ICE’ing: ICE Cars Parked In EV Bays, Is It Illegal? Or Are Drivers Just Ignorant?

Lately there has been a boom in EV sales in Malaysia with more EV coming onto our roads and most dealers facing issues fulfilling the demand due to global vehicle shortage. 

While that does sound good, we must also take note that this growth does not reflect the number of charging stations made available to fulfil user demand. To make matters worse, we have to take into account the large number of BEV’s that already exist on our roads that share these charging facilities with the EV users.  

According to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, to date there are a total of 9,000 registered EVs and BEVs in Malaysia but only 700 charging stations nationwide. Of that number the bulk consists of slower charging AC stations and just a handful of DC charging facilities hence creating issues in demand fulfilment. 

Now, how do we make this matter worse? Easy just throw ICEing into the picture. “ICEing” is the term coined to describe prevention of an EV from using a parking space reserved for EVs by a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE). 

In Malaysia, nearly all the EV charging bays are located in private properties and it is up to the property owner to implement rules with regards to  handling its misuse. However that somehow is easier said than done as abuse of these bays is still rampant till now. So what is actually lacking here? Education, or simply put the lack of it and ignorance. Furthermore property operators/management are also not strictly taking measures to curb occurrence like this from happening. Let's also not forget the EV and BHEV who hog the charging bay even when its battery is fully charged. 

As highlighted by an EV user "JL" recently in the Malaysian Electric Vehicle Owners Club Facebook page, of the 12 parking bays available at Sunway Carnival Mall during his patronage, only 1 was actually used for charging while the other 11 was being ICEed by regular vehicles. "JL" added that no action was taken by the security or mall management to address this issue. "JL" took it upon himself to print notices and place it on the vehicle's windscreen to notify and potentially educate the ICE vehicle owners so that they would be more considerate in the future. 

So is it upto EV users themselves to take matters into their own hands to educate the other ICE vehicle users? This by right should not be the case as there needs to be clear set rules and laws in place to ensure EV users are not deprived of their much needed charge be it in public or private spaces and more importantly its implementation. After all this is vital and goes hand-in-hand with much needed growth of EV charging facilities to ensure a positive EV ownership experience. 

("JL's" Captured Videos Below)