Getting ICE'd

July 18
written by Ron Groves

If you drive an electric vehicle or plugin hybrid you know what I mean by “ICE’d”.  ICE or Internal Combustion Engine describes most cars on the road today that burn gas or diesel fuel.  As EV public charging infrastructure is built, drivers of gas powered cars are not always aware when parking in a public parking lot that some spots are reserved for the use of charging electric vehicles.  And if they do take one of these spots, they are parking in my refueling station.  And that is called, “getting ICE’d” by EV owners. Even if, as they come to a stop in the parking spot, they look up and see the blue glow of the pilot light from the EV charger and realize it is for charging EV’s, they usually shrug their shoulders, lock the car and walk away.  They were in that spot first right?  Not the point!  In many cases there were plenty of other parking spots available in the parking lot.  They could have just backed out and chose another one.  Lazy indifference.  Or, parking spots are few and they have to drive to a lower level or the far side of the lot to park.  Lazy, and mean!

Why mean you ask?  What if, in order to get back home, I need to add some energy to my battery?  My expectation is that I can use a charging station that is not in use.  But if someone parks their gasoline powered car in that spot, blocking the charger, the charger still shows as available on mapping apps.  But the parking spot… not so much.

As more of the EV charging infrastructure is built, standard signs that designate the parking spot as “EV only” will be crucial.  Not only to help EV owners find the charging spots as they cruise the parking lot, but to also warn ICE owners that this spot is reserved for EV’s only.  Currently there are few bylaws that actually have teeth to make it “illegal” to park in an EV charging spot.

In the meantime, as EV owners, what can we do when we discover EV charging parking spots poached by a gas car?  I know what you feel like doing!  But please, don’t do that.  Many gas car owners mistakenly think EV drivers are a bit bonkers in the first place.  We don’t need to validate their belief by doing anything rash.  I have left notes.  Polite notes! With my contact phone number and name.  Funny, no one called me back yet.  But it did usually compel the ICE owner to park elsewhere the next day.  Problem is, there are too many of them!  I get rid of one, and another takes its place.

I have also approached management of the parking garage about the problem.  I just wanted to point out to them that if they are installing EV charging in their parking garage, could they not do a better job of ensuring the EV charging spots remain open for EV’s?  The words “You will be ticketed or towed” work very well on a sign.  Even if they don’t have the power to do that, would you park there and take the risk?

Sometimes, if the lot owner is in a kiosk at the parking lot, they will put an orange cone on the EV parking space.  It serves two purposes. First, seeing the cone, the ICE owner looks up trying to figure out why the cone is there. If the EV parking only sign is visible, ICE drivers get it, and move on.  Education!  Second, most people are in a hurry.  The cone is a physical barrier that has to be moved before you can park. It takes time to get out of your car and do that.  So they move on to quicker, easier parking.  As an EV owner, getting out to move the cone is a minor inconvenience. Voila, charging happiness.

Fortunately, many charging stations have over 20 feet of cord.  One charging wand can often serve 3 parking spaces.  There is nothing that says an EV cannot park in an ICE spot. So if two parking spaces down, there is an open spot, and the cord will reach, Bob’s your uncle.

By the end of 2014 there will be over 10,000 plugin vehicles on the road in Canada and over 2500 Level 2 public charging wands.  While public EV charger installation continues to happen at a good clip, there still may not be enough charging stations in some communities to meet demand.  And this brings up a whole new issue to discuss in my next blog.  How do EV owners share public chargers?  Until next time, “Be nice, educate the ICE”