Traditional fossil fuel, hybrid, and even electric vehicles face fines when using an EV parking spaces inappropriately.
Victoria is set to introduce fines relating to electric vehicle parking in accordance with recommendations submitted by the Minister for Public Transport and Roads and Road Safety, Ben Carrol.
In the submitted recommendation which was approved by the Governor in Council this month, the new rules 203B and 203C cover parking in spaces reserved and marked out for electric vehicles.
The obvious reasoning is to ensure that only EV owners use designated EV parking and that other vehicles keep the spaces free, however, there is also a fine for EV owners who use the spots inappropriately.
Under the recommendations, an electric vehicle would essentially be any full or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and hybrids would not be considered electric. The car must have a port to plug in and charge and must be plugged in at the parking spot or face a 2 penalty units fine, equivalent to $330.
Specifically:
New rules 203B and 203C insert:
203B Stopping in a parking area for electric-powered vehicles
(1) A driver of a vehicle that is not an electric-powered vehicle must not stop in a parking area for electric-powered vehicles must not stop in a parking area for electric-powered vehicles
(2) A parking area for electric-powered vehicles is a length or area of road –
(a) to which a permissive parking sign displaying an electric-powered vehicle symbol applies; or
(b) to which an electric-powered vehicle parking sign applies; or
(c) indicated by a road marking that consists of, or includes, an electric-powered vehicle symbol
(3) An electric-powered vehicle means that –
(a) is powered by one or more electric motors or traction motors, regardless of whether the vehicles is also powered by another form or propulsion; and
(b) can be recharged from an external source of electricity
203C Stopping in a parking area for the charging of electric-powered vehicles
(1) A driver must not stop in a parking area for the charging of electric-powered vehicles unless –
(a) the driver’s vehicles is an electric-powered vehicle; and
(b) the electric-powered vehicle is plugged into an external source of electricity
You can always push any plug into a electric vehicle/socket etc. that is not making contact and still then looks like it is plugged in … Some of these charging stations are a rip off and eventually people will install their own at home and then have no need to charge at these on daily work compute … AND knowing some people walking around what if they do plug in and someone unplugs it. Going to be very hard to enforce etc. I think some of these electricity charging suppliers are also a bit of a rip … https://lasercom.com.au/shop/