I think it’s no more than 3 years.
In California, the stickers are only good through the end (12/31) of their fourth calendar year or until the program ends (the most recent ones are limited by the latter unless the program is extended). The clock starts once a car has been issued stickers.
My FJ Cruiser has a handbrake between the seats, but with its blind spots I’d never let a teen take their driving test with it.
@ucbalumnus, isn’t it basically three years? That’s been my experience with the several PHEVs I’ve had over the years.
Also, the HOV stickers give you a sizeable discount on bridge tolls in the Bay Area and the new “Express Lanes,” which are extremely confusing to be honest. If you travel a lot around the Bay Area, it’s invaluable. I don’t know how useful it is in other parts of CA.
I guess the reason that there is a time limitation on the validity of how long a PHEV or EV can qualify for the HOV sticker rights is the advances in technology. For example, a 2011 Toyota Prius PHEV is likely not going to be as efficient as a 2023 PHEV. And yes, it cuts down on traffic (however, I RARELY see any enforcement of the HOV lanes).
Given that heavily tinted windows are allowed here that can potentially evade the surveillance cameras, I suppose those with “larceny in their hearts” can always claim that they had the requisite number of people in the car to qualify for HOV status. My DD and I sometimes try to figure out who is and isn’t legal in the HOV lanes. The stickers are meant to identify those cars, as are the “FastTrak” toll tags which are specifically designed for EVs and PHEVs.
I will say this: without the HOV benefits, I probably never would have even thought about an EV/PHEV in the first few years. So it definitely incentivized me to get one and to keep getting one. When we first got here, I spent nearly 2 hours getting to the toll plaza on the Bay Bridge crossing from the East Bay to San Francisco at 6am on a summer business day before I got a PHEV. I vowed to get a qualifying car after that. There were no accidents etc, but the bridges here are a real choke point. Having a qualifying car, especially when you’re driving alone, makes a huge difference (less so since the pandemic, I guess).
The old white and green stickers lasted until that program ended at the end of 2018. Those stickers, if issued 2017 or later, were eligible to be replaced by red stickers (which expired at the end of 2021).
The red, purple, orange, and blue stickers were/are good for 3-4 years. A sticker issued in January got closer to 4 years, while a sticker issued in December got closer to 3 years. Some people who buy new or never-stickered eligible cars late in the year wait until the beginning of the next year to get the stickers.
The new yellow and light green stickers (with the round end on the right instead of the left) end when the program ends at the end of September 2025, but if the program is extended, it is likely that they will be like the previous color stickers with rolling end-of-year expiration.
Probably more like to keep the total number of sticker cars to a manageable level relative to the capacity of the lanes.
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I noted that too.
Pretty sure the reason (and I also thought it was 3 years) was to keep the # of cars down. Thats why hybrids no longer count. Every other car on the road there seems to be a prius! Now more teslas all over the pace.
The old yellow stickers (round on the left side) for non-plugin hybrids expired in 2011.
But yes, Priuses were very common back then. At the time, if you wanted to be able to disappear into traffic, your best choice of car was a silver Prius.
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We just bought a Santa Fe Plug in hybrid. I have solar on house, so it decreases costs. I love it! Consistently getting over 60 miles per gallon, some weeks over 80. We had to have it shipped in from NY, because Texas doesn’t believe in them…lol, Got a 6500 tax credit too.
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Yes. Pavement has a “fatigue life”, much like how a piece of metal can only be bent back and forth so many times before snapping. That life is proportional to the average tire load and pressure which a pavement is subjected to, and one reason why states set up weigh stations to catch commercial trucks operating over their legal weight: Wears out the pavement faster.
Does anyone have a CRV or Rav4 hybrid? How long do Honda or Toyota hybrids last? We tend to keep our cars 10 years or more.
For older ones from the '00s, Toyota hybrids have much better longevity than Honda hybrids. However, Honda no longer uses the same kind of hybrid system it used then.
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My sister-in-law has an older Toyota Highlander Hybrid I’m not sure of the exact year but it’s probably 15 years old. She is still driving it and she puts a lot of miles on her cars.
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Our first prius (a first generation one) died at 230000 miles only because daughter totaled it.
We now have a 2015 and are expecting it to make it to 300,000 miles. At 120K now with only maintenance costs being tires and oil changes.
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We just got a 2023 CR-V hybrid, so my fingers are crossed for longevity. We drove our 2005 ICE CR-V for almost eighteen years and over 190,000 miles, intend to do the same with the new one.
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The new Prius is getting good reviews.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/business/toyota-2023-prius-hybrid-review/index.html
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It’s getting a lot of good reviews, for its vastly better looks and improved power compared to the previous version.
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It is definitely not a bad looking small car! 
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