Look at the picture below. The charging stations are at least 15 feet on the other side of a dirt island, the parked trucks are blocking NOTHING. It's fake, just like this story is.
Posted on 01/02/2019 3:09:13 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
Forget "rolling coal." A new trend called "ICE-ing," in which pickup truck owners purposefully block electric vehicle charging stations, appears to be gaining ground around the country.
The practice, whose name is derived from "internal combustion engine," was observed over the holidays at a Sheetz gas station in Hickory, N.C.
Reddit user Leicina shared a photo on Dec. 23, 2018, of three large pickups blocking access to Tesla Inc. charging stations. The drivers apparently chanted "----Tesla."
"I've never had a supercharging experience like this one," wrote Leicina, who owns a Tesla Model 3. "These trucks blocked all the chargers, chanted 'F' Tesla, and were kicked out by a Sheetz employee."
She added, "Who do you report activity like this to? It was really uncomfortable."
It joins the similar practice of "rolling coal," in which people modify diesel engines to spew black clouds of soot. It's used as a way of protesting environmental regulations.
The political affiliations of the pickup truck drivers are unknown. But Hickory is located in Caldwell County, where 74.1 percent of residents backed President Trump in the 2016 election.
The trend has garnered the ire of environmentalists. Dan Becker, executive director of the Safe Climate Campaign, called it "mean and stupid."
"I'm sure that pickup truck drivers wouldn't want someone to slash their tires just because they're driving a pickup truck that guzzles a lot of gas and pollutes their children," Becker said in an interview. "And I think it's almost a form of vandalism because it's preventing someone from being able to drive their vehicle."
He added, "Does it insult their manhood that they pollute more and therefore they want to attack vehicles that pollute less? I don't understand their motivation."
ICE-ing has recently been observed in other parts of the country, as well.
In Bristol, Tenn., Reddit user freckletan shared a photo on Dec. 23, 2018, of a white pickup blocking Tesla chargers, saying, "Driving through Tennessee and see these 'cool guys' icing a supercharger."
The user added, "These guys parked in a Tesla charging spot with their gas (or diesel) truck, unhooked the charge cable, and laid it into their truck bed for 'comedic' effect. ... It would be the equivalent of a Tesla parking at a fuel pump at a gas station and walking away."
The trend has also been documented in Texas, South Carolina and Delaware.
The practice appears to primarily target Tesla rather than other automakers. Tesla's Model 3 has become a top-selling EV despite a year of self-inflicted drama by CEO Elon Musk (Energywire, Dec. 21, 2018).
Nine states and several cities have enacted laws prohibiting gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles from parking in front of EV charging stations, including Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.
Rolling coal remains illegal throughout the country. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) last year introduced the "Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act," S. 203, in an effort to decriminalize the practice. A co-sponsor was Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of Congress' most vocal climate skeptics.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) introduced a companion bill in the House. But the measure ultimately failed to gain traction.
Let’s just call the handicap spots what they really are: VIP parking for old people. Over 90% of the people who use handicap spots don’t actually need it. I don’t park in them and tell the people with placards to go suck it, that isn’t the right thing to do, either. I just shake my head at the majority that I see using them that are more physically able than me, whatever.
Some of the grocery stores have parking spots up front for cops. That’s a crock, your job doesn’t warrant you special parking. Are we going to give special parking spots to firemen, the postman, ER nurses, and search-and-rescue, too? When I saw a cop parked at the red-curb while answering a shoplifting call (not complaining about the cop that did that at all), it became obvious to me that the cop doesn’t need the parking spot to conduct official business. When he’s off the clock, he’s no more special than anybody else, so I always park in the cop spot and nobody has ever said a word to me.
I’m with you, I think it’s people who park in the charging stalls because they never see people using them. For the supposedly angry crowds shouting “F-— Tesla!!”, show me pictures or it didn’t happen. All we’re seeing are pictures of parked trucks, this whole story is a crock.
Look at the picture below. The charging stations are at least 15 feet on the other side of a dirt island, the parked trucks are blocking NOTHING. It's fake, just like this story is.
The biggest head-scratcher I ever encountered was a sport utility vehicle parked in a handicap spot with a kayak on the top...
...and a bicycle on the back.
Not quite sure what's not functioning there...
I’ve seen that, too, with trucks so big that a perfectly able-bodied person could have trouble getting in and out. Especially if their knees are a little borderline.
Hmmm, suddenly the pictures aren’t coming up. Another sure sign that this story is falling apart.
Agreed - I think it’s childish to even block the charging portals.
I wonder if they’ll bus people in from remote parking lots once the nearby ones are all allocated to “special” people.
“this whole thing smells like a manufactured scandal, like when islamics were manufacturing fake hate-crimes”
I’m with you. It sounds phony. Blacks, too, write hate graffiti on their own cars and blame Whitey. The “truck people” I know here in the south are pretty much live-and-let-live people unless you mess with them. And driving a hipster doofus pansy car isn’t messing with the. The worst they’d do is point and laugh.
Thanks! And on the far right of the pic, there’s two guys under the hood tweaking something. Yeah, they look like the maniacs screaming “F-— Tesla!!” Call the cops, they’re about to do something crazy.
“Rolling coal” and “ICEing” are both the actions of immature morons. Personally, if the charging station I wanted to use (if I had an electric car, which I don’t) had one a truck parked in it like this, the truck driver would be looking for an air pump when they came back.
Slashing tires is vandalism, parking in front of a charger isn't. What the truck protestors are doing is inconveniencing people that perhaps have an opposing political viewpoint and perhaps delaying them. So a better analogy is when liberal protesters block streets preventing people from reaching their destination and delaying them. Thus, when they start handcuffing those liberal protesters then I would support handcuffing the truck protesters. Until then, it's tit for tat imho.
That is how the charging stations are located at this particular stop. The wires are pretty long. The signs clearly indicate that the spaces the cars are in are the spaces where they expect the TESLA cars to park.
I presume Tesla has paid or has some agreement with the store to block those particular spaces; I doubt it is a big deal that people occasionally park in such spaces, as I imagine the usage is spotty at this point.
Doing so as a “protest” is childish. Doing so because they are close to the door is lazy.
And I’m still amazed that there are people spending money to modify their cars to actually POLLUTE MORE, as if that is a sign of anything more than idiocy.
I e-mailed the author, called them out on lame pictures that proved nothing, and got no response, which is exactly what I expected. Fake news, this story has died.
This is so limiting, why would anyone want one?
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