The South Australia (SA) government has announced that petrol and diesel car drivers can face fines if they park their vehicles in areas designed for electric cars.
Electric car drivers will not be immune to the penalties either, as parking electric vehicles (EV) in signposted EV charging bays without using the charging facility would incur a similar penalty.
Both offences will attract on-the-spot fines of $75 (US$49.39) in the first instance and $111 for repeated infringements, a practice known as “ICEing,” referring to the use of internal combustion engine cars.
The SA government unveiled its transport penalties this week, becoming the fifth jurisdiction in the country to have done so, along with New South Wales (NSW), Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and Queensland.
On the other hand, SA’s fines are the lowest among all states, while the steepest penalty is for drivers blocking electric chargers in Canberra, who could face a fine of up to $3,200.
Chris Jones, national president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, said the penalties could improve behaviour among some EV drivers, as it reminds them to free up the charging facility for other vehicles.
“If I’ve travelled 200 kilometres to get to a charging station in a regional area, it’s the only changing in town and someone’s parked their vehicle there, locked it, and walked away, I simply cannot access that charger until they come back,” said Mr. Jones.
“The mere existence of the fine might start to help people appreciate that.”
Meanwhile, Andrew Howard, program director of the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia, noted that the new legislation highlighted the need for effective use of car-charging stations.
“There have been instances where the EV charging bays appear to be available on charging apps, but in reality, the car is not plugged in and charging,” he said.
Mr. Howard said he hoped a “uniform approach will help educate all drivers and act as a reminder to practice good parking etiquette, and that applies to EV drivers too.”
The move came after the NSW government gazetted a new law in November 2022 which stated that drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles would be issued a fine of up to $2,200 for parking in an electric-car charging bay.
According to a report from the Electric Vehicle Council, new EV sales, including both battery EVs and plug-in hybrids, rose by 120 percent in Australia in 2023.
“New EV purchases in Australia more than doubled in 2023, compared to 2022, with the total number of EVs on Australian roads now exceeding 180,000,” the report said.
“This growth continues the trend of around a doubling of the new EV market every year since 2020.”
The ACT was the most popular jurisdiction for EV sales, with 21.9 percent of new vehicle sales being electric. More than 40 percent of the ACT population works in public service.
