A picture taken outside a mall near Calgary in Alberta, Canada, has some people fuming. The picture, posted to Reddit, shows a truck blocking a Tesla electric vehicle charging station.
The post in the r/Calgary subreddit is titled "Blocking EV Chargers," with the caption "Please don't block EV charging stalls."
Unfortunately, this type of inconsiderate behavior is not uncommon. It's been happening for years, and there's even a name for it: ICE-ing — ICE is an acronym for internal combustion engine.
While in some cases it may be out of ignorance or impatience — if there aren't any other spots available — in others, there's no doubt it's done out of spite.
In one instance in North Carolina in 2018, which was also posted to Reddit, a Tesla owner was harassed by a group of truck owners who had blocked every charger at a convenience store and chanted "F Tesla" until they were asked to leave by a store employee.
Another Reddit post from around the same time showed a truck parked in front of a charging station with the charger mockingly attached to the bed.
In one case, a Tesla driver pulled up to a charging station only to find a truck blocking the charger, while it was idling with no one inside. So the driver of the truck blocked someone from recharging their car that doesn't add pollution to the atmosphere, while at the same time polluting the atmosphere.
As the number of charging stations will only continue to grow, fortunately, steps are being taken to stop ICE-ing. In some areas of Canada, parking your internal combustion car in an EV charging spot will lead to a $125 fine and your car being towed. In Arizona, it's now illegal to park your car in a spot designated for EV charging.
Tesla has also come up with a solution. In China, ICE-ing was such a problem that Tesla began installing blockers that pop up from the ground when the charging station isn't being used, which would prevent other cars from parking there, and Tesla drivers can unlock the blocking mechanism using the Tesla app.
One person commented on the anger expressed in response to the pic, saying, "This is exactly the reaction they want."
Another Redditor replied, "Should be a towable offense. All they need is a sign saying 'non-EV vehicles will be towed at owner's expense.'"
Another posted, "Entitlement is like pure degradation of our society."
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