Buying an EV doesn’t entitle you to break the rules

A Toronto man expects a parking bylaw to be changed because he bought an electric car with nowhere to park it while charging. Wait, what?

NationalPost.ca
Sep[t. 12, 2016
By Lorraine Sommerfeld

Apparently, even if you don’t build it, they will come.

A Toronto man, Todd Anderson, bought a Chevy Volt even though he has nowhere to park it and no way to legally charge it. Oh, he had a charging station installed on his front lawn, but limited and prohibited parking means he has to run the extension cord across the sidewalk. He is doing the only thing that makes any sense, telling the city to: a) change the bylaws so he can legally park right in front of his house (because nobody else in the crowded city wants that, right?); and b) let him run his extension cord beneath the sidewalk (he’ll pay).

What?

Anderson’s local ward councillor, Paula Fletcher, is siding with her constituent, and doesn’t think the city is moving fast enough providing infrastructure for electrics. While I can sympathize with a city budget that can’t begin to give all the people all the things all the time, I have to scratch my head at a car owner who is so itchy to use his provincial rebate of $12,500 buying a new car that he fails to factor in the most obvious problem with that acquisition: He’s got nowhere to put it.

I’ve seen people buy massive pickups that don’t fit in their tiny driveways and squawk when they get ticketed for blocking the sidewalk. I’ve seen people acquire more cars than they have allotted parking for and then squawk when they get ticketed for parking in designated visitor’s parking areas. They’re all stupid; a change in your circumstances doesn’t warrant a change in bylaws that serve the majority. If you want to park on your lawn, go somewhere that nobody can see your lawn.

I must admit, when I initially read of Anderson’s parking-less dilemma, I presumed he’d purchased the Chevy and would be charging it at work each day. It’s a little back-assed, but workable. As long as you’re charging on one end or the other, you should be able to make it work for a city car. But instead to learn his solution, right out of the gate, was to street park his car (legally or otherwise) and haul an extension cord across the sidewalk gave me pause. You don’t get to obstruct public sidewalks; you don’t get to place tripping hazards out for your neighbours because you made a purchase you didn’t think through. I don’t even like having an extension cord to a charging car running down my driveway, and the only people who would sue me for endangering them would conceivably be family or friends.

You also don’t get to whine that your government isn’t doing enough to help you. I’d say the fact all those neighbours (and me) provided that $12,500 towards that new car should be evidence you’ve already received more than any other car buyer or transit user. Anyone buying a car is required to factor in all the costs and requirements of car ownership; somebody with no capacity to legally or adequately charge an electric vehicle but buying one anyway is like someone with chronic diarrhea buying a box of bran flakes just because he has a coupon.

In California, where sales of electrics are surging, there are wars breaking over charging stations. People unplug others’ vehicles, feuds rage over entitlement issues and a lot of people take a break from hugging trees to punch each other over an outlet. A deficit of public charging stations highlights that government “green” projects are themselves pretty green.

Infrastructure is sadly lacking in most places when it comes to things like charging stations. Governments, not just ours, are tasked with doing the best for the most with ever-tighter margins. New builds are accommodating a change in the automotive landscape, but quite frankly, that landscape is changing at warp speed. Nobody will be able to keep up, not just local governments. The industry itself is spinning like a top; we used to report on changes rolled out with a new model year, now they’re happening almost daily.

If you’ve lived in an urban core, you know that on-street parking is an ongoing war. Residents perfect the time shuffle, renew permits, put up with tickets and jockey hard for something near their postal code when the weather turns. While there is (and should be) built-in exceptions to parking for those who require designated handicapped spaces, I’ve seen neighbours go to battle over even that situation being abused. Make me understand how I’m going to be okay with the guy we just ponied up $12,500 to now receiving red-carpet treatment because he’s “saving the environment.” I’d argue his car-free neighbours who walk or cycle over that extension cord are doing more.

We need more public charging stations - no doubt about it. But the calibre of cars being produced today makes it nearly impossible to not be able to find the perfect vehicle for your circumstances. Mr. Anderson’s hybrid electric has the backup capability of a gas engine, but it seems he has no practical way to implement its main power source. If he truly had no place to park and charge this car, he could have purchased one of dozens of highly fuel-efficient cars in this size segment.

Oh, wait. No thousands and thousands in rebates going that route. Never mind.