Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is popping up all over the place — on the sidewalks of residential streets, in supermarket parking lots, and at your favorite fast food restaurants.
That should encourage motorists who still haven't swapped their dirty-fuel-powered cars for EVs to make the switch, as this availability helps to make refueling technology easier to find.
Some drivers, though, appear to be so excited about making their next car an EV that they want to park in spots dedicated to battery charging despite still owning gas-guzzlers.
At least, that's one explanation for a photo circulating on Reddit showing a Jeep taking up a valuable charging spot.
The image was shared on the r/badparking subreddit, and this driver achieved two annoying actions in one go. Not only did they definitely not need to charge their car, but a metal basket attached to the rear of the vehicle also blocked the sidewalk.
We could give the Jeep driver the benefit of the doubt, seeing as we don't know how long they were parked in this spot and the lot may have been busy when they arrived. But the photo clearly shows plenty of available spaces — and ones that don't seem to have accessible charging technology.
It's perhaps likely, then, that the Jeep driver was taking part in a bit of ICEing. In this practice, internal combustion engine-powered cars are parked in EV charging spaces to make life a little more difficult for the owners of vehicles that produce zero tailpipe pollution.
This is often done as a form of protest, with some drivers not quite yet ready to let go of their polluting machines and feeling threatened by the rise of the EV — with worries about what that means for their gas-powered lifestyle. Some may even be concerned about the environmental damage caused by mining precious metals needed for battery technology, despite the trade-off being less need to extract dirty gasoline and diesel from the earth.
If only they knew the benefits electric vehicles provide. They are far cheaper to refuel, they require significantly less maintenance — thanks to having fewer moving parts — and they produce no harmful emissions while out on the road. That last item is a boost to local air quality and will help reduce the production of planet-warming pollution from the vehicle sector.
Fellow Redditors had little sympathy for the Jeep owner.
"Depending on local laws, it may be a violation or a criminal offense anyways," one user observed.
"Guy was trying to hit all the spots on bad parking bingo," another added.
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