Colorado EV License Plate

[JJR]

Colorado law ( HOUSE BILL 21-1141) requires that all hybrid and Electric vehicles display the new Electric Vehicle License Plate. If the vehicle displays one of the many Specialty Plates, then the vehicle must display an EV Decal in the upper right corner of the front windshield.

Here is the link to the law:

https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2021a_1141_signed.pdf

It is stated that one of the purposes of this law is to easily identify Electric Vehicles. The wording of the law indicates that there is a belief that this measure will influence the population to purchase more electric vehicles.
I believe that this law will have to opposite effect, causing the population to ignore an electric vehicle in their decision making process.
Some Colorado citizens will not give up the standard Colorado Mountain plate.

I will not display the decal as I am not willing to have the State of Colorado use my vehicle as a free advertising tool. I also find the decal to be too large, too ugly, and hazardous by restricting the view through the windshield. Rear window maybe, but it’s still ugly.

I would really like to have this law determined to be unconstitutional and revoked.

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[SWO]

What is the sticker supposed to accomplish? Whole thing seems like a scheme to assess extra tax on EVs at a future date.

 

[JJR]

This is legislative imagination gone wild and at a cost. The reasoning is that EVs have to be easily identified and the more EVs on the roads the more others will want one. Total speculation and Poppycock..

 

[Mach-Lee]

Is this driven by the fears of first responders getting electrocuted?

Sometimes laws aren't for the reason that's publicly given.

 

[JJR]

That's the most rational reason I've heard, but that's not mentioned in the legislation.

 

[Flint302]

I would say the law is constitutional. Driving on public roadways is a privilege, not a right. States may require proper licensing, registration and proof of inspection--as well as proof of insurance and proper licensing of the operator. Some states require a front tag, some don't--totally within a state's right.

 

[JJR]

It's not the driving that's the question. It's the use of my vehicle as an advertisement tool without compensation. Something about involuntary servitude comes to mind.

 

[Earplug]

I have been looking but have not found what is the penalty/fine for NOT getting the plate or displaying the sticker.

 

[JJR]

My guess is that if and when the penalties or fines are imposed that that's when the legality will be challenged.

 

[Mach-Lee]

My guess is that if and when the penalties or fines are imposed that that's when the legality will be challenged.

How is it any less legal than requiring trucks to get truck plates?

 

[JJR]

It's not the plate that I have a problem with as much as it's the decal.
There is an emblem on either side of the vehicle that identifies it as an EV.

 

[woody]

CO assesses an Electric Vehicle Fee for EV owners. Started at $50, now is around $52. Most certainly will increase over time.
I, like many EV owners, pay no gasoline taxes which theoretically help to maintain infrastructure.
The Electric Vehicle Fee will hopefully(springs eternal) help to maintain the infrastructure.
All users should be assessed user fees. But that is no longer the case. - ex.: Know any bicycles that are registered, licensed, insured? (mine was, in my youth, long ago).
The EV sticker may be politically* motivated, but it does no harm. I have had the sticker on all of my EVs including my current EVs. It does not restrict view through the windshield.
The EV sticker is required.
The EV license plate is an option offered to EV owners. It is not a requirement.

*CO is a CARB state, but, as elsewhere, our "representatives" are not millionaires because they work for us. Consequently, they have no interest in our concerns beyond a nonsensical form letter.
Is not voting fun nowadays? Even if we had good choices.....

 

[Earplug]

The EV sticker is required.
The EV license plate is an option offered to EV owners. It is not a requirement.

But, what is the penalty/fine if you DO NOT display the EV sticker?

 

[Arsenic17]

I opted to get the EV license plate because I didnt want the sticker. Never heard of such a thing as people dying to keep the default plate. I think they just dont want to pay the annual fee to get a special one. The EV plate is free.

I dont think there will be any penalty for not properly displaying the decal or the special plate. You must either buy the sticker ($4 isn't it) or the plate. You can choose not to install the sticker since there is no penalty.

 

[JJR]

So the bill as written states that the purpose of the plate and/or decal is to identify an EV. If I do not have an EV plate (I do have a veterans plate) and I get fined for not having a decal, then wasn't my EV identified as an EV without an EV plate or a decal? Doesn't that make the decal meaningless?

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