The court ruling came on the heels of a case brought by an electric car owner. He got a ticket in Noordwijk because his MG electric car had been connected to the charging station with a full battery for too long.
Two “unprolonged” hours
Noordwijk’s general local law states – as in many other Dutch municipalities – that it is prohibited to “hold a space reserved for charging for an extended period of time”. The ticket was issued two hours after the first observation, as it turned out that the car did not move.
The owner of the car objected to the fine. He himself considered two hours “not long.” In addition, this may lead to an “unsustainable situation” where the owner has to wait for the car while loading.
But according to the court, “the responsibility and risk of the driver” is to monitor whether the battery is full and move the car in time. It doesn’t matter how long the car stays there after charging is complete.
new issues
“Sticking” to charging stations is a common annoyance among electric vehicle owners. This ruling can help combat this problem. At the same time, this could lead to new problems: In theory, people now have to move their car during a shopping day or in the middle of the night.
The Netherlands currently has nearly 90,000 charging stations and 400,000 electric cars.
