Tango130
Established Member
Smart spaces will fine petrol and diesel car owners illegally parking in electric bays
Petrol and diesel car owners could be fined for parking in electric vehicle charging bays under an automated system designed to stop “bay blocking”.Sensors inst
www.thetimes.co.uk
"Petrol and diesel car owners could be fined for parking in electric vehicle charging bays under an automated system designed to stop “bay blocking”.
Sensors installed in electric bays can be used to detect the presence of a vehicle and whether it is being used to recharge the car battery.
Motorists could face £70 fines under the scheme, which is designed to encourage more drivers to switch to zero-emission electric cars.
The move is made amid concern that some bays doubling as electric car charge points are being blocked by vehicles with internal combustion engines, a problem that has come to be known as “ICEing”.
More than 144,000 plug-in cars — pure electric or plug-in hybrids — have been sold so far this year, more than double the number in the same period in 2019. They make up almost 10 per cent of registrations since January compared with less than 3 per cent a year earlier. Numbers are expected to soar in coming years following the government’s decision to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
However, the availability of roadside chargers remains a major barrier for some motorists, particularly the estimated third of households with no dedicated off-street parking provision such as a driveway or garage, making it almost impossible to install a domestic charge point.
Councils can already fine drivers for parking a combustion engine car in a designated electric bay if offences are spotted by traffic wardens.
However, Coventry council is now considering using a smart parking system installed in bays to crack down on drivers who flout the rules. It has rolled out sensors across the city that detect when a vehicle is parked within it. The system, established by Appyway, the tech firm and parking platform, provides data through an app on vacant bays.
“We are not using them for enforcement currently but the potential is there for the sensors to inform enforcement officers of bay misuse in the future,” the council said.
Appyway has already installed sensor technology in parking bays in Harrogate and Halifax, and disabled parking spaces in the City of London. The sensors are due to be deployed in Portsmouth next year."
This echoes of big brother. What happens if you left your EV charging merrily away then it stops for some reason, does the sensor know ?
strip or not 
