Green Sticker for California.. is it a big deal ?

Most people will be in HV mode on the freeway and save their EV miles for getting to and from the freeway, where they do the most good.

 

I'm not following your logic. I can go 65 mph in a regular Prius getting maybe 55 mpg. Or I can do it in a PiP and get 80+ mpg as indicated in my signature. Change the speed to whatever traffic conditions are and the PiP will get the superior fuel economy. Why would I want to go slower in a regular Prius? Slower doesn't mean greater mpg on the regular Prius over the PiP with the advantage of EV. Add in that electricity is usually cleaner than gasoline to produce and the PiP does mighty fine in HOV lanes.

 

When the choice is between going 60mph in the carpool lane vs. 10mph in the "fast" regular lane, the decision is not too hard. What IS scary is passing that slow traffic at a high rate of speed, dreading that some #*@^ will pull over right in front of you, ignoring the double stripe do-not-cross "barrier".

 

The clean air vehicle decals in California that allow HOV lane access are a HUGE deal to my wife and me. In fact, they are the main reason we bought the PiP. We live in the SF East Bay and work in different places on the peninsula. Her route is greatly benefited by HOV lane access on the congested 880. My route has only a mile or two stretch of HOV lane leading up to the Dumbarton Bridge tollbooths. I only get a bit of speed and time benefit from the short stretch of HOV lane, but the greatest benefit is the reduced toll I pay in the HOV toll lane ($5 goes to $2.50). The toll savings is greater than the gas+electricity I pay to commute each day! If I commute 5 days/week, 48 weeks/year, that's $600/year bridge toll saved. Multiply by 2 for the years before the stickers expire, and that's another $1200 to take the sting off the extra money we paid for the PiP.

 

I agree with Charles about the speed differential. However, most drivers in the HOV lane seem to have the common sense to slow down a bit if the regular lanes are stopped or moving very slowly. I like to increase the distance between my car and the one ahead under those circumstances. It may encourage someone to come over the double-yellow, but I have a bit more time to react. If the HOV lane is cruising at more than 70 mph, I take the first opportunity to get over into the regular lanes. They seem to be doing at least 55 if the HOV is at 70+, in my experience on So Cal freeways.

 

If you travel down the 880 in Norcal then the green sticker is a life saver. But even with a HOV sticker I just changed jobs to avoid that commute it is so awful. Most people up here don't get plugins for any other reason. In fact the local volt dealers make a huge deal about green stickers on their ads.

 

I bought the PiP for that sole reason. My numbers said I would never recoup the higher price of a regular Prius over a $16k Nissan Versa and its 38 mpg let alone a $24k PiP. Now I save up to an hour of commute every day to watch my 2 year old grow up.

 

Ummmm... We Norcal-ers don't refer to freeways as "the". That's one thing that traffic reporters who transfer to Northern California from Southern California have to learn real quickly.

 

i think this is a silly comparison but i know you don't so i won't bother. lol.

 

Don't know where I picked that up, I have lived in norcal since 1975. But you are correct.

 

Most days (So Cal) up the 405 the carpool is moving faster than regular lanes. I have a friend who will be doing that commute for 40 miles x2 everyday. Question is "What is your time worth?". When I did the 405 with the previous carpool sticker, it easily saved me an hour total (and that was leaving "the OC" at 9am. and coming back at 2pm ).

 

Haha!

 

At the time I bought my PiP, I had a Gen I 2002 Prius that I was completely happy with, other than the fact that the old yellow HOV decals had recently expired. I bought the PiP pretty much solely for the new green HOV decals. The fact that it is a nifty tech toy was a side benefit.

 

Sounds like "banker's hours."

 

I didn't buy the PiP just for the carpool stickers. But they certainly helped make my decision easier to justify.

 

I live in Southern California and purchased my Plug-in just to ride the 405 fwy carpool lane. I save 1 hour per day (30 minutes each way). I sold my 2005 Gen 2 with expired Yellow HOV stickers. For me, saving time was a huge factor in my decision.

 

I bought a $20,000 plug in prius and a $20,000 green sticker. Sole reason I bought car. It was (IS) well worth it. An hour per day (minimum) of quality time at home in beautiful, sunny Huntington Beach!

 

I just read this!
OMG. This is wrong in so many ways in Southern CA, I do not know where to start.

On my commute, as soon as I hop onto the freeway at pretty much any time between 5pm and 7pm, the 405's a parking lot. Being in the HOV lanes means I am moving... and even though it's not quite moving at 65, I can get to the Springdale/Westminster exit on the 405 south w/o using gas at all. Once or twice, I even made it to Beach... it depends on the traffic, how much braking I do to regen, and how much I am rolling, and speed.

But, do not get most of us wrong. The HOV lanes at 65+ and 50 MPG is far more preferable to sitting on our asses in bumper to bumper traffic PERIOD... for me, my average gas mileage takes a back seat to being home/to work sooner, or faster. I'm happy at 45-50 mpg. I'm thrilled at 60mpg and over the moon at 72+ mpg. I have seen all three of these averages many a time and would be happy at 50 every day of the year if I can get home without wasting time sitting with the rest of the world in traffic.

Dianne

 

I also go around the tree huggers if they are blocking the HOV, but usually its the workers in the trucks that are slowing the thing down. I break the law and go around them too!