Hello Mark, thanks for your insight on FRT. Both from FB and this forum, I realized that the two major challenges facing us as EV users are 1) the insufficient provision of charging slots because not every EV user is luckily enough to install his own dedicated wall charger; 2) frequent occupation of ICE cars on the charging slots. The later is some how affecting the former. I am a new comer to this forum. Are there any recommended procedures / actions that we should take when we come across an ICE car parked on charging slots? Perhaps, we should follow that recommended procedures to act as a group force.
This really is a tricky issue. On the one hand we want to keep the spaces free and available for charging use (their stated purpose), and on the other hand this is private property (not ours) and really up to carpark management to enforce the rules. We really don't want people to think badly of EV drivers, but it seems that some ICE owners are just idiots out to make a point. Personally addressing these idiots, one-on-one, is pointless IMHO.
The core issue is that some car park management really couldn't care. It seems like they have been _forced_ to put in EV charges, but have no desire to keep those chargers available for use by EV drivers. They are just paying lip service to the movement. For opportunistic charging that is fine, but for someone low-on-charge who went to that car park specifically to charge, it is completely unacceptable.
I, for one, am getting fed up with it.
I can suggest a few options:
1] We put notes on the offending cars. What is the legal status of this? Is it littering? I know putting advertising leaflets under car wiper blades is illegal, but what about a communications note?
2] We identify the offending car parks, with detailed examples, write to them to clarify their policy, and if the policy is to not enforce an EV priority for the charging stations then blacklist the car park, and recommend our drivers boycott them.
3] If the car park enforces EV priority, then we ask for appropriate signage and cones. Moving cones is inconvenient for us, but that really seem effective.
I haven't suggested any of the more drastic options, as they are all clearly illegal. This is not our property (neither the offending car nor the car park space) and it is not our job to enforce the parking regulations. I don't want to see anyone in our community conducting illegal acts.
I really think that the key to solving this is the car park management. Once cars start to get clamped and fined, then the situation will change. For car parks that are just doing this to 'look good', with no enforcement, perhaps the best approach is to make them look bad?