LTO welcomes bill proposing "special" plates for EVs

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) today said that the agency welcomes a proposed law that will entitle electric vehicle (EV) owners to the issuance of a special license plate – which is basically “a special plate number different from the regular plate numbers issued to conventional vehicles.”

House Bill (HB) 8570, which was introduced by Partylist Representative, Anthony Golez, Jr., will mandate the LTO to provide EVs their own designated license plates with a new design and color scheme. Additionally, HB 8570 will give EV owners additional privileges like priority lanes, tax incentives, priority parking, and “environmental recognition.” The full text of HB 8570 can be found here.

According to LTO chief, Atty. Vigor Mendoza II, the agency has always been and will continue to be a partner to proposals and actions that aim to protect the environment. He also added that the LTO is confident to accept these proposals because they knew that the license plate backlog issue will already be resolved in a few months’ time.

Currently, electric vehicles are exempted from the number coding scheme by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Backlog issue priority

LTO chief Atty. Mendoza, however, reiterated that the agency right now is focused on resolving the plate number backlog issue before attending to other matters.

“But right now, allow us to focus first on solving the backlog on license plates and to distribute the unclaimed license plates in the soonest possible time,” said Mendoza.