Re: Registering an EV conversion in California

[David Hale]

I just called DMV. They told me to call BAR (Bureau of Automotive Repair). I called BAR. They didn't know what I was talking about. They told me to call CARB. CARB was the wrong place (and thhe gave me a different number for the BAR Referee, which was eventually correct) but I had an interesting conversation with CARB. They said that although some stations have issued carpool and parking stickers to converted EVs, it is illegal to do so in most cases and there have been cases of complaints filed to recover carpool stickers from EV conversions. The only way for it to be legal is if the car was factory electric or the conversion was done from a state certified kit, typically which has a warranty, and the kit manufacturer receives an executive order number. We would then have to provide this EO number. Since we don't have this (or a warranty) I'm guessing EA's kit is not state certified.

He added that there is no reason to change the fuel type except for smog exemption and if the vehicle is already smog exempt (due to its age) then BAR has no obligation to inspect your vehicle.

(By the way, I eventually hooked up with a BAR referee and have an appointment to have my car inspected. I'm going to go ahead with the reclassification if they'll let me, just because I would like to have it, though it now seems to have no real-world purpose.)

--Dave

On Feb 12, 8:07 am, Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote: > On Feb 11, 2009, at 3:56 PM, Dave Hale wrote: > > > Is there any benefit or consequence to registering the car as an > > EV, other than it seems the right thing to do? > > I see a two benefits: > > Carrot: >     I can get carpool lane/parking stickers.  At the moment, I doubt I   > will be using them much, but it does make it less likely that I will   > be ticketed for parking in EV parking spaces like the ones in Old Town   > Pasadena. > > Avoiding the Stick: >     If I get into an accident, I will be harder to sue for having a   > "dangerous" car on the road.  Getting the referee's station and DMV to   > sign off on the conversion and telling my insurance company about this   > means that I am not trying to hide anything.  Hopefully this is never   > an issue, but I would hate to be found liable for an accident that   > wasn't my fault and then have my insurance company not cover it   > because I never told them about the conversion. > >         My $0.02, > >                 - Randy

[James Messa]

I have another value that having a car register as electric may bring.

 

Many utilities, like PG&E give you some options on how you pay for electricity to “fuel” your EV.  It has been a while since I looked at the PG&E site, but awhile ago you have two options, one was to have a separate meter installed in the circuit that charges you EV which was billed at a much lower rate.  The other option was to change to a different rate schedule which had a much lower charge for  KWh for the whole house.  If I remember the rate schedule was very favorable as long as you charged off peak, as the new schedule was tied to peak schedule billing. 

 

If you have your EV registered as electric, it is worth it, $$$,  to call your utility and see if they offer lower rates for EVs… 

 

FYI they do the same for Natural Gas customers also if you have a home filling station.

 

Jim

[Terry M Brown]

Hmmm... I wonder if they'll do this for me with my solar photovoltaic panels on my house...
 

Terry B

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From: James Messa <jme...@surewest.net>
To: 91...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 9:23:55 PM

Subject: [914ev] Re: Registering an EV conversion in California

[Randy Pollock]

On 5/7/09 10:18 AM, "Terry M Brown" <tbrow...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hmmm... I wonder if they'll do this for me with my solar photovoltaic panels
> on my house...

I looked into this a while ago. You will need to maintain two meters and
the surplus on one can¹t be used to pay the deficit on the other. If your
solar panels don¹t cover the house, then the EV meter makes sense. If you
are going to use some of the solar surplus for the car, then you will not
want to have the two meters.

My solar panels over produced about 3 MWh worth of power last year. At 300
Wh/mile, I can drive 10,000 miles per year without paying for the power. I
am driving my 914 about 250 miles a month, so I can¹t use my surplus on the
car. I will keep the single meter.

- Randy

[Terry M Brown]

Cool - ours underproduce!
 

Terry B

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From: Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>
To: 91...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 7, 2009 10:24:42 AM

Subject: [914ev] Re: Registering an EV conversion in California

[Dave Hale]

UPDATE:

I had my BAR appointment yesterday. The referee station in Los Angeles
is at the LA Trade College at 400 W Washington, but the entrance is
actually on Flower (20th & Flower). Note that at the time I made the
appointment I told them on the phone exactly what I wanted to do. When
I arrived they said, "what's this? what do you want?" I explained what
I wanted and was told no, they couldn't help me. My car is a 1972 and
already smog-exempt; besides, they'd never dealt with electric cars
before. After talking with the guy for a few minutes, he was friendly
enough, though a bit put-off, and eventually said he could understand
why I wanted to have the reclassification but there was nothing he
could do. Nevertheless, he made a few calls and said to wait. Over the
next 45 minutes I drew a bit of a crowd and fielded questions of over
a dozen different people. Finally he came back with a certificate that
said it was a pure electric vehicle, fuel type electric. He didn't
really look at the car too much; he had me open the front & rear
compartments and he took a couple of pictures out of what seemed
curiosity rather than official business. He was afraid to get close to
the car, let alone touch it, and every time one of the other guys got
close to it he cautioned them not to touch it for fear of being
electrocuted.

I still have to make a DMV appointment for the actual
reclassification. (I tried AAA but they don't do this.)

--Dave

[Dave Hale]

Calif. DMV has eliminated "E" as a fuel type!

I had my DMV appointment today. I was prepared for debates,
explanations, difficulties, and waiting. I stepped up to the counter
at my appointed time.

"How can I help you?"
I'm here to reclassify my vehicle from electric. (now I cringe
waiting for the obstacle)
"OK. But you have to have the vehicle here."
I have the vehicle here.
"Bring it to the side of the building and an inspector will look at
it."

So I do that and now there must be some difficulty. I expect the
inspector, who is a little old hispanic woman, to give me grief.

"Show me the engine."
There is no engine; there's an electric motor. I'm here to have it
reclassified as an electric vehicle.
"OK, show me that"

I lifted the lids, pointed out the battery boxes front/mid/rear, and
the controller.

"Looks nice"

She fills out a form which I am to take back inside. Gee, still no
problems. Back at the counter again, the woman remembers what I'm
there for and I give her my forms and wait my turn for the next agent.
I will now talk to two agents, let's call them Jill and Jane. I step
up to Jill's station.

Jill: "How can I help you?"
Hi, I'm here to reclassify my vehicle as electric.
Jill: "OK. Jane, is that key K001?"
Jane: "Yes"
Jill types something, pulls out a book, looks up something, types
more.
Jill: "Isn't it supposed to be E type?"
Jane: "No, it's Q"
Jill: "OK." Jill types more, takes my title, prints a new
registration, and says "You'll have your new title in about 6 weeks."

The whole time elapsed is about 2 minutes. But wait, what about the Q?
I ask. Jane, who appears to be more senior, steps up. "Q is the type"
I respond,
I thought it was E.
"No, it's Q"
Hmm, well I know a few other people have done this same thing and
they had the fuel type changed to E
"Yes, well E is no longer accepted by our system."
What is Q?
"Q is other. It's what we use now for everything like this. Really,
it's OK."
OK but my concern is that people are going to look up my VIN to
check that it's electric but they'll just see 'other'
"It's okay, see I'll show you" and she pulls out her book and turns to
the page of fuel types.
I see E as a fuel type there, and it says electric. Q says it means
Hybrid.
"Yes, well this book is old" she points to the 2007 date at the bottom
of the page "they need to give us an updated book. Q is the only type
now for electric. E is no longer accepted by our system."

OK, well, what can I do? The whole conversation was quite cordial; I
tried to impress on the fact that I thought it should be E but they
are the ones behind the controls. Maybe she is right. I can't wait to
hear what someone else's *future* experience is at the Calif DMV.

So, now I'm a hybrid. Or other. Who knows for sure?

--Dave

[Dave Hale]

On May 21, 11:39 am, Dave Hale <astronomerd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Calif. DMV has eliminated "E" as a fuel type!

I need to update this statement; although this is what my local DMV
office told me, it appears to be incorrect.

After describing my unsuccessful attempt to register the 914EV as
electric (and getting assigned as a hybrid), two people e-mailed me to
say that they had been given the "E" fuel type (while I was issued "Q"
= hybrid). So I wrote a letter to the DMV office in Sacramento,
briefly describing the Q designation I received while two other
vehicles had received E type designations within the last couple of
months, and included a copy of my BAR certificate certifying me as an
electric vehicle.

I just received in the mail a plain brown envelope, hand addressed, no
return address (except DEPT MOTOR VEHICLES printed at the top left)
and inside which were two photo copies; one was a copy of my Q-type
registration card, the other was a copy of a new registration card
indicating fuel type E, marked with a highlighter pen. That's it, no
note

So, thanks to whoever at DMV in Sacramento for correcting this; I'm
now an officially registered electric vehicle!

--Dave