Georgia EV driver calls cops on the US Energy Secretary
An EV driver in Georgia called the police on the US Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, after her staff blocked a public charger with a gasoline car to “reserve” it for her upcoming convoy of EVs that she was using to highlight the White House investment in electric vehicles.
The backstory is that the US Energy Secretary is making a tour across the US to underline the government’s investments in charging infrastructure. That this is not necessarily well spread is no mystery, due to the nation’s sheer size, as well as differing state and federal objectives in transport.
Secretary Granholm’s advance team realized there were not sufficient charging plugs available at their stop in Georgia, as only four chargers were present, of which three were functional, of which two were occupied. As a result, an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching Secretary of Energy.
This then, in turn, caused a family of four to get “boxed out” from the charger on a hot day with a baby in the vehicle, prompting the above-mentioned call to the authorities. However, as ‘ICEing’, as it is colloquially known to block a charging station with a non-plug in vehicle, is not illegal in the state, the police did not do anything. Instead, the Secretary’s staffers decided to do their best to smooth over the situation, “including sending other vehicles to slower chargers, until both the frustrated family and the secretary had room to charge,” as NPR writes.
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