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Knox City Council, in Melbourne’s east, has recently begun cracking down on public EV charging to avoid those abusing the lack of time constraint.
Melbourne's Knox City Council has introduced an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure policy that will see owners fined for extended parking periods at public stations, as well as new user fees, after complaints.
There are three council-owned charging sites that were free to use, but the new protocol will cost EV owners $0.25/kW fee for the first two hours and an additional “idle fee” after 2.25 hours (including the grace period) to “ensure fair use”, Knox City Council Mayor Lisa Cooper confirmed with Drive.
Through the Exploren app, users can pay and monitor their session in real time, and will be capped at $100 per charging session.
The Melbourne south-east council states this protocol is to “discourage users from overstaying the two-hour parking limit that applies to council owned EV charging parking spaces”.
Deputy Mayor of Knox City Council Cr Glen Atwell spoke to the ABC about the new rates and why they were imposed.
It started on July 1 this year and Atwell explained that it had previously been ratepayers footing the bill for private EVs using the chargers.
According to Atwell, there were 6000 charging sessions in 2024.
Cooper told Drive the costs were about $22,500 per annum to run the three chargers, and the new fees will cover electricity and maintenance.
The new user fee was met with overwhelming support by EV drivers who spoke on ABC radio as well as the majority of the 220 submissions the council received, according to Cooper.
One ABC radio guest speaker highlighted the annoyance of rude EV parkers taking up spots for far too long.
“EV charging stations are like petrol pumps… if you’re driving a petrol car, you’re low on petrol, you go to a petrol pump and somebody has parked their car,” the guest speaker said.
“They’ve filled their car and now they have walked away to watch a movie or something for three hours.
“And now you can’t drive anywhere else, and you have to wait for them to move their car so you can get petrol for your car.”
This analogy paints a clearer picture of the frustration experienced by those waiting for a charging spot.
Ilana is a Melbourne-based journalist who was previously a copywriter in the Big Apple. Having moved to Melbourne for her Master of Journalism, she has written articles about food, farm machinery, fashion, and now the fast and furious. Her dream car has been a Mini Cooper since the fifth grade, eyeing its style and petite size.
