After going through a year of rejection, the State of California has finally given the Chevrolet Volt equal rights that the Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf enjoy when it comes to the privilege of using the state’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. Kinda.
In order for a Volt owner to be allowed to use an HOV lane with their “Enhanced, Advanced Technology – Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle” (enhAT-PZEV, as the State is calling it… no, really), they must first acquire one of 40,000 available HOV lane stickers which will be issued on a first come, first serve basis. The enhAT-PZEV is also eligible for an extra $1,500 worth of rebates from California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project.
The Volt also had to receive minor powertrain changes in order to qualify. Specifically, engineers installed  a “secondary air-injection pump that streams ambient air into the exhaust stream to increase the ability of the catalytic converter to remove pollutants”. The new feature is appropraitely named the  Low Emissions Package and will be offered on the 2012 model.
One more time: enhAT-PZEV
Comment
Not just enhanced, advanced!
That doesn’t sound forced or anything.