If you have been paying any attention to electric vehicle (EV) sales in this country, you are aware that EVs have not exactly been flying off dealers’ lots. There are myriad reasons for this, and one of the principal reasons continues to be range anxiety, fed in part by the lack of sufficient access to public EV charging infrastructure. (The preceding does not in general apply to Tesla owners, as that company has built its own charging network.)

I bring this up as a preamble to a recent observation. I do most of my food shopping at the local (Flemington NJ) Shop-Rite, a 15-minute drive from my home. It shares its lot with several department stores, but most times of the year, parking at the Shop-Rite is not an issue. It’s during the big holidays when finding a spot can get dicey. Several months ago, I took notice of some construction in the lot; said construction chewed up about 6 or 8 parking spots, and I wondered what was going on. A few weeks ago, I found out: the fences and boards were removed to reveal 4 new EV charging stations, with another 4 spots permanently occupied by some large electrical box, presumably needed to feed the chargers. To my knowledge, this is only the second multi-unit public charging station within a 10-mile radius of my home.

I caught myself off-guard by my own mixed emotions to this “intrusion” at my local food store. On the one hand, this is exactly what the country needs if the public is to be weaned off ICE cars and into EVs. Many articles I’ve read through the last few years have bemoaned the idea of stopping on the highway, plugging the EV into a charger, then finding a way to kill the 45 minutes while the car reaches full charge. But if you’re going to be in the supermarket for 45 minutes, then this is maximum time utilization at its finest! What could be bad about this?

Aside from the loss of 8 “regular” parking spots, which I will ignore, my mind cycled through various combinations of charging misdeeds, some innocent, and perhaps some not so innocent. If you own an EV that’s half-juiced and needs only 30 minutes to fully recharge, but you’re in the store for an hour, is that a problem? It’s not so long as one of the other three slots is available for the next EV owner who wants juice. What if an ICE car owner parks there? Unintentionally? Intentionally? (The intentional taking of an EV charging spot by an internal combustion vehicle happens, and it’s known as “ICEING”.) What happens the day before Thanksgiving when there is not another parking spot available, you have a screaming toddler in the car with you, you’re due home in an hour, and an EV charging spot is the only one available for you and your Acura MDX? My money says you’re going to park THERE no matter what you’re driving.

A further complication revealed by a closer examination of my own photograph: ONE of the 4 spots is marked “handicapped parking only”. So you’re driving an EV, the other 3 spots are legitimately occupied, and you, without a handicap permit, need to charge the car. What do you do??

Who will be policing this? No one. We as a society are expected to self-police our own behavior. As of last week, orange cones still blocked access to the chargers. Maybe the big switch hasn’t been turned on yet. However, I am 100% certain that every future visit to my Flemington Shop-Rite will include a drive past the chargers, so I can observe how the EV parking spots are being used. Stay tuned for an update. Meanwhile, your observations and comments are welcomed.

All photographs copyright © 2024 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.