Are electric micro-cars, NEVs, and LSVs street-legal in the US? Here’s how to know
In Part 1 of this series titled “Everything you need to know about electric micro-cars, NEVs, LSVs, & golf carts,” we discussed the various categories of micro-cars, neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), low-speed vehicles (LSVs), and golf carts. We also covered how these vehicles are becoming such popular car alternatives for so many people. Now in Part 2, we’ll dive into the important topic of what makes these vehicles street-legal for use on public roads.
As we discussed in Part 1 of this series, the term LSV (or low-speed vehicle) is the only important consideration here, as “NEV” is merely a colloquial nickname. The term LSV, on the other hand, is codified into law by the US Department of Transportation and is a federally recognized category of motor vehicles by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
That’s the key to making many of these tiny cars street-legal for use on public roads, though the downside of that is you’ll probably have to register, tag, and insure your LSV in most states in the US.
One point should be made extremely clear though: In almost every case, the question of whether or not an LSV is street-legal comes down to its manufacturer, not to you as the owner or driver. Outside of a few specific cases in a minority of cities and states, non-street-legal LSVs can not be modified or turned into street-legal LSVs by their owners. They need to be originally manufactured to meet federal regulatory guidelines.
Okay, now let’s talk about those guidelines (and some of the exceptions).
Federal regulation of low-speed vehicles
In order for LSVs to be considered for sale in the US to be used on public roads, they must be produced to meet federal regulations for LSVs. This means that they must be designed and manufactured from the outset for street-legal use.
The first step is ensuring that the factory is registered with the NHTSA. Before buying an LSV, you should always ask the vendor if the vehicles are registered with the NHTSA. If the answer is “don’t worry about it, they only go 25 mph,” then 99 out of 100 times you’re not looking at a street-legal LSV.
Without this critical step of being registered and approved as an LSV manufacturer by the NHTSA, proper VINs (vehicle identification numbers) can not be assigned to the vehicles for registration. A VIN that conforms to the same rules as those used on all street-legal vehicles in the US – including full-size cars and trucks for highway use – is just one of more than a dozen federal requirements for LSVs.
This is the step that most foreign-manufactured and imported LSVs miss, since very few overseas LSV factories are actually registered with the NHTSA, meaning they can’t offer a US VIN code. Chinese micro-cars that are imported to the US often have VINs on the frame, but they are Chinese VINs. That’s the case with my internet-famous mini-truck from China. It has a VIN, but it means nothing in the US since it’s a Chinese VIN.
Next, there are several other requirements that mimic those for full-size cars, from visibility to safety equipment. Low-speed vehicles must have backup cameras with very specific viewing angle requirements. Again, these are the same requirements used for full-size cars and trucks in the US. Slapping a camera on the back of a micro-car or golf cart isn’t enough to fulfill this requirement.
Other requirements like pedestrian warning systems (also referred to as pedestrian noisemakers) are required for LSVs with electric drivetrains. Once again, these have the exact same requirements as for new electric cars like Teslas, etc. Very specific octave levels and decibels levels must be programmed into the car’s noisemaker to warn pedestrians, especially vision-impaired pedestrians, of the vehicle’s presence. The sound must reach certain pitches at different speeds and must modulate as the vehicle’s speed increases and decreases. The exact regulation text for just the pedestrian noisemaker is dozens of pages long, believe it or not.
These are some of the more difficult and cumbersome regulations applied to LSVs since they share the same rules as existing cars, but they’re not the only ones. LSVs must also have lap belts or 3-point seat belts that meet DOT requirements for full-size cars as well as windshields that use specific DOT-approved glazing. Both the windshields and the seat belts must be produced by suppliers that are already registered with the DOT. Simply installing any basic seat belt isn’t enough.
Other requirements cover aspects related to lighting, braking systems, reflectors, mirrors, and more.
Where LSVs differ in street-legal requirements from full-size cars largely comes down to the more complicated safety requirements. Crumple zones, airbags, radar, and other major pieces of safety equipment aren’t required in LSVs, and the vehicles themselves aren’t required to undergo crash testing. If they were, the results likely wouldn’t be pretty due to the reduced safety equipment in the vehicles.
That’s one of the reasons that LSVs are limited to just 25 mph (40 km/h) top speed and can only be operated on roads with speed limits of 35 mph (56 km/h). Both of these are part of the federally mandated LSV regulations and are designed to prevent these vehicles from mixing with larger full-size vehicles at higher speeds, where the result of crashes are more likely to be fatal.
Some cities and states have more lax LSV laws
The above is not a complete list of the regulations for LSVs, but paints a picture of the somewhat complicated path required for companies to meet the federal regulations related to LSVs.
However, these are just the federal regulations. Most states describe low-speed vehicles in their state highway codes and have a section deferring regulations to match those at the federal level. In other words, they use the federal rules for LSVs in their own states. A few states set aside more strict requirements, while a few states offer more lenient requirements.
While the vast majority of US states use the federal rules for LSVs, Colorado is an example one state that sets its own more lenient rules that remit several of the more complicated manufacturing requirements. This makes it easier to register things like golf carts as LSVs, though this case is a rare one in the US.
Are golf carts street-legal too?
No, golf carts almost always not street-legal. This is true in nearly every city and state in the US.
Are there exceptions to this rule? Absolutely. But they usually only occur at the local level. That means a state, city, or township has to create a specific ordinance allowing for golf carts to be operated on public roads. There are a few towns that have become famous for this, such as Peachtree City in Georgia, but they are a minority.
To determine if golf carts are considered street-legal and can be used on public roads in your area, you should check with your local police department or Department of Motor Vehicles.
The only time that golf carts do meet federal standards for LSVs is when they are specifically produced as LSV golf carts. Most major golf cart manufacturers in the US do in fact produce LSV versions of their golf carts, meaning they were designed to meet federal low-speed vehicle regulations. The problem is that many have yet to update those models to the most recent version of LSV regulations, which added backup cameras and pedestrian noisemakers to the list of required equipment only a few years ago.
While many LSV golf carts have added backup cameras, most still lack a pedestrian warning system. In reality, you’ll likely never actually get cited by a cop for operating an LSV golf cart that doesn’t have a pedestrian warning system in it, mostly because very few cops would even know that they require one. But if you want to know the letter of the law, then without meeting full compliance, such LSV golf carts aren’t technically street-legal. And when it comes time to register the LSV, it may not be possible without the complete suite of required equipment.
Beware of unscrupulous dealers claiming ‘street-legal’ status
As LSVs have become more popular in the US, so too have shady vendors purporting to sell street-legal LSVs.
Most, if not all, are imported Chinese models that were designed for the Chinese market. Ironically, they aren’t even technically street-legal in China since there are no equivalent LSV laws in China. But they are still commonly used by elderly drivers in China where their name loosely translates to “happy grandpa” cars.
These Chinese models have begun being imported to the US in larger numbers. Models marketed as “Chang Li” vehicles are one of the most common, though Chang Li is simply a single manufacturer and most “Chang Li” vehicles in the US aren’t even produced by Chang Li. At this time, no Chang Li vehicle is street-legal in the US as they do not meet federal regulatory standards for LSVs.
These vehicles lack many of the requirements for street-legal LSV status, usually relating to DOT-stamped safety glass, pedestrian warning systems, proper lighting, DOT-certified seat belts, and other important details. Perhaps most critically, these vehicles do not feature NHTSA-compliant VIN (vehicle identification number) codes. While many come with a VIN, they are actually Chinese VINs and can not be found in the NHTSA database because the manufacturer is not registered with the US government to produce cars for export to the US.
These non-compliance issues haven’t stopped many of shady US resellers from hawking such vehicles with claims of “street-legal” plastered over their websites and marketing materials. But the fact is that nearly no Chinese-manufactured LSVs, NEVs, or micro-cars are currently street-legal in the US, unless they fit into certain city or state laws that have a looser set of requirements than federal low-speed vehicle laws. In fact, at the time of writing, I know of only two Chinese-manufactured LSVs that are currently street-legal in the US, the Wink and the Pickman. And in the case of the Wink, which I know more about after having tested them myself, that’s only because the company spent nearly two years designing the vehicles to be produced in China to US safety standards and properly registered their factory with the NHTSA.
What street-legal LSVs and golf carts exist in the US?
While the category is still in its infancy, there are already several options for street-legal LSVs in the US. Some are already on the road, while others are expected to enter the market later this year.
We will cover these options in detail Part 3 of this series, which will be coming later this week.
Stay tuned!
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Tesla is refusing to do the right thing about ‘Full Self-Driving’ package transfers and instead holds its own incapacity to deliver the package over the head of its owners.
I just had a conversation with Tesla about doing the right thing about FSD transfer. I got an answer: a “categoric no”.
Tesla is literally using its own incapacity to deliver a feature it promised and sold to people, unsupervised self-driving, as a demand trigger to get people to order new cars.
The Context
For those who are not aware, Tesla has been selling since 2016 something called “Full Self-Driving package”, FSD for short, that includes advanced driver assist features, and the automaker has been promising that it will eventually result in unsupervised self-driving capability through over-the-air software updates.
At first, Tesla claimed that all cars produced since 2016 would be able to achieve that. However, Tesla quickly found out that it was wrong and introduced a new computer called HW3 in 2019 and retrofited vehicles with it.
In 2023, Tesla introduced again a new computer, HW4, but the automaker claimed that it would just add more computing power to improve capacity in the future, and it was still confident that it could deliver on its self-driving promises with HW3 cars.
In fact, Tesla CEO Elon Musk even claimed that software updates on HW4 cars would lag 6 months behind updates on HW3 cars as Tesla focuses on delivering on its self-driving promises on the older vehicles.
That lasted less than a year. Since last year, Tesla has been focusing updates on HW4 as it is reaching the compute limits of HW3. As we previously reported, Tesla is now using both nodes on the HW3 computer – meaning that it doesn’t even have any compute redundancy, which is required for level 4-5 autonomy.
Late last year, Tesla finally signaled that it might be reaching the limits of HW3 and said that it would provide computer retrofits if needed, but there’s no retrofit in sight despite HW3 falling now months behind HW4 cars.
With the questionable hardware situation and the even more questionable data pointing to Tesla being way behind schedule on its self-driving ambition, Tesla FSD owners are asking for a simple thing from the automaker, and it can’t even do that.
The Problem
With the situation looking dire for HW3, Tesla owners have been asking the automaker for years to link the FSD software package to the owner rather than the car – meaning that if you upgrade your car to a new Tesla, you can transfer your FSD software package, which you paid up to $15,000 for and Tesla never fully delivered, to the new car.
Doesn’t this sound fair? Tesla sold you a product they never delivered, and you are only giving them another shot on the newer hardware with a new car, which has a higher chance of success.
It doesn’t cost Tesla anything since it’s just a software package that it transfers to hardware that is standard on all cars.
Yet, Tesla has refused to do the right thing here. Musk was asked several times by Tesla owners about doing that and refused. Instead, he devised a plan to use Tesla’s own inability to deliver self-driving capability as a demand trigger.
In the summer of 2023, Musk finally agreed to allow FSD transfers, but not because it was the right thing to do. Instead, he said it would be a “one-time amnesty” for a single quarter. Tesla used this to boost sales in the quarter.
Tesla ended up bringing back the incentive four more times when it needed to boost orders, making Musk a liar for saying it would only be for a quarter. By claiming it’s only for this one time, Tesla is creating urgency in trying to get people to upgrade – instead of doing the right thing and offering everyone who bought FSD the ability to transfer until Tesla actually delivers on its promise.
Currently, Tesla is not offering it because it doesn’t need to. There are plenty of other factors boosting demand right now including the new Model Y, the fear of losing the tax credit in the US, and in Canada, Tesla just announced a price increase coming next month – pushing people to take delivery this month.
I reached out to Tesla about transferring my FSD on a new car this week, and I was told “the FSD transfer window is closed right now”. After explaining all this above to the salesperson and highlighting that it’s the right thing to do not to charge me $11,000 for a software package that I already bought and they never delivered, they agreed to run it up the chain.
The next day, I was told that upper management responded: “a categoric no.”
Electrek’s Take
It’s such a simple thing to do. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s also smart for Tesla as it reduces the obvious liability of having HW3 cars that paid for FSD.
At this point, it’s clear that Tesla will never be able to deliver on its promised unsupervised Full Self-Driving capabilities on HW3 cars. Should we really be surprised? Tesla was wrong before and had to upgrade cars from HW2.5 to HW3, which is now 6 years old.
Tesla didn’t know what hardware it needed to deliver self-driving then, and there’s a good chance it doesn’t know now. But even then, would anyone seriously believe that Tesla would deliver unsupervised self-driving capability on 6-year-old hardware? I think not.
Therefore, every HW3 vehicle Tesla sold with a FSD package is a liability. It makes for them to remove the packages from those cars and move them to more recent vehicles with a higher chance of ever delivering on their promise – even though there’s plenty of room for doubt with those cars too.
Regardless, It’s about doing the right thing for your customers instead of using your own inability to deliver a product you promised as a demand lever for more orders. It’s worse than the tactics used by car dealerships that Tesla despises so much.
As usual, I want to highlight that I think FSD is an incredible product, and if it was developed without Elon Musk claiming that it would achieve unsupervised self-driving by the end of every year for the last 5 years and Tesla selling the product to customers before it is ready, I think it would be much more celebrated.
But instead, Tesla and Musk are doing those things, and many people see it as a fraudulent and dangerous product. It doesn’t help when the CEO grossly misrepresents data about the program.
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The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is putting the new, 600 km Volvo FM Electric semi truck through its paces as they work to decarbonize their emergency vehicle fleet and keep Australia safe from the devastating effects of wildfires.
The Volvo FM Electric is on loan to the NSW RFS for an extended test drive as part of a broader effort to understand how low- and zero-emissions vehicles can be integrated into the agency’s emergency services fleets in the future — and the early results are positive!
In an impressive display of capability, the electric semi truck tackled the 550 kilometer route (340 miles) from the services’ Glendenning NSW logistics headquarters to the border city of Albury with a loaded up RFS water tanker in tow. The truck and trailer arrived just in time to be displayed at the NSW RFS Championships in the suburb of Thurgoona.
The truck was operated by a two-man driving team consisting of Inspector Brendan Doyle, RFS Logistics Manager, and RFS Logistics & Transport Supervisor Peter Duff, who shared driving duties over the route to asses the performance Volvo FM Electric, as well as the heavy vehicle charging experience at each side of the trip.
“This drive presented a great opportunity for us to touch, feel and experience an electric prime mover on public roads,” explained Doyle. “It also allows us to consider where a vehicle like this could fill roles within our logistics fleet in the future.”
Doyle’s partner on the ride concurs. “The driving experience was sensational,” added Duff, “One of the key takeaways for me was that you could take anyone familiar with an existing Volvo truck and they’d be able to drive this without additional training at all.”
The truck averaged 88.7 km/h on the trip, with an energy consumption of 1.24 kWh/km — a figure comparable to the Tesla Semi, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims uses 2 kWh of energy per mile. The big Volvo required less than 2 total hours’ charging to complete the 6 hour and 15 minute trip with stops at Goulburn and Tarcutta.
Electrek’s Take
It’s great to see electric semi trucks being used in real-world heavy haul applications, as opposed to the easy-to-criticize potato chip hauling performances we’ve seen other brands put up in the recent past. As Volvo’s deployed electric truck fleet knocks on the door of 100 million miles driven, it’s hard to believe Tesla will be able to catch up.
That said, it’s happened before — who among us though the Model Y would be the best selling car in the world back in 2014? If you did, scroll on down to the comments and let us know.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Trucks.
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Last week’s inauguration of President Trump stole the headlines, but it wasn’t the only big election news — a supermajority of workers at BlueOval SK voted to file a petition last week with the National Labor Relations Board to unite with the UAW.
The supermajority vote by workers at BlueOval SK occurred after attending a town hall-style meeting in Elizabethtown, Kentucky with UAW members from Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio last month. The Lordstown Ultium plant makes battery cells for GM and Honda electric vehicles and, like the BlueOval SK (BOSK) project, is a joint venture between one of the Detroit 3 and a Korean battery brand (in the case of Ultium, GM and LG; in the case of BlueOval SK, Ford and SK On).
The similarities were apparently enough to convince the majority of BOSK workers of the UAW team’s credibility in the traditionally union-opposing south. The move is expected to yield immediate improvements in working conditions at the Kentucky plant.
“We’re forming our union so we can have a say in our safety and our working conditions,” explained Halee Hadfield, a quality operator at BOSK. “The chemicals we’re working with can be extremely dangerous. If something goes wrong, a massive explosion can occur. With our union, we can speak up if we see there’s a problem and make sure we’re keeping ourselves and the whole community safe,”
Those safety concerns were echoed by other BlueOval SK employees who voted to join the UAW. “I have worked both union and nonunion jobs and have seen the power of a union firsthand,” said Andrew McLean, a logistics worker in formation at BOSK. “Right now, we don’t have a say at BOSK. With a union, we’ll be on a level playing field with management. That’s so important when you’re getting a new plant off the ground. The union allows us to give honest feedback without fear of retaliation.”
Ford paid its shareholders more than $3 billion in dividends, on a gross profit of over $24.7 billion for the twelve months ending September 30, 2024. That $3 billion would be enough to pay each of Ford’s 177,000 global employees a one-time bonus of $16,950. According to Ford’s 2024 proxy statement, Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, earned a total compensation of $26,470,033 in 2023 — a nearly $6 million raise from 2022.
The growing unionization movement among nonunion battery workers across the country, and especially in the South, builds off the success of the UAW Stand Up Strike at the Big Three, as well as the victory by Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, who became the first Southern autoworkers employed outside the Big Three to join the UAW last April.
SOURCE | IMAGES: UAW.
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