Wisconsin ‘B’ license plates to debut soon, WisDOT says
Wisconsin reaches "B" series license plates (Courtesy: Wisconsin DMV)
MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles will soon debut a new series of license plates that begin with the letter "B" after nearly eight years of the current "A" series.
What they're saying:
After nearly eight years and 4.7 million letter and number combinations on license plates issued, the Wisconsin DMV said all combinations of plates that begin with the letter "A" have been exhausted.
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The first batch of "B" license plates will begin with "BAA" and will move through millions of letter and number combinations until all combinations starting with "B" are issued. The DMV estimates it will take approximately seven years to do so.
The backstory:
Wisconsin license plates currently have seven characters, but that wasn’t always the case. Wisconsin plates had six characters until April 2017, when the DMV said the current format of seven-character license plates beginning with the letter "A" began.
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The additional character yields about 100 million combinations; the previous six-character license plates yielded about 20 million combinations. The letters "I," "O," and "Q" are not included in the combinations because they resemble numbers.
Wisconsin DMV license plates at a glance:
- Wisconsin plates had a set format of six characters since 1986 and reversed from letters to numbers (WRZ-999 to 123-ABC) in 2000.
- Wisconsin was the first state to stagger license plate expiration months across all 12 months of the year. This system was implemented beginning in 1946, with plates being issued to expire between June 1946 and May 1947 when people went to renew their 1945 plates.
- Those who sign up for DMV’s eNotify receive renewal notification by email or text which includes direct links for convenient online renewal.
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Each year, Wisconsin DMV issues more than 600,000 new license plates. Approximately 3.5 million vehicles have standard Wisconsin plates.
What you can do:
Vehicle owners looking to replace their older license plates can be among the first to order the new "B" series on the DMV's website.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.