RAA to penalise electric vehicle owners who leave cars charging once battery full

The RAA will penalise lazy EV drivers who overstay their welcome – and it’s starting at Burnside.

Electric vehicle drivers face fees at RAA charging stations if they leave their car plugged in.

The RAA says the practice of ‘idle charging’ – when an EV is left plugged into a charger after the vehicle has reached full charge – is a common frustration among EV drivers.

It comes as the RAA announces 11 new EV charging stations across SA as it pushes ahead with its border-to-border EV charging network.

RAA Charge program director Andrew Howard said the RAA had introduced the fee from Thursday to encourage drivers to stop ‘overstaying their charge’.

“Essentially it prevents other people from charging their car at a charging station that should otherwise be available,” he said.

“By introducing idle fees, we hope to optimise the availability of our charging stations and encourage fast charging etiquette.”

The fee is now in place at a single charging site Burnside, before rolling it out to all RAA Charge Rapid and Ultra-rapid charging sites in metro and regional locations.

EV drivers who leave their vehicle in the charging bay after the 10-minute grace period will be charged $1 for every minute the vehicle stays connected.

The RAA electric vehicle charging station at Burnside, where a $1-per-minute fee is coming in for motorists who overstay.

Normal charging fees for RAA stations depend on whether its during peak or off-peak time,

Charging an EV with a 64kW battery and a driving range of about 480km using chargers across the RAA network, will cost between $16 and $26.

According to a survey conducted by charging platform Chargefox, nine out of 10 EV drivers support the new fees and push to change driver behaviour.

“To ensure EV drivers are not caught out, we’re listing the sites where idle fees apply on the Chargefox app and placing signage on the charging plugs,” Mr Howard said.

“EV drivers will also receive a notification through the Chargefox app when their car has finished charging and will be given a 10-minute grace period to move their car before the idle fee is applied.

RAA will be monitoring the effectiveness of idle fees to change charging behaviour.

Last month, the RAA revealed 11 new EV charging stations spanning Coober Pedy to Bordertown.

They include three 7kW Destination, four 150kW Rapid and four 200kW Ultra-rapid stations.

The RAA electric vehicle charging station at Franklin St in the Adelaide CBD.

The RAA said its Charge network was now more than 75 per cent complete with 106 charging sites and 329 charging points in SA.

RAA chief executive officer Nick Reade said the RAA Charge network was removing “range anxiety”.

“With 75% of the charging sites located in regional SA and 98% of them less than 200km apart, range anxiety is quickly becoming a thing of the past,” he said.

“These new sites will soon bring the overall count of operational and publicly accessible charging locations to 117.”

He said during the 2023-24 holiday period, its EV charging network experienced a 60 per cent surge in usage.

Once complete in 2024, the charging network will span across 140 locations including 54 Rapid and Ultra-rapid charging locations and more than 500 charging points across the state.

Originally published as RAA to penalise electric vehicle owners who leave cars charging once battery full