EV owner cops $200 fine over entitled car park act at Chadstone Shopping Centre
An electric car owner has been hit with ‘idle fees’ after leaving his fully charged Polestar plugged in for hours in Australia’s largest shopping centre.
They left the Polestar for an extended period while doing Christmas shopping at Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping Centre, racking up $200 in fees.
The incident has sparked a heated debate over charging etiquette after a fellow shopper shared a photo of the offending EV online.
“That will be a damn vain bill,” they wrote in comment.
Idle charges typically cost a dollar per minute and are charged to owners who keep their fully charged EV plugged into a parking charger.
The fees have been introduced to prevent drivers from using the limited charging stations for extended periods.
A fellow EV driver led the call for stricter deterrents for EV owners using fast chargers in public places such as shopping centres.
“All fast chargers should have inactive fees,” they said.
A driver was caught Christmas shopping and racked up $200 in inactivity fees after leaving his fully charged EV car at a charging station for hours (pictured)
The EV owners were fined last week while shopping at the Chadstone Shopping Center
The incident has led to a plea from the Electric Vehicle Council for EV owners to show respect to fellow drivers during the busy post-Christmas sales and holiday period.
“Don’t exceed the charging time, leave home with a full battery and be courteous to your fellow EV drivers,” said Aman Gaur, head of legal, policy and advocacy. Yahoo.
Western Australia first trialled idle fees in mid-2023 and is expected to continue to increase across Australia.
Tesla is applying the fees to busy superchargers, and the NRMA has indicated it plans to introduce them in the future.
Tesla’s idle fees only apply when a station is at more than 50 percent capacity, with fees doubling at full capacity.
According to the EVC, almost one in ten new cars sold in Australia is electric.
More than 100,000 vehicles will be added to Australian roads by 2024.
Many Australians are calling for more idle fees to reduce the time drivers spend parking in charging stations
Governments and companies have rushed to build and maintain enough fast public chargers.
There are reportedly 1,059 charging locations in Australia, with 1,849 high-powered public chargers.
‘Fortunately, the public charging network is growing with demand. Over the past year, the number of public chargers and their locations across the country has almost doubled, with more public and private investment in the pipeline to expand this further in the new year,” Mr Gaur said.
“A few summers ago, EV drivers needing to charge faced a bumpy road, largely due to Covid-related supply chain disruptions that affected the availability of spare parts.”
Electric vehicle sales are expected to continue to rise as major brands continue to focus on the Australian market.
Chinese brands are closing in on established EV makers, while Australia’s appetite for electricity is spreading to brands like BYD, which surpassed Tesla last year as the world’s largest EV manufacturer.
The federal government is also encouraging Australians to buy electric cars through various environmentally friendly policies.
However, owners of hybrid vehicles will lose the opportunity to claim an exemption from extra-legal tax on plug-in hybrids from April 1, 2025.
The reclassification of the law announced in October means that plug-in hybrids will no longer be considered zero or low emission vehicles, but fully electric vehicles will continue to qualify for the exemption.