Driver sparks debate after sharing photo of disappointing scene at local charging station: 'The owner should have their car towed'

Another electric vehicle driver has experienced the frustration of going to a charging station only to find it occupied by a gas-powered vehicle.

The Reddit user posted a photo to the MachE subreddit, for all things related to the Ford Mustang Mach-E, with the headline "Why would you park your non-EV at the charging station?"

The pic shows a car backed right up to the charger, and the caption reads: "There are two charging stations at the Freehold Hyundai and this vehicle parks in one of the two spots! The owner should have their car towed!"

This can be especially frustrating because in some areas charging stations aren't all that easy to find. The lack of available options to charge your EV can turn off potential buyers, leading them to stick with vehicles that rely on dirty energy, only adding to the carbon pollution already in the atmosphere that is causing the overheating of the planet and contributing to extreme weather. 

Unfortunately, this is much more common than someone who hasn't experienced it might think. There are countless examples of internal combustion engine vehicles parking in EV charging spots — and of EV charging stations being vandalized.

The Cool Down recently covered one such encounter in which a truck pulling a trailer blocked every charger at a charging station in Montana.

Another Redditor recently posted about their experience in Switzerland, where they rented an EV and then spent 15 minutes looking for a charging station only to find one occupied by an ICEV.

Then there's the vandalism that renders charging stations useless, in some cases leaving those affected to wonder if it was done in protest of the growing presence of EVs.

There are people pushing back against the transition to clean energy, claiming that the mining of materials to make EV batteries is equally harmful to the planet as the extraction of gas and oil. But while it's true that millions of tons of materials must be mined to make the batteries, that's nothing compared to the billions of tons of dirty energy sources mined every year.

One commenter had a similar experience, posting: "This happened to me too there, they block it regularly. Maybe report them [to] the EV charger company."

"Nonsense!!!" another wrote.

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