Photo: Drive Tesla Canada via YouTube | Edited
One of the most annoying trends of the past years since electric vehicles have gained traction is ICE-ing – blocking the charging stations with an ICE vehicle. Legislators around the world are trying to curb this trend, and the Australians from New South Wales think they have found the cure.
Since Tesla started to increase sales of its electric vehicles, combustion vehicle drivers have discovered a new entertaining activity: blocking the charging stations. Since most of those blocking the stalls used an ICE truck to make the most impact, the trend was soon known as ICE-ing. This is annoying, to say the least, considering that public stations are used by people on road trips, who probably don't have many options to recharge their cars' batteries in the area. Denying them the possibility could leave them stranded in remote areas.
Probably this is the exact reason why ICE drivers do it in the first place, to make a statement about how better their ICE truck is. Although not many believe it now, the situation should change in 5-10 years. Then, searching for a gas station should become a challenge, and finding it blocked by EVs would give ICE drivers a taste of their own medicine.
Charging stations and EV owners have fought for years to limit ICE-ing, and police have tried to educate drivers not to block the stalls anymore. The results have been mixed, mostly because some drivers don't even realize they are preventing somebody from charging their cars. They simply use the charging stations as parking lots without thinking of others.
To make matters worse, even EV drivers have started to block charging stations. Either by leaving their cars hooked to the charger for hours or by simply parking there with no intention of charging, EV owners are sometimes no better than ICE-ers. There's a good reason why Tesla introduced an idle fee at its Supercharger stations, but not all networks have implemented similar measures. A new name was coined to name these people: EVholes.
Australia's New South Wales has passed legislation that severely punishes drivers that block charging stations. The rules apply to ICE and EV drivers, so parking your electric vehicle at a charging station without charging is still punishable. According to the new legislation, owners of ICE vehicles blocking a charging station risk fines of up to 2,200 AUD (around 1,500 USD). The same fate awaits EV drivers who are not actively charging their cars when parked at a charging station and owners of combustion engine vehicles that park in parking spaces reserved for electric cars.
The law instructs how the charging locations should be labeled to make it clear to anyone that they are not parking lots. Similarly, the parking spaces reserved for electric vehicles are to be identified by specific markings. What do you think, could fines solve one of the biggest problems of EV ownership?
Probably this is the exact reason why ICE drivers do it in the first place, to make a statement about how better their ICE truck is. Although not many believe it now, the situation should change in 5-10 years. Then, searching for a gas station should become a challenge, and finding it blocked by EVs would give ICE drivers a taste of their own medicine.
Charging stations and EV owners have fought for years to limit ICE-ing, and police have tried to educate drivers not to block the stalls anymore. The results have been mixed, mostly because some drivers don't even realize they are preventing somebody from charging their cars. They simply use the charging stations as parking lots without thinking of others.
To make matters worse, even EV drivers have started to block charging stations. Either by leaving their cars hooked to the charger for hours or by simply parking there with no intention of charging, EV owners are sometimes no better than ICE-ers. There's a good reason why Tesla introduced an idle fee at its Supercharger stations, but not all networks have implemented similar measures. A new name was coined to name these people: EVholes.
Australia's New South Wales has passed legislation that severely punishes drivers that block charging stations. The rules apply to ICE and EV drivers, so parking your electric vehicle at a charging station without charging is still punishable. According to the new legislation, owners of ICE vehicles blocking a charging station risk fines of up to 2,200 AUD (around 1,500 USD). The same fate awaits EV drivers who are not actively charging their cars when parked at a charging station and owners of combustion engine vehicles that park in parking spaces reserved for electric cars.
The law instructs how the charging locations should be labeled to make it clear to anyone that they are not parking lots. Similarly, the parking spaces reserved for electric vehicles are to be identified by specific markings. What do you think, could fines solve one of the biggest problems of EV ownership?
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