if you want (but why bother pay $25/yr unless you use Dulles Greenway)..

In another thread I did a NoVA Prius survey...most Gen1 Prii have the best tags. About half of Gen2 Prii have CF tags, and it is down to 25% or so on Gen3 and going down.

Another way to put this: HOV access is no longer an incentive for buying a green car in VA, unless of course you already a green car and have the tags already. Not mention the new $64/yr hybrid fee as another problem.

 

Last two posters are very knowledgable. Here's info from Virginia DMV. I considered "Clean Fuel" plates for my PIP. No incentive for the central Virginia region (HOV), plus so many more attractive plates available.

Revenue Sharing: As a revenue-sharing plate, after the sale of the first 1,000 qualifying plates, $15.00 of the $25.00 fee is transferred to Virginia State Police for High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) lane enforcement. A portion of your fee may be tax deductible.
For tax purposes, the following DMV license plate type codes are associated with this plate:
Current Plate Types:
CF3
CF3HP

Former Plate Types (may only be renewed or transferred):
CF
CFHP
CFPA
CFPHP
CFTXI
Requirements: Vehicle must be powered by clean special fuel. For additional information, refer to clean special fuel vehicles/plates.

 

Interesting discussion here (for us Virginians). Two points that I'd like to add:
1). Based on the history of the last 10 years, any VA Clean Fuel plate obtained now is likely to pay unforeseen advantages in the future, as long as the registrant (is this a word?) keeps buying clean fuel replacement vehicles as the current hybrid/EV wears out - because statewide HOV access = statewide HOV access, and we can't predict if life will take us out a NoVa home next year to a, say, Richmond area home next year.
2). HOV lanes are more likely than not to slowly expand to currently non-HOVed controlled access highways, because population and urbanization are likely to grow. Remember when Fairfax County only had one large shopping mall / multiplex cinema? not that long ago really...

[/quote] The current Clean Fuels tags (logo in the middle) are really stinky but you do get HOV access on Dulles Greenway. You can still get those if you want (but why bother pay $25/yr unless you use Dulles Greenway)..
[/quote]
Slight correction - the current "green-symbol-in-the-center" Clean Fuel plate works on the full length of VA 267, i.e. both the Dulles Greenway segment and the Dulles Toll Road segment, all the way from Leesburg in Loudoun County to Falls Church inside the Beltway. Plus, of course, it works on all the other HOV lanes in VA except for I-66 and I-395. There's a short outbound HOV section on Patrick Henry Street in downtown Alexandria I use sometimes, for example. And to reach Wolf Trap, most people have to take VA 267.

BTW - Wolf Trap has four free Chargepoint L2 parking chargers on the special access road loop right by the main pedestrian entrance, and from that location it takes less than five minutes (with your freshly charged car) to exit onto the highway after the show, while the crowds are fighting their way out of the distant parking lots onto the two-lane Wolf Trap Road. We just discovered this perk this Friday evening, he hee. Only three of the four spots were taken the whole show - two Volts and our PiP.

My recommendation = pay now to secure that VA HOV-capable plate and its privileges for the future.

 

I must admit I never knew exactly what "Dulles Greenway" means, or if having HOV makes any advantage on that road (Rt 267). We never got the Clean Fuels plates, as we do not use HOV. No regrets, we save $25/yr and the extra effort to apply (but it was a hard decision for us at the time of our purchase).

Here is my prior informal survey of NoVA Prii:
Survey of 130 Prii in Northern Virginia | PriusChat

 

I'm another NOVA Prius driver (a month-old 2013 P-5) what i'm reading here tracks what my understanding is from looking at the DMV site. I don't think it is possible to traffic in older plates. That said, I had the dealer just get me conventional plates, but I am seriously considering getting the latest Clean Fuels plate, even though I do not drive 267 or the Greenway. Someday I may. My commute is Annandale to Rockville (ugh) and the traffic is light enough in the morning to make having HOT lane access not an issue, and I don't mind paying a couple of bucks on the way home in the outer loop is jammed up. Right now I don't do any driving in the Richmond or Norfolk area where I would have access.

P.S. Hats off to wjtracy's informal survey. It was interesting reading.

 

I think you are saying, to take the HOT lanes North, you have to sit in a traffic light for 5 minutes. For me the light is on Braddock Rd. So therefore using the HOT lanes you are negative 5 minutes from the getgo.

Probably since VA is now dinging us $64/yr for the hybrids, and since the the new 495 HOT lanes are not being used as much as expected, they ought to extend HOT access or discounts to Hybrids with CF plates.

 

You're right. My bad. It's actually been about five years since I went on the Greenway.

 

Any NOVA 2012 Prius V clean special fuel plates on here? I checked the DMV and they don't list the prius V for 2012 but they do list the prius C (which didn't come out until 2013) So Im wondering if my car qualifies?

 

When my wife stated working down town, and we needed to replace her aging Pontiac Transport minivan we got a hybrid saturn Vuel we got the Gen 2 plates so we are good for the "inside the beltway" on 66

When I was looking for my new car I found the that new clean plates did not benefit me any. I'm trying not to subsidize the silver line so I don't see the toll road much anymore.. I transferd my plate form my HHR to the Prius. the nice thing. is when the wife decides she wants a new car and its not a hybrid. we can transfer her hybrid plate to my prius...

in VA the car owner "owns" the plate.

we should do a VA Prius Fest....

 

...the "nice" thing about Virginia's clean fuels car program, is that we tend to extend the "clean fuels" classification to all hybrids, even lousy hybrids getting 22 MPG. So my thought the Prius v should be good. Of course now alls we have the center logo HOV plate which is not too great (not I66, not I95/395). Of course the new I495/95 HOT lanes are not free for any single occupants.

If Prius v is falling in the cracks...let me know ..we can get someone on it.

 

Guilty as charged here with saturn Vue green line... my hhr would get better fuel mileage than the vue, even though the vue had a hybrid powertrain and my HHR did not, but both had the same engine similar weights, ect.... But with the clean plate benefits of HOV exemption....Win win for us.. Wife gets a smaller car than the minivan, but no so small....
its a shame that the HOV exemption wasn't extended to the newer plates, or more stringent rules on what constitutes a hybrid... but so many people are not afraid of hybrids anymore I woudl imagine that they are begining to clog up the HOV lanes with single riders....
the main reason, IMO, of HOV isn't to reduce pollution, but to reduce traffic congestion... reduction of pollution is a side benefit...

maybe VA should get rid of the clean plate thing, and start issuing HOV stickers like they do in CA....

 

...as long as my 2003 HOV plate gets grandfathered

 

of course...

 

DoH: will the 2003 HOV plates will still be useful to you after the HOT lanes are finshed?
Don't the HOT lanes take away most of the I95/395 HOV? So your 2003 Plate would work more like a 2006-2011 plate (I66 HOV).

 

Since we've moved from Burke, Fairfax Co to Arlington Co back in 2004, a year after I had bought the 2003 GenI Prius and the attendant yellow-mark HOV plate, my HOV plate has been of occasional use instead daily necessity EXCEPT for the inside-the-Beltway I-66 HOV all-lane limits. However, that occasional HOV use to prowl the wild hinterlands of distant Fairfax County and other parts of our fair state is still pretty sweet, there when I need it, and fully amortized. The original yellow-symbol HOV plate is good on ALL of Virginia's HOV lanes i.e. the short HOV on the Patrick Henry area surface streets in Alexandria, the Richmond HOVs, Hampton Roads region HOV's etc.

Whenever I'm on the VA side of the Beltway, since I didn't buy the special HOT transponder, I just pony up the measly $$ (more like cents). I imagine my use of Shirley Highway HOT lanes will be similar, and equally occasional. The beauty of the HOT lane design is the transponder-based toll collection, and as someone who grew up in the New York City area with its unavoidable toll booth traffic jams I'll take electronic cash tolling-while-you-roll over tollbooth hassles any day.