Parking a vehicle on a place intended for charging electric cars, with the exception of those in the process of charging, constitutes a contravention, a USR project to amend the Road Code provides.
The project complements GEO 195/2002 on traffic on public roads, explicitly defining the places intended for charging electric vehicles, and is to support owners of electric cars by eliminating the abusive occupation of places near charging stations, say the initiators.
“Charging stations should be for those who need them”
“You buy an electric car thinking that you are doing a good thing – for the environment, for your pocket, for the future. But, when you get to the charging station and find it blocked, you feel that all your effort does not matter. It is not right. The infrastructure exists, but it is not accessible or depends on local decisions, sometimes ineffective. With this law, we want to restore normalcy: charging stations must be for those who need them. Respect for those who choose responsibly”, he stated USR deputy Ovidiu Paraschivescu, initiator of the project, together with USR parliamentarians Cynthia Păun, Gheorghe Ștefănache and Cezar Drăgoescu.
According to a press release from the USR, quoted by Agerpres, currently electric car drivers are often put in the situation of not being able to charge their cars because the places near the charging stations are misused, as simple parking spaces, by other drivers.
“The places intended for charging vehicles are infrastructure of public utility, not simple parking spaces. Their use for a purpose other than the technical one represents a diversion of the destination of the respective space. In addition, the impossibility of accessing a charging point marked on the map, but improperly occupied, can lead for an electric car owner to its immobilization in traffic, which also means a risk for road safety”, say the initiators of the project.
USR Senator Cynthia Păun claims that “there is a need for clear rules and sanctions for the incorrect use of these places”.
Romania is still at the bottom of the European ranking in terms of charging infrastructure, with 0.3 charging points per 1,000 inhabitants, far behind countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark or Belgium.
“The Romanian state has committed itself through PNRR to install 13,000 charging points by 2026. This initiative ensures that they will be used correctly, not occupied abusively,” states USR senator Gheorghe Ștefănache.
