Don't park on EV spots, unless you charge

As the industry is still young, parking at EV charging stations can be troublesome at times. A bit of imagination and calm nerves will get you through these most common parking problems at the charging stations.

As a charging business actor, we often come across a question of hybrid cars parking at charging stations. Can hybrid cars park and charge at the public charging stations? Is it acceptable to park at the charging point without charging? Well, here comes the simple rule of good behaviour:

EV charging stations are meant for plug-in cars and for charging.

Due to unconciousness and a lack of compatible charging station designs, many EV drivers come across a situation of someone parking at the charging station but not charging. Since the electric transportation sector is only starting to flourish and stations are sometimes rather invisible for an untrained eye, almost all EV drivers are sometimes faced with the problem of ICE car blocking the charging point.

The charging plug in an EV can be either at the front or back, on either sides of the car. Another tricky scenario happens, when a charging cable doesn't reach from a charger to the car. This situation can be caused if two cars are using the same charger, and both have the plug at the rear of the car. Some countries (Finland to mention one) have already made changes in to ease parking in cases like this.

If necessary, an EV can be parked at the charging station the wrong way around, for instance against the driving direction at the station nearby a road.

Getting the cables to reach might sometimes require weird systems and a bit of imagination. This is something that we'll get rid of in time: when the amount of EV’s rises, more attention will be paid for the practical issues also by city planners and parking lot owners.

Remember to always check from the parking lot signs whether the payment of parking is included in the price of charging or not.