Fines for ICEing in WA [Passed by Senate & House, Gov!]

[Computerizer]

There is legislation in the works in Washington state for

• Fining drivers $250 if they park at an EV charging station without plugging in
• Establishing signage and pavement marking regulations for EV charging stations

The actual text of the bill is here.

Is the similar legislation elsewhere, in the works or passed?

 

[Reddy]

Excellent! Think of the revenue a single well-placed station can bring in, especially compared to $1/hr or so for an EV :lol:

 

[adric22]

Actually that would be awesome if at least part of the fine revenue went to the charging station companies. If they passed such a law here in Texas I'd start up my own charging station company immediately. That's because I would know each station would be profitable from day one.

Another idea I have had is to get the same technology they use on toll roads and just have it read your license plate number. Then they could just send you a bill. Each spot could be designated with a specific cost per hour and have the government collect the money and distribute it to the charging station companies much like they do with the toll roads. That way if a gas car parks in the station he'll pay the same amount as an EV driver. The only place that wouldn't be effective are places where the charging station is free to use.

 

[Computerizer]

The state Senate Transportation Committee heard public comments today. Here's a video -- it starts just after the 2 hour mark and lasts about 15 minutes:
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2013021256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Representatives of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association and Plug In America were there. There were no dissenting views presented to the committee.

The guy from Plug In America called this the "de-ICEing" bill.

 

[Luft]

Actually that would be awesome if at least part of the fine revenue went to the charging station companies. If they passed such a law here in Texas I'd start up my own charging station company immediately. That's because I would know each station would be profitable from day one.

Another idea I have had is to get the same technology they use on toll roads and just have it read your license plate number. Then they could just send you a bill. Each spot could be designated with a specific cost per hour and have the government collect the money and distribute it to the charging station companies much like they do with the toll roads. That way if a gas car parks in the station he'll pay the same amount as an EV driver. The only place that wouldn't be effective are places where the charging station is free to use.

I agree that would be a money maker. Especially if after the EV driver walks away someone unplugs him without him knowing about it.

 

[ebill3]

I agree that would be a money maker. Especially if after the EV driver walks away someone unplugs him without him knowing about it.

And therein lies a problem. I have seen single J1772 pedestals that serve two parking slots. Joe arrives, sees that the car in slot A is finished charging, parks in slot B and unplugs slot A so that he can charge. Yes, I know, if the guy in slot A left a phone number, it could be worked out, but we know there is a whole lot of the "me first, and screw you" attitude around.

I guess the solution is to only mark one parking slot as an EV charging position.

 

[adric22]

I agree that would be a money maker. Especially if after the EV driver walks away someone unplugs him without him knowing about it.

Yeah - that's why if I were writing the law, I'd put an except to EVs parking in charge spots, even if they aren't charging. I'd probably put some wording in there about intention to charge or something like that to prevent people from just using them as convenience parking spaces.

 

[TomT]

Is it just plugged in or does it require active charging?

• Fining drivers $250 if they park at an EV charging station without plugging in
• Establishing signage and pavement marking regulations for EV charging stations

 

[garygid]

If the law does not handle the case where the EV was
unplugged by somebody, then the law will do more
to hurt EV's than to help them.

 

[Nubo]

Well, at least you'll get SOME consideration for your $100/year.

 

[Luft]

Is it just plugged in or does it require active charging?

• Fining drivers $250 if they park at an EV charging station without plugging in
• Establishing signage and pavement marking regulations for EV charging stations

The bill is a short two pager. Worth reading. From the bill:

It is a traffic infraction, with a monetary penalty of two hundred fifty dollars, for any person to park a vehicle in an electric vehicle charging station provided on private property without charge or on public property reserved for plug-in electric vehicle charging if the vehicle is not connected to an electrical outlet.

We do need to have something done about people blocking EVs from charging and this bill is a good first attempt. I just don't see an obvious solution to the problem of someone unplugging my car when I'm not there unless I'm able to lock the plug in place.

On my portable AV EVSE I can use a small lock but I don't think all EVSE equipment has that ability. Also as long as EVSE is rare plug sharing is valuable and locking the plug prevents that. Perhaps the law can be tweaked so that if the EV owner has put plug sharing instructions on his dash he won't be held liable if someone unplugs him?

 

[mwalsh]

Perhaps the law can be tweaked so that if the EV owner has put plug sharing instructions on his dash he won't be held liable if someone unplugs him?

This is sort of the way disabled parking works in the UK. The government issued "blue badge" they leave in their windshield is fitted with a time wheel and disabled persons can park more or less where they want (with the exception of where loading and unloading is prohibited) for up to three hours without being ticketed. Our "wheels" could work the same way, except they could read "OK to unplug at xx:xx", or some such.

 

[dgpcolorado]

If I make the assumption that getting unplugged will be fairly uncommon, you could just go to court to explain and contest the ticket. But some sort of EV exception for the parking fine would be a lot more convenient.

I've made a proposal to the town nearest me that if they put in charge stations they might want to issue an EV charge pass similar to a handicapped person hang tag. How about if the state issues such passes for a modest fee (or perhaps in return for that $100 Washington EV tax)?

 

[vrwl]

If the law does not handle the case where the EV was
unplugged by somebody, then the law will do more
to hurt EV's than to help them.

When I was at the local Nissan Dealership taking pictures of the 2013 LEAFs for the MNL forum, the salesman at the dealership informed me that the 2013 model has a "lock" built into the L2 charge connection (on the car) so that people cannot unplug you while you're charging. Hopefully some of the folks that have just received their new 2013 LEAFs can confirm whether or not this is true. But it does mention a "lock" on the features printed on the car sticker ("Charge Port Light and Lock"), so maybe that's exactly what it is.

 

[Luft]

Are there any attorneys on this board? Maybe a lawyer can tell me if I'm wrong but it appears that the bill does not cover EVSE stations on private property that charge a fee. :?:

It is a traffic infraction, with a monetary penalty of two hundred fifty dollars, for any person to park a vehicle in an electric vehicle charging station provided on private property without charge or on public property reserved for plug-in electric vehicle charging if the vehicle is not connected to an electrical outlet.

It appears to apply only to charging stations on:
1. Private property with no fee
2. All public property

 

[Luft]

I think he may be talking about the little hole on the portable EVSE that comes with the car. It allows a small lock to be inserted. This is not new to the 2013 models.

If the law does not handle the case where the EV was
unplugged by somebody, then the law will do more
to hurt EV's than to help them.

When I was at the local Nissan Dealership taking pictures of the 2013 LEAFs for the MNL forum members, the salesman at the dealership informed me that the 2013 model has a "lock" built into the L2 charge connection (on the car) so that people cannot unplug you while you're charging. Hopefully some of the folks that have just received their new 2013 LEAFs can confirm whether or not this is true. But it does mention a "lock" on the features printed on the car sticker, so maybe that's exactly what it is.

 

[Computerizer]

Are there any attorneys on this board? Maybe a lawyer can tell me if I'm wrong but it appears that the bill does not cover EVSE stations on private property that charge a fee. :?:

It is a traffic infraction, with a monetary penalty of two hundred fifty dollars, for any person to park a vehicle in an electric vehicle charging station provided on private property without charge or on public property reserved for plug-in electric vehicle charging if the vehicle is not connected to an electrical outlet.

It appears to apply only to charging stations on:
1. Private property with no fee
2. All public property

Yeah, the wording of the bill concerns me. I wrote to the Senator who is the author of the bill with several concerns about it. One was that it seems to also state that all charging stations must have a sign and green pavement markings... it doesn't explicitly include private residences or private business chargers. Also, why would it matter if there's a fee or not for charging? You should ICE them in any case. And also I brought up that two EVs might park at one station and swap who is charging at some point. There's nothing wrong with that, but the bill makes it so whoever is not currently plugged in should pay a $250 fine.

 

[vrwl]

I think he may be talking about the little hole on the portable EVSE that comes with the car. It allows a small lock to be inserted. This is not new to the 2013 models.

If the law does not handle the case where the EV was
unplugged by somebody, then the law will do more
to hurt EV's than to help them.

When I was at the local Nissan Dealership taking pictures of the 2013 LEAFs for the MNL forum members, the salesman at the dealership informed me that the 2013 model has a "lock" built into the L2 charge connection (on the car) so that people cannot unplug you while you're charging. Hopefully some of the folks that have just received their new 2013 LEAFs can confirm whether or not this is true. But it does mention a "lock" on the features printed on the car sticker, so maybe that's exactly what it is.

Still not sure.... the salesman owns a 2012 LEAF, so he was well aware of the features of that model. We were talking about new features on the 2013 model at the time of that conversation, so I'm still wondering if there's something more than what we've already got on the 2011/2012 models.

 

[Computerizer]

This is the front page story on The Bellingham Herald today. Here's the story:

Lawmakers weigh penalties for blocking charging stations
Lawmakers weigh penalties for illegal parking at vehicle charging stations
By JIMMY LOVAAS — Staff writer

A proposal in the state Senate threatens penalties for anyone parking a vehicle at an electric vehicle charging station without being connected to an electrical outlet.

If approved, the infraction would carry a $250 fine — the same penalty for parking illegally in a disabled spot.

Owners of electric vehicles say they often encounter gas-powered vehicles needlessly blocking charging stations. They call it getting “iced” — a play on the acronym for the internal combustion engine.

Kevin McMahon of Maple Valley has put more than 13,000 miles on his electric car since 2011. In that time, McMahon said he’s been “iced” multiple times — sometimes when the car’s battery was nearly dead.

“I’ve stopped at Fred Meyer to use their charger because my navigation system said the charger was available,” McMahon said. “But when I got there, it was blocked. Rather than wait there, since I have no idea how long the spot’s going to be blocked, I have to go to the next one.”

McMahon said the problem is compounded in some areas, such as Marysville, that have only one station in the whole city.

More Washingtonians may face those frustrations as electric-vehicle ownership grows. According to the state Department of Licensing, approximately 4,300 plug-in electric vehicles were registered in the state last year — more than twice as many as the previous year.

Jeff Finn, a member of the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association, said he thinks the proposed law would go a long way in raising awareness. He said he thinks there would be fewer issues if drivers realized blocking a charging station is no better than parking in front of a gas pump.

The proposal would require the charging station parking spot to be indicated with a vertical sign and the pavement marked with green paint.

Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5849, which was heard Tuesday in front of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Similar to other parking infractions, violations of the electric-charging station law would be policed by local law enforcement.

Some cities have struggled to curb illegal parking violations given their limited numbers of parking enforcement officers. Loretta Cool, public information officer with the Tacoma police, said her agency relies on a combination of parking enforcement officers and tips from residents to keep disabled parking spaces open for those who need them.

Other agencies, including the Olympia Police Department, have turned to volunteer patrols to issue citations.

Amy Stull, an Olympia police senior project specialist, said the agency has 10 volunteers who, along with other duties, are authorized by state law to cite vehicles that are illegally taking up disabled parking spots. Stull said the volunteers have issued up to 400 citations per year.

However, those volunteers wouldn’t be allowed to cite vehicles illegally parked at an electric charging station. While state law allows volunteers to issue disabled parking citations, the charging station proposal has no such provision.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

Still not sure.... the salesman owns a 2012 LEAF, so he was well aware of the features of that model. We were talking about new features on the 2013 model at the time of that conversation, so I'm still wondering if there's something more than what we've already got on the 2011/2012 models.

The MY'2013 Leaf's J1772 inlet actually has a locking mechanism to grab and not release the J1772 handle! There're buttons, both on the dash and the fob, lock and unlock!

Seen it (at least the buttons) with my own eyes!