Electric Car Parking Spots Being Abused

As the electric car age is now well upon us, many retail locations and offices have parking spaces saved specifically for the vehicles that don’t use gas. The spots oftentimes also have electric chargers so a customer or employee can juice up while the car is parked.

However, Jim Motavalli, a New York Times contributor and author of an article for Mother Nature Network, points out that many people aren’t exactly following the rules for these spaces. Click here to read the entire article. Click here to read the entire article.

Caught on tape! Gas cars parking in electric vehicle spots.
Since EV charging spots are near the entrance, gas cars are hogging them. What can be done about that?

By Jim Motavalli

I was surprised, during a recent visit to my local Whole Foods, to see a non-electric car parked in front of, and blocking, one of the two chargers—right near the entrance—that the environmentally minded grocer provides for its customers. And it got me thinking.

Is there some kind of enforcement to ensure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen? Meaning fines and tow-aways...or worse? With a little research, I found a raging debate about proper EV etiquette, and some fairly tough local laws. The bottom line, though, is that people should learn to respect EV parking. The gas guzzlers can park somewhere else, even if it’s further away, but the electrics are counting on plugging in.

Since the beginning of the year in California, it’s not enough just to have an electric car in an EV space—you also have to be plugged in and actively charging. Any battery electric (the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i) or plug-in hybrid (Toyota Prius plug-in, Chevrolet Volt) may use a space, but if they’re not actively charging they can get towed.

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