Drivers Who Go Green Get a Red-Carpet Ride

Who says it's not easy being green?

Eco-minded folks who drive low-emission vehicles have never had it so good.

The state gives Californians grants of up to $3,000 to buy electric vehicles. Motorists can park such clean, green machines free at Los Angeles International Airport.

Electric cars also get prime parking spaces at some shopping malls and free passage over public toll roads. Several stores and government agencies, such as the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, recharge electric cars free.

In the city of Los Angeles, electric vehicles and natural gas-powered vehicles can park on the streets without feeding the meters.

But perhaps the most enticing incentive for traffic-weary Californians to go green is a law that allows electric and natural gas-powered vehicles to use the state's 964 miles of carpool lanes without bringing a passenger along.

The law took effect one year ago, and so far the drivers of 3,661 low-emission vehicles, or more than 60% of those that qualify, have signed up, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. For an $8 fee, the DMV provides an identifying decal for clean-fuel vehicles that qualify for the carpool program.

The number of vehicles with the decals is only a fraction of the 27 million registered cars and trucks in the state. Still, low-emission advocates hope the program will help boost demand for clean-air cars, push auto makers to begin mass production and thereby reduce costs. Though interest in clean-fuel vehicles is on the rise, production quotas remain so low that the cars are hard to come by.

The exclusive club of motorists who drive clean-fuel cars say the chance to ride in carpool lanes is an added bonus, putting them on easy street.

"The carpool lanes are just extraordinary," said Greg Hanssen, an electric car engineer who drives a General Motors EV1 from his home in Irvine to his job in Monrovia.

During his commute, he zips along on carpool lanes on the Santa Ana Freeway, the Artesia Freeway and the 605 Freeway.

Although California's system of carpool lanes is incomplete--only 6% of the state's 15,100 miles of freeways are reserved for carpools--Hanssen and others say their commute times have been cut by up to 60%.

"Now I can count on going to the airport and getting there on time," said Margaret Cheng, a retired planning consultant from Monterey Park who also drives an EV1 and has qualified for a carpool decal.