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Having owned an EV now for well over 2 years and having driven it all over the UK and to Scotland and Amsterdam I am only too aware of the fact that not only is the public charging network undeveloped but what is available is often not available to use because there is frequently an ICE (internal combustion engine, i.e. petrol/diesel) car parked in the EV charging bay. If you drive an EV and need to charge then being ICEd, as it is called, is not only annoying but it might be the difference between being able to get home or not!
So, it stands to reason then that owners of ICEs that park in EV bays are clearly in the wrong and they should not have parked there. True or false? As with many things in life, it isn't as simple as it seems.
Why don't we look at it from the ICE owner's point of view. There they are, parking spaces, EMPTY parking spaces. Parking spaces that are meant to be for EV charging yet in the months or years they have been using that car park they have never seen an EV parked there and charging. From their point of view the EV drivers are getting unfair treatment. Having parking spaces reserved for their use when they never use them. It makes sense to ICE drivers to park there as they do not understand the importance of an EV driver needing to be able to charge but even if they do then they often don't care. Why should they have to park somewhere else, or further from the entrance/exit every day when those spaces are empty? Anyway, if they don't park there someone else will.
Also from the site owner's perspective there is little incentive to keep them clear for EV drivers to charge. If they do then they will get constant grief having to regularly talk to ICE drivers who have parked there when they never see EVs charging themselves so how can they justify keeping them clear to ICE drivers? They can't.
This then is the reality of public EV charging today. If the business owner has installed charging then they are very unlikely to make any effort to keep the charging bays clear until there is some evidence that they will be used. This then is a catch-22 situation in a way. People will be put off buying EVs when they hear that it is difficult to charge and yet charging bays will not be kept clear by owners or respected by ICE drivers until there are enough EVs using the bays on a regular basis for them to clock that they are needed.
I am of course generalising. I know there are sites where the bays are kept clear by the site owners but it is hard work for them. Many drivers simply will not respect EV charging bays until they perceive a need to do so.
So, are they wrong to park in EV charging bays? If the signage is good and there are proper, official, restrictions in place then perhaps they are. But in a supermarket car park, motorway service area or many public car parks, where the signs are not clear or where there is no official and enforced regulation in place then can we blame people for not keeping EV charge bays clear?
I think all we can do for now is try to educate ICE drivers in as friendly way as possible as to why EV bays must be kept clear. It won't be easy or quick but I think that getting annoyed with them, arguing, or trying to take the law into your own hands by blocking or causing damage, especially when the law might even be on their side (e.g. where signs are inadequate or no bylaw exists) just serves to antagonise them and fuel the fire. Once an ICE driver has had an argument with an EV driver they may consider all EV drivers trouble and they might even then deliberately park in EV bays just out of spite. As EV pioneers we must be patient and accept that not everyone right now is as EV friendly as we are. It will take years to change attitude and opinion and we must do it as friends of ICE drivers... not enemies.
This is perhaps one of the hardest aspects of owning an EV right now... be a friend to the ICE driver, not an enemy, and they might then start to listen.
So, it stands to reason then that owners of ICEs that park in EV bays are clearly in the wrong and they should not have parked there. True or false? As with many things in life, it isn't as simple as it seems.
Why don't we look at it from the ICE owner's point of view. There they are, parking spaces, EMPTY parking spaces. Parking spaces that are meant to be for EV charging yet in the months or years they have been using that car park they have never seen an EV parked there and charging. From their point of view the EV drivers are getting unfair treatment. Having parking spaces reserved for their use when they never use them. It makes sense to ICE drivers to park there as they do not understand the importance of an EV driver needing to be able to charge but even if they do then they often don't care. Why should they have to park somewhere else, or further from the entrance/exit every day when those spaces are empty? Anyway, if they don't park there someone else will.
Also from the site owner's perspective there is little incentive to keep them clear for EV drivers to charge. If they do then they will get constant grief having to regularly talk to ICE drivers who have parked there when they never see EVs charging themselves so how can they justify keeping them clear to ICE drivers? They can't.
This then is the reality of public EV charging today. If the business owner has installed charging then they are very unlikely to make any effort to keep the charging bays clear until there is some evidence that they will be used. This then is a catch-22 situation in a way. People will be put off buying EVs when they hear that it is difficult to charge and yet charging bays will not be kept clear by owners or respected by ICE drivers until there are enough EVs using the bays on a regular basis for them to clock that they are needed.
I am of course generalising. I know there are sites where the bays are kept clear by the site owners but it is hard work for them. Many drivers simply will not respect EV charging bays until they perceive a need to do so.
So, are they wrong to park in EV charging bays? If the signage is good and there are proper, official, restrictions in place then perhaps they are. But in a supermarket car park, motorway service area or many public car parks, where the signs are not clear or where there is no official and enforced regulation in place then can we blame people for not keeping EV charge bays clear?
I think all we can do for now is try to educate ICE drivers in as friendly way as possible as to why EV bays must be kept clear. It won't be easy or quick but I think that getting annoyed with them, arguing, or trying to take the law into your own hands by blocking or causing damage, especially when the law might even be on their side (e.g. where signs are inadequate or no bylaw exists) just serves to antagonise them and fuel the fire. Once an ICE driver has had an argument with an EV driver they may consider all EV drivers trouble and they might even then deliberately park in EV bays just out of spite. As EV pioneers we must be patient and accept that not everyone right now is as EV friendly as we are. It will take years to change attitude and opinion and we must do it as friends of ICE drivers... not enemies.
This is perhaps one of the hardest aspects of owning an EV right now... be a friend to the ICE driver, not an enemy, and they might then start to listen.
