Continuing its push for cleaner vehicles, California this week begins offering green decals to owners of near zero-emission cars, allowing them to drive solo in the state's carpool lanes.

But freeway diamond lanes around Sacramento and the state won't be seeing green anytime soon: It turns out no commercially available cars on the road meet the new standards.

"The vehicles that will qualify are not likely to be seen for a few more months," said John Swanton of the California Air Resources Board. "It is not going to be a mad rush."

State officials said that's by design. They aren't looking for the kind of land rush that came with the state's popular and somewhat controversial yellow decal program, which came to a close last June.

That ticket program, which helped boost sales of the early Toyota Prius and Honda Civic gas-electric hybrid cars, dumped 85,000 single-occupant cars into the state's high-occupancy lanes, eliciting complaints from carpoolers and federal officials.

State officials are limiting the number of green stickers to 40,000. Department of Motor Vehicles officials said they have the stickers ready to go and plan to administer the program like the old yellow decal program.

To qualify for a decal, a vehicle must meet state standards as an Enhanced Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (AT PZEV). Those standards require manufacturers to offer 150,000-mile warranties on the emissions and energy storage systems. More requirement information is listed on the ARB website.

The 2012 Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid and 2012 Chevy Volt are expected to be the first cars that meet the standards. Both companies are taking reservations for those vehicles and say the cars should be out in the next three months.

Dave Todd, a Sacramento resident and former yellow-sticker car owner, has an order in already for a new Prius, and plans to get a green decal as soon as his car arrives.

"It's like coming out of exile, I guess," he said about the opportunity to go solo again in the carpool lane. "It's a nice bonus for doing the right thing."

Other auto manufacturers have not disclosed timing on releases of new technology vehicles, but ARB's Swanton said it is likely that more auto companies will produce vehicles in the next few years that meet the green decal standards.

State officials are calling the green sticker program the next logical step in California's push to be a national leader in low-emission vehicles.

ARB officials say the program – combined with tax credits – will help compensate for the higher cost of many new-generation electric vehicles.

"These sticker programs get us over the hump with consumer acceptance," Swanton said. "We want to get to where consumers are saying this is what we expect from vehicles ... to get where we need to be as far the environment and national energy security."

The program is set to expire at the beginning of 2015. The Legislature, however, previously extended the old yellow sticker program for several years.

Meanwhile, the state's even tougher, long-standing white decal program for zero-emission vehicles continues to grow. More than 15,000 Californians with the white stickers now drive solo in the state's carpool lanes, DMV officials said. The most popular white sticker car is the electric Nissan Leaf.

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