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Front license plate options?

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License Plate Mounting

Where I live (Virginia), unfortunately license plates are required to be mounted to the front of the vehicle. Franz never did address the oft-asked front license plate mounting question, but looking at the front end design I only see two potential areas to mount it:
  1. The solid part of the grille, right below the Tesla logo
  2. Centered over the lower air intake.

Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of any of these options. Ugh. The thought of drilling into the bumper of my new $70k car to mount an ugly white rectangle makes me sick.

After doing a little web research I've found that people generally don't get away with ignoring this law and leaving the front plate off.

I'm not sure how detrimental mounting a plate over part of the air intake would be, but I see it at least as a possibility.

So which of these two mounting locations would you prefer?
Option 1:
licensePosition1.jpg


or Option 2:
licensePosition2.jpg


It's like choosing between crap and crappier...

Edit: I wonder if this mounting bracket on a BMW might work...
bmwMount.jpg
 
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I'd say the lower position looks better, but as you say it's very dubious that Tesla would want you mounting it in front of the air intake.

The whole thing is pretty annoying, as we're right on the border with Quebec. Thousands of single-plated cars cross the river from Quebec every day...
 
NY also requires plates to be mounted in the front and rear. Option 2 looks better. Regardless of where the plate is placed, it will take some of the aesthetic beauty away from the front end. I have seen vehicles with the plate inside on the dashboard. Not sure if that is legal or for short term use.
 
Edit: I wonder if this mounting bracket on a BMW might work...
View attachment 2339
That's a bracket made by Skene Design - I just bought one for my LEAF (I can only dream of buying a Tesla). Takes a bit of time to make sure it's lined up properly, but it's a very well made bracket and pretty adjustable. Wish it had some fore-aft adjustment (only angle and height are adjustable once the bracket is mounted) and the vertical supports were not quite so visible when looking down from the top. It's design should let you mount a plate on the front of nearly any car with minimal permanent penetrations.
 
vfx: Thanks for the graphic design eye :).

NigelM: I looked through the Virginia motor vehicle regulations. There's no requirement for minimum height that I saw

Here's the regulation:

"§ 46.2-715. Display of license plates.

License plates assigned to a motor vehicle, other than a motorcycle, tractor truck, trailer, or semitrailer, or to persons licensed as motor vehicle dealers or transporters of unladen vehicles, shall be attached to the front and the rear of the vehicle..."

So it needs to be mounted--can't just be sitting on the dash.

drees: Thanks for the info. Hopefully Tesla will have a recommended mounting option...Or perhaps I can fight to change the law...
 
I was one of those posting in the design thread over on the Tesla forum for the mounting bracket. I believe most of Europe also require a front license plate. So I really hope Franz design that into the design. Yes I know that might brake up the flow of the design a bit, but if they don't the actual required license plate has to go somewhere and will probably look really really stupid with lots of different DIY mounting brackets :(

Cobos
 
Front license plates are indeed required in Europe. I'm thinking of putting stickers instead of the actual plate (front plate can be duplicate in Belgium). I might get fined but prefer that over putting holes in my new car.
 
Front license plates are indeed required in Europe. I'm thinking of putting stickers instead of the actual plate (front plate can be duplicate in Belgium). I might get fined but prefer that over putting holes in my new car.

I don't know for sure, but I imagine that the dealer may be required to fit the plate before selling you the car. It's also likely that the EU-spec cars will have a slightly modified front end to provide a fixing point for the front plate, just as the space for the rear plate is usually a different shape to allow for the wider plates we have here. Compared to the other differences between building cars for different markets it's a very minor change to have different bumpers.
 
In California front plates are required. I was waiting for a friend at a stop light for an hour and counted--20% of cars do not have front plates. I hate 'em and don't put them on any of my 7 cars. I get stopped about every three or four years and tell the cop I had to take it off to have the car towed, and show them the plate in the trunk I plan to put back on. If I can't talk my way out of it I, get a ticket. Then I put the license plate back on, pay the nominal fine, take the plate off again--and repeat the cycle every 3-4 years.

Not perfect, but as least I can drive without the plates on the front!
 
Mercedes and BMW delivers cars in California without front plates! You have to sign a waiver indicating that you don't want them to do that.

I have posed previously: I have no front plates on any of my cars X ~7 for the last 30 years. One fix it ticket with no fine.