Running on empty: California is about to run out of license plate combinations

TL;DR: California is on pace to run out of license plate character combinations by the end of the year. Since 1980, the state has used a sequence consisting of one number, followed by three letters, followed by three more numbers. Fortunately, the state already has a solution and it's relatively simple: they're just going to reverse the current order. The current sequence for non-commercial vehicles started with 1AAA000 and will end with 9ZZZ999. Try as I might, I was unable to determine exactly why California went with the one number / three letters / three numbers sequence to begin with. Perhaps it has something to do with regional registrations or sheer consistency? Why not just allow for each of the seven character slots to be either a number or a letter? If my math is correct, that'd result in more than 78 billion possible combinations – plenty for the foreseeable future and beyond. Other options could include adding an eighth character or reusing retired sequences, although th ... Read full article.