Plates
Today I put the Minnesota license plates on Maxie the Ford C-MAX Energi.
Goodbye, Massachusetts EV. Hello, plain vanilla Minnesota vehicle.
The occasion does feel just slightly momentous.
It’s not that I have been avoiding the 4 minutes’ labor required to swap out the out-of-state plates. But driving around with those badges from Massachusetts seemed to me to confer a certain blanket immunity for not knowing where I was going. Perhaps a temporary free pass from all Minnesota Nice, all the time.
When I would need to pull a U-turn because I overshot, or would find myself suddenly in the wrong lane, a little wave and a weak smile said “Sowwy, I didn’t know: I’m from Massachusetts!”
That thin veneer of protection — if it ever existed at all — is gone now.
The old plates, as you see, were distinguished by an EV designation. Maxie is a plug-in hybrid. Massachusetts is trying to encourage more of that. We were told that at some point soon, cars without such plates will begin to be ticketed if they park at a charging station. A nice perk in theory for driving an EV, but we were gone before it came into effect.
I assume that Minnesota also wants to encourage the energy savings that plug-in vehicles represent. But this state doesn’t offer EV plates yet. The RMV clerk seemed surprised when we asked and a thoughtful look came into his eye. So we perused the somewhat dizzying selection of special-interest plates available and in the end decided to go plain-Jane.
Hi, my name is Sam and I’m a 15 year old license plate collector from Concord Mass, near where you used to live in Groton. I just stumbled upon your blog and have found it very interesting. I also came across this post on changing plates, and saw the picture of your old Mass EV plates. I am wondering if you would be willing to part with one of both of these plates, as I collect different kinds of Mass plates and have yet to acquire one of these. You can check out my site to see some info on my collection. Please let me know what you think and if we could work something out. Thanks! — Sam
Hi Sam, thanks for writing. Unfortunately I destroyed the Mass. plates. It was indeed unfortunate because it turns out I was supposed to send them back to the Mass. RMV, as proof that they were in fact retired from use.
Instead I had to download, fill out, and mail in a form declaring my old plates lost. In return, in the eventual fullness of time, the RMV sent me a form declaring the loss as fact. Now I need to send that form plus a copy of my new Minn. registration, to the tax assessor in Groton, so that in the fullness of even more time they may rebate some of my 2015 excise tax.