Wisconsin EV license plate sticker

[JustBob]

I'm a little annoyed that Wisconsin is telling me I have to put an EV sticker (actually EV Hybrid) on my license plates. It says so first responders can identify it as electric. Plus it says to cover the barn artwork of the plate. Do first responders really need this?

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[Jerrytball]

I grew up in Michigan. You should come on down to Mississippi, what I’ve noticed down here. People don’t renew their tags. They don’t have insurance. Highway Patrol never pulls them over. You can do at least 90 pretty wide-open down here lol

 

[Jerrytball]

I know I paid pretty steeply when I got my car when I went to register it at Highway department. I could imagine my neighbor, has a three year-old hellcat with the original tag on it lol. Never renewed, I’d Like to see his face when they tell him how much he owes.

 

[B177y]

I'm a little annoyed that Wisconsin is telling me I have to put an EV sticker (actually EV Hybrid) on my license plates. It says so first responders can identify it as electric. Plus it says to cover the barn artwork of the plate. Do first responders really need this?

I'm retired from a city fire dept, and now active on the political side as a fire commissioner.

Do first responders NEED this? My opinion is that it's not really a NEED. Would it be nice to have? For sure!

This is the first state mandated (?) EV identification that I have seen or heard of. Wisconsin probably has a strong first responder lobbying group would be my guess.

Why is it nice to have for first responders? Ten years ago when I was "on the street", if we identified a car in an accident as an EV, one of the crew was assigned to disconnect or deactivate the HV battery, in addition to disconnecting the 12-volt. We had a laminated cheat sheet with the disconnect locations for the EVs and hybrids available at that time. Granted, there were much fewer EV's back then. Now with the wide variety of EV's/hybrids/PHEVs etc., having a quick way to ID an EV can come in handy.

If we had to do an extrication (cut or pry with tools), we were trained to avoid all of the airbag canisters. If we could ID that it was an EV we were cutting, or if we found any of the orange HV cabling, we had to avoid that too for our own safety and patient safety. If it was a bad enough accident that it required extrication, we may or may not have been able to disconnect anything due to damage.

In a fire, identifying an EV or anything with a battery is crucial. Lithium batteries can't be put out with water, and are quite dangerous for responders. If the battery isn't involved with the fire yet, water can be used to cool it before it does become involved. Of course, water and high voltage aren't a great combination under any circumstance. I don't know if a sticker on the license plate would help in this situation, but it doesn't hurt.

Hope that helps answer the "why?".

 

[GreaseMonkey]

In Illinois, we are encouraged but not required to have a white license plate that ends with an EL. We get billed $100 a year for road taxes instead of gas tax. We also are exempt from getting inspections, mainly because the only regulatory inspection is emissions.

I’ve always customized my plates. But I can’t do it with an EV, since it’s a sequential number.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Yeah I’m a little annoyed by it too. First responders lobbied for it like it was a life or death situation if they didn’t know it was an EV. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, it’s nice to know but not life critical info. I would rather they make an EV plate rather than a dumb orange sticker. We pay more than enough in fees to cover a new plate being sent out.

And why is it orange like it’s dangerous? Could have made the sticker green or blue.

 

[Srcastc1]

Yeah I’m a little annoyed by it too. First responders lobbied for it like it was a life or death situation if they didn’t know it was an EV. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, it’s nice to know but not life critical info. I would rather they make an EV plate rather than a dumb orange sticker. We pay more than enough in fees to cover a new plate being sent out.

And why is it orange like it’s dangerous? Could have made the sticker green or blue.

My sticker came and it is yellow, not orange. Not sure why different colors

 

[Mrn]

My sticker came and it is yellow, not orange. Not sure why different colors

Most EVs in Arizona have a white clouds on blue sky 'alternative fuel' plate which we wear as a badge of honor. Evidently it's not required since I got to choose it out of a line up of plate designs.
And I haven't noticed any EVs without one, do perhaps the DMV worker just wasn't familiar with EVs yet.

 

[JJR]

I'm retired from a city fire dept, and now active on the political side as a fire commissioner.

Do first responders NEED this? My opinion is that it's not really a NEED. Would it be nice to have? For sure!

This is the first state mandated (?) EV identification that I have seen or heard of. Wisconsin probably has a strong first responder lobbying group would be my guess.

Why is it nice to have for first responders? Ten years ago when I was "on the street", if we identified a car in an accident as an EV, one of the crew was assigned to disconnect or deactivate the HV battery, in addition to disconnecting the 12-volt. We had a laminated cheat sheet with the disconnect locations for the EVs and hybrids available at that time. Granted, there were much fewer EV's back then. Now with the wide variety of EV's/hybrids/PHEVs etc., having a quick way to ID an EV can come in handy.

If we had to do an extrication (cut or pry with tools), we were trained to avoid all of the airbag canisters. If we could ID that it was an EV we were cutting, or if we found any of the orange HV cabling, we had to avoid that too for our own safety and patient safety. If it was a bad enough accident that it required extrication, we may or may not have been able to disconnect anything due to damage.

In a fire, identifying an EV or anything with a battery is crucial. Lithium batteries can't be put out with water, and are quite dangerous for responders. If the battery isn't involved with the fire yet, water can be used to cool it before it does become involved. Of course, water and high voltage aren't a great combination under any circumstance. I don't know if a sticker on the license plate would help in this situation, but it doesn't hurt.

Hope that helps answer the "why?".

Colorado has an EV sticker too. They also have an electric vehicle plate that doesn't need a sticker.
There are a number of ways to identify an EV. Most have some sort of insignia and true EVs do not have tailpipes.

 

[tboo72]

No sticker yet for me.

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