Dispute between e-car blogger and combustion engine drivers escalates at charging station

Vanessa Lisa Oelmann is an electric car blogger from Stuttgart. She has been driving an electric car for six years. During this time, she repeatedly encountered charging station problems , which she says she always handled with patience and understanding. But now, another incident on July 5th has finally snapped the 27-year-old's patience – she filed a complaint.

What happened? Oelmann reports on X: "I arrived at the Lorsch rest stop with only three percent battery life. Not a problem, really, since according to the mobility+ app, both ports on the 300 kW charger were unoccupied."

As she approached the charging station, a space was suddenly occupied – a VW ID. 7, also an electric car, had been faster. "But what was there on the right side? A gray Golf Variant with a Wiesbaden license plate. Combustion engine, no cable attached, nothing. Just parked," the electric car driver wrote.

For lack of alternatives—a nearby 50 kW triple charger was out of service—Oelmann had no choice but to wait. She waited at the rest stop for 20 minutes before the owners of the combustion engine returned, "relaxing." "And instead of an apology, all she got was: 'Do you want to charge here?'"

Perplexed, Oelmann answered in the affirmative and pointed out to the couple that it was a loading bay, not a parking space. The man then looked at her rudely and remained silent. His wife snapped that there was no other space available, but they urgently needed to go to the bathroom: "'We can't really shit our pants.'"

In recent years, Oelmann has repeatedly experienced combustion engine vehicles misusing charging bays as parking spaces. Often, however, the drivers apologized and quickly moved their cars. The fact that the couple at the rest stop showed no remorse or insight left Oelmann "stunned."

"When I told the lady that I didn't just block gas pumps to go to the bathroom, she replied grumpily, 'I don't talk to people like you.' She got into the car and slammed the door."

With the slam of the door, Oelmann's patience also snaps. "I just filed a complaint. And this was the first time in six years that I've done something like this. Although I've experienced blocked pillars many times before, today was the last straw," she writes. "I've never been treated like this before."

A simple apology – and it would never have come to this, Oelmann emphasizes. "But because these people clearly haven't learned anything from the situation and will block a parking pillar again next time instead of waiting two minutes for a free parking space, I will now ensure that the relevant police locate these individuals."

A short time later, one of the charging stations was again occupied by a combustion engine. An electric car driver – an elderly gentleman – was therefore unable to charge his car. "His comment: 'Defective charging stations and blocked combustion engines. That's happened to me several times today. I think my next one will be a combustion engine again,'" Oelmann reports.

"And honestly, standing in the blazing sun at 36 degrees Celsius when you're over 70 and have to experience such crap—I just understand the good man, unfortunately."

According to the catalog of fines, parking cars with combustion engines in electric parking spaces with charging stations is prohibited. Violations are punishable by a €55 fine, as they constitute the offense under number 55a of the catalog of fines.

Towing a blocked combustion engine is also permissible, as shown, for example, by a ruling by the Münster Higher Administrative Court in 2023. There, the owner of a combustion engine vehicle had sued against his cost assessment for towing his car from an electric car parking space, including the charging station, and had failed.

But even electric cars themselves are only allowed to use public charging stations for a maximum of four hours between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Otherwise, a blocking fee of ten cents per minute applies.