Are green license plate vehicles subject to traffic restrictions?
3 Answers
Green license plate vehicles are new energy vehicles, but they are not exempt from traffic restrictions nationwide. This mainly depends on local license plate and number restriction policies. Relevant information is introduced as follows: 1. Non-local vehicles: Whether pure electric or plug-in hybrid, they are subject to traffic restrictions in Beijing. There are questions about the "Implementation Plan for Promoting Key Consumer Goods Upgrading and Smooth Resource Recycling (2019-2020)" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission. The regulations clearly state: Local governments shall not impose traffic restrictions or purchase restrictions on new energy vehicles, and existing restrictions should be canceled. 2. Local vehicles: Locally purchased new energy vehicles cannot be subject to purchase or traffic restrictions, but this does not apply to owners nationwide. Beijing has the strictest traffic restrictions because the current number of vehicles in Beijing has reached a very saturated state, with severe traffic congestion during rush hours and holidays. Introduction to new energy vehicles: 1. New license plate numbers: Increased capacity to better meet demand. Compared with ordinary vehicle license plates, new energy vehicle license plates have one more digit, increasing from 5 to 6 digits. This expands the license plate number capacity and resources, with more scientific and reasonable encoding rules, meeting the need for "less use of letters and more use of numbers" in arrangement. 2. Traffic restriction policies: These are issued by local governments because traffic conditions vary by region. Therefore, do not assume that the central government's policies apply everywhere, and even if they do, implementation times vary by location.
Last time I drove my friend's electric car to the inner ring, the navigation suddenly popped up a traffic restriction notice, and only then did I realize that some cities really differentiate between types of green license plates. Pure electric green license plates are basically unrestricted, but plug-in hybrids are treated exactly the same as blue license plate vehicles in many places. For example, Hangzhou's elevated roads clearly restrict hybrid green license plates during morning and evening rush hours. The most frustrating part is that new energy vehicles with out-of-town green license plates can't even get on the elevated roads in Shanghai on weekday afternoons. It's recommended to download the local traffic police app to check the latest policies. Last year, Chengdu even adjusted the traffic restriction scope for three-wheeled vehicles.
My neighbor drives a green-plated car to take his kids to school every day, but recently got ticketed for violating traffic restrictions. Turns out he bought a plug-in hybrid model. Policies vary wildly across cities: in Beijing, pure electric vehicles have free rein while hybrids follow the odd-even license plate rule; in Shenzhen, even out-of-town green plates face rush hour restrictions; cities like Chengdu currently only restrict gasoline-powered cars. The key is the second letter on the big green license plate - those starting with D (pure electric) enjoy the most privileges. Though I heard Chongqing is piloting a program where even pure electric trucks need permits to enter the Liberation Monument area.
