Digital License Plates (DLP) started appearing on cars in Minnesota this past April, and within several years, all Minnesota vehicles will have them.
The plates that have gone digital so far include the "Loon Critical Habitat: and "Support our Troops" plates. The new "Minnesota Sesquicentennial" that came out in August is also digital.
The redesigned "digital" plates include black lettering, which is easier to read than the standard blue and a bar code that can be scanned for record keeping. The plates are made from recyclable aluminum like old plates, but it is lighter and thinner. That means less storage space and a reduction in postage costs.
The environment will also benefit from these new plates. The digital printing process eliminates some of the paints and solvents necessary to produce embossed plates.
The digital printing will also take less time to produce, since all the graphics on the plate can be printed simultaneously. Special plates won't be a hassle anymore; they can now be printed anytime, without stopping production on other plates.
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According to the Department of Public Safety, the state will begin issuing digital plates for passenger vehicles starting in September, with other classes of license plates being converted to the new style over the winter months.
