Parking in electric bays

[Blinkingheckythump]

I went somewhere the other day where parking was very full, excitedly started to pull into a bay to realise it was an electric vehicle only bay. I didn't park in it and was lucky enough to get the last normal bay. But it did make me think. There was no one in any of the electric vehicle bays and every other space was then full. If you turned up after me would you have parked in the electric bay as a normal car?
Yabu no I would not
Yanbu yes I would

No I wouldn't, they are for charging not just for parking.

No, that's like parking at the petrol pump then going and doing your shopping. It just so happens that the charging points are in the car park.

We live near a public car park with about 16 spaces. It’s always full, we often see people having to turn around and come back out because there are no spaces. A couple of months ago the council put electric charging points in 4 of the spaces. I don’t know for definite but I very much doubt that those spaces are taken up by people charging their cars when there weren’t enough spaces before they were put in

no because then if someone comes that needs to charge while you're in the shop they can't. Like you wouldn't (hopefully) park in a disabled bay if they were the only free ones left?

That. Also there are great big signs next to ours saying that the bays are only to be used for charging, so I think that's pretty clear.

Yes but only if I wanted to charge my car!

YANBU to park there but it depends on the signs displayed. A lot of councils will penalise you for parking there if you're not charging.

At a shopping centre car park near me there are parking attendants putting tickets on cars in those bays that aren’t charging, so no.

No I wouldn’t but in my worst moments of parking frustration I have considered opening the bonnet and putting the charging plug under there so the wire was coming out, to make it look like I was charging a car. I have never acted on this though. 🤣

I see your point. But on the other hand, what if you had an electronic vehicle and didn't need to charge it, would you still park there?

This post sums up why people can’t have nice things in society … because the minute something is offered to one group, it’s perceived as an “advantage” by another group and they want it

I would if you were allowed to/there was no sign stopping it.

Of course you should try to park in a non electric bay first, but if all the others are full and there is no prohibit sign then to me its fair game.

I see your point. But on the other hand, what if you had an electronic vehicle and didn't need to charge it, would you still park there?

If I didn't need to charge, no I wouldn't. I know how nerve wracking it is to try to find somewhere to charge - it's like the flashing fuel light but with far less places available to top up.

In Ireland you will be fined for parking in an EV spot if you are a) a non-EV car or b) an EV that isn't charging.

It’s nothing like parking in a disabled space.

infact the only time I may consider it is if I had DS (blue badge holder) with me and had no other options. I wouldn’t be happy about doing it but if it was a case of needs must I would.

No, I wouldn’t take the space if I didn’t have an electric car that needed charging. Yes, I would be inconvenienced if there were no normal spaces left, but that doesn’t justify passing that inconvenience on to others who need the space.

There will however be some people who’d quite happily park there without a second thought about anyone else .. unfortunately some have the attitude of looking after number one and everyone else can get fucked. That’s up to them, but not the way I like to behave 🤷‍♀️

Grab some chalk and draw a mother and toddler sign on them and they are fair game on mumsnet.

I did once when I needed to nip in to the shop and grab a lighter for my wood burner (bought all the wood but no flame!). There were 10 electric bays and nobody parked in them. It took me less than a minute. Whether I should have done or not I dunno but nothing bad happened to anyone so 🤷‍♀️

They aren't parking spaces they are charging bays. The main issue though is that the infrastructure doesn't exist yet to make electric cars a viable option for many people. Hopefully we will reach the point where charging doesn't need to be done in a car park/parking space. But at the moment, no, you shouldn't park in an EV charging bay if you aren't charging an EV.

I think that if I had driven there to charge my car and found some cf parking there, I would be annoyed. I have never keyed a car in my life, but…

again, no becuase the signs are usually for charging bays, not EV parking bays. I've seen several try that though but hopefully they'll get a ticket or a chat from the parking attendant. Its pretty easy to put a cable in though to pretend if you're that fussed - still annoying though

Electric car owner here
The done thing from all EV and ICE (internal combustion engine) drivers is only park in a charging bay when charging. Unplug and move the car as soon as you finish driving.
As someone else said, it'd be like parking at a petrol pump and then going off to do your shopping.
I appreciate however the frustrations of installing chargers in already small car parks and essentially removing parking spaces. The charging infrastructure needs to be (a lot) better and more dedicated charging areas need setting up. But the EV uptake has been relatively big and day to day it's more and more difficult to charge in public areas when you need to, so having a car parked there and not charging is beyond frustrating.

why not? They're reserved bays presumably with clear signage and risk of a ticket if you don't meet the requirements?

I'm not saying they're equally important - just that they work in the same way

It's very annoying when you need to charge your car and find the only charging bay has been ICED

I would view it in the same way as parent and child spaces - I wouldn't unless I was truly desperate and wasn't going to be long. I would never park in a disabled space.