Too many e-cars: Munich must introduce new licence plates
Pure confusion?! Due to the large number of e-cars, the city of Munich is running out of possible licence plate combinations. That's why the administration is now introducing the MUC licence plate. Goodbye beautiful M abbreviation, hello bureaucracy and confusion!
Munich, the city of expensive rents and the Oktoberfest, has now developed a new tactic to annoy us drivers: it is introducing a new licence plate, the MUC plate. These new number plates will be issued from 1 December 2023. In future, the city will not only have M but also MUC as a licence plate abbreviation, which is sure to cause a lot of confusion.
Until now, licence plates with the abbreviation M were used in Munich. That was simple, clear and unambiguous. But no, that's not enough for the city council. They have to make it more complicated.
And who is to blame for this new bureaucratic prank? The e-cars! Because licence plates in Germany can have a maximum of eight digits. For electric vehicles, an E is always added to the last digit. This reduces the choice because one digit for a number combination is omitted. So many drivers will soon have to say goodbye to the nice, simple M on their licence plates.
Not only e-cars, but also classic cars with an H at the end and seasonal licence plates that have an expiry date at the end are contributing to the problem.
And who can now apply for the new MUC licence plate? Owners of cars, lorries or motorbikes with combustion engines. Electric vehicles will continue to receive M licence plates. It seems as if Munich favours the owners of electric cars. What about the "normal" car drivers?
And then there is the matter of the application. The MUC licence plate cannot currently be applied for online, but only at an appointment on site at the vehicle registration office or at a citizens' office when changing residence. As if the people of Munich didn't already have enough to do! Now they also have to schedule extra appointments for this new licence plate bureaucracy. Thank you, Munich!
But Munich's mayor Dominik Krause only means well. 'I wish the future owners of the MUC licence plate a good and safe journey and lots of creativity in thinking up the letter combinations that are now possible. Thank you, Mr Mayor, the people of Munich will certainly need your creativity to cope with this new, unnecessary licence plate complication.