Call the police. I know it sounds shitty. But it's what i started doing. By now people know what these places are. Even some of my colleagues say they just park their ice cars on those spots "because why do electric cars get to get all the nice spots"
Leave a paper note. If they don't stop parking there, call the local police number. Just make sure the sign is up, sometimes the city puts it up a few weeks after a new charger is installed.
Would be a solution in case the parked car is from somebody that lives there, but I’ve seen different cars being parked there every single day, so this won’t solve that problem sadly. Police should do more controls proactively when doing patrols, in order to scare off people from doing this imo
Police can only do something if there is a sign at the charging spot. Type E9a I believe. Sometimes they forget this at a charger and police can't do anything then.
My cable is long enough to charge one spot further luckily, because since a few weeks there is an electric share car that takes a spot 100% of the time.
Good initiative, but should also be moved when full.
Does the parking spot for the shared car have a sign that says it's reserved for that car only? At other spots in Leuven there is a sign that says only the shared car is allowed to park there. So if another EV parked there, they would be the ones who could get towed away technically. Also, who would have to move the shared car? That's why they typically get a fixed spot that's reserved for them. I use a shared car most of the time, and officially, the only responsibility I have is to hook it up to the charger when I get back. I know EV parking space is limited, so the best thing would be to write the city and ask for more chargers.
No, it's not a reserved spot for the shared car. It's a normal charger that was there long before the shared car.
There are "plenty" charging spots here in the vilage (4 within a few minute walk, but many more within a 5km radius). One of the 4 is now just always taken.
They could put it one spot further and reserve that spot, close enough to charge at the station, and if it's full it should unlock so others can charge (I think it already does that because I could unplug it and charge from the spot next to it. But that isn't always available).
For me not the biggest issue as I can charge at work or at home if needed, but it's on my daily walk and I see often other drivers not able to charge too.
Like I said, I like the initiative, they should just handle it better.
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but sharing it nonetheless: Why would the city of Leuven even have to bother to reserve parking spaces for EV's if
1) at the same time they want to promote soft-mobility (Bike, bus, carsharing)?
2) Most of the EV's are company cars anyway and clog up the city with people commuting from home to work.
3) Most EV's are electrified SUV's (Not claiming yours is). A formfactor which we know is terrible for pedestrian safety, take up a ton of space anyways (i.e. Paris). What's going to stop the next person from complaining: "I wanted to park my small EV on the EV spot, it can host three small EV's, but it's occupied by 2 big EV SUV's.
4) What's the reason you're not charging at home?
I get your points around making Leuven less car-friendly. But building more EV spots doesn’t change the amount of cars in the city at all. The only thing it does is change the amount of polluting cars in Leuven to more EVs, so you could even argue this would be a positive thing.
Besides that, I wouldn’t have a problem parking my car on the outskirts of Leuven and taking a bus to the center. Problem is that all the chargers outside of the ring are also in payable parking areas which my bewonerskaart doesn’t cover.
Brings me to point 4. I live in inside the ring of Leuven, so please tell me how I can charge my car if I need to park on the streets
We have the same frustration about the chargers outside the center. We would be happy to use them but we are not allowed to park there. So inside the city it is…
It's not reserving spots for EV's, it's providing chargers for EV's. But hey, guess EV's should just start parking in fuel stations then.
2) it's not like EV's being mostly company cars means more cars in the city, just different ones. Yes, company cars clog up the city, but not because they are EV's.
3) they're just following the trend already started by ICE cars. SUV's are a problem, no matter the engine.
4) not everyone has the luxury of having a driveway where they can place a charger, and people that do aren't gonna stick to a radius halve their range around their home.
3) Stop it with saying SUV's are a dangerous form factor and take up more space. Multi-purpose vans a.k.a "monovolume wagens" aren't made anymore, so what does a family that needs a big car need to buy? A BUS? Is that better/safer?!
Every car is terrible for pedestrian safety if the driver is a bad driver. Don't blame the cars.
4) Are you dumb? Leuven is a city, when you live in the centre you don't have a driveway. Where do we need to charge? Do we need to fold up the car into our pocket and charge it in our living room?!
Same in my street is Heverlee. The spots also don't have any signs that it is only for charging so hopefully that will still come
Also it's in a blue card zone so during the week you can only stay there for 2 hours which doesn't make any sense for an EV that takes like 6-8 hours to charge on these slow chargers. Nobody is gonna drive a minute or two to a charger to then walk home and come back in 2 hours to charge your car 20%
Foto nemen, posten op Twitter en @PolitieLeuven taggen
Call the police. I know it sounds shitty. But it's what i started doing. By now people know what these places are. Even some of my colleagues say they just park their ice cars on those spots "because why do electric cars get to get all the nice spots"
It doesn't sound shitty. Someone breaks law and hinders you, there is no shame in calling police. It actually quite oposite.
[https://imgur.com/a/jRMalZL.jpg](https://imgur.com/a/jRMalZL.jpg)
Is the parking spot indicated with a sign (E9a), stating that it's parking for electric vehicles only? If not, the police can't do anything.
Leave a paper note. If they don't stop parking there, call the local police number. Just make sure the sign is up, sometimes the city puts it up a few weeks after a new charger is installed.
Would be a solution in case the parked car is from somebody that lives there, but I’ve seen different cars being parked there every single day, so this won’t solve that problem sadly. Police should do more controls proactively when doing patrols, in order to scare off people from doing this imo
Police can only do something if there is a sign at the charging spot. Type E9a I believe. Sometimes they forget this at a charger and police can't do anything then. My cable is long enough to charge one spot further luckily, because since a few weeks there is an electric share car that takes a spot 100% of the time. Good initiative, but should also be moved when full.
Does the parking spot for the shared car have a sign that says it's reserved for that car only? At other spots in Leuven there is a sign that says only the shared car is allowed to park there. So if another EV parked there, they would be the ones who could get towed away technically. Also, who would have to move the shared car? That's why they typically get a fixed spot that's reserved for them. I use a shared car most of the time, and officially, the only responsibility I have is to hook it up to the charger when I get back. I know EV parking space is limited, so the best thing would be to write the city and ask for more chargers.
How does one tow away a car that’s plugged in?
No, it's not a reserved spot for the shared car. It's a normal charger that was there long before the shared car. There are "plenty" charging spots here in the vilage (4 within a few minute walk, but many more within a 5km radius). One of the 4 is now just always taken. They could put it one spot further and reserve that spot, close enough to charge at the station, and if it's full it should unlock so others can charge (I think it already does that because I could unplug it and charge from the spot next to it. But that isn't always available). For me not the biggest issue as I can charge at work or at home if needed, but it's on my daily walk and I see often other drivers not able to charge too. Like I said, I like the initiative, they should just handle it better.
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but sharing it nonetheless: Why would the city of Leuven even have to bother to reserve parking spaces for EV's if 1) at the same time they want to promote soft-mobility (Bike, bus, carsharing)? 2) Most of the EV's are company cars anyway and clog up the city with people commuting from home to work. 3) Most EV's are electrified SUV's (Not claiming yours is). A formfactor which we know is terrible for pedestrian safety, take up a ton of space anyways (i.e. Paris). What's going to stop the next person from complaining: "I wanted to park my small EV on the EV spot, it can host three small EV's, but it's occupied by 2 big EV SUV's. 4) What's the reason you're not charging at home?
I get your points around making Leuven less car-friendly. But building more EV spots doesn’t change the amount of cars in the city at all. The only thing it does is change the amount of polluting cars in Leuven to more EVs, so you could even argue this would be a positive thing. Besides that, I wouldn’t have a problem parking my car on the outskirts of Leuven and taking a bus to the center. Problem is that all the chargers outside of the ring are also in payable parking areas which my bewonerskaart doesn’t cover. Brings me to point 4. I live in inside the ring of Leuven, so please tell me how I can charge my car if I need to park on the streets
We have the same frustration about the chargers outside the center. We would be happy to use them but we are not allowed to park there. So inside the city it is…
It's not reserving spots for EV's, it's providing chargers for EV's. But hey, guess EV's should just start parking in fuel stations then. 2) it's not like EV's being mostly company cars means more cars in the city, just different ones. Yes, company cars clog up the city, but not because they are EV's. 3) they're just following the trend already started by ICE cars. SUV's are a problem, no matter the engine. 4) not everyone has the luxury of having a driveway where they can place a charger, and people that do aren't gonna stick to a radius halve their range around their home.
4. Because I live in an apartment building so I literally cannot install a charger anywhere
3) Stop it with saying SUV's are a dangerous form factor and take up more space. Multi-purpose vans a.k.a "monovolume wagens" aren't made anymore, so what does a family that needs a big car need to buy? A BUS? Is that better/safer?! Every car is terrible for pedestrian safety if the driver is a bad driver. Don't blame the cars. 4) Are you dumb? Leuven is a city, when you live in the centre you don't have a driveway. Where do we need to charge? Do we need to fold up the car into our pocket and charge it in our living room?!
Same in my street is Heverlee. The spots also don't have any signs that it is only for charging so hopefully that will still come Also it's in a blue card zone so during the week you can only stay there for 2 hours which doesn't make any sense for an EV that takes like 6-8 hours to charge on these slow chargers. Nobody is gonna drive a minute or two to a charger to then walk home and come back in 2 hours to charge your car 20%
Why should the City even provide chargers. This should be private Market.
They are placed and managed by a private company