The Transport Bureau (DSAT) has no plans to change laws to allow electric vehicles (EVs) to park and charge legally in roadside parking spots.
The layout of local roadside EV chargers has been the subject of public debate. EV owners and taxi drivers have complained about the unrealistic set-up of these chargers.
Usually, roadside EV charging and parking spots in Macau come in pairs. Each pair is equipped with a single charging station placed between them. However, some EVs have the charging port near the head of the car, while some have the port near the rear of the car. This will prevent the charging of certain types of EVs unless they are parked facing the opposite direction.
In response to an enquiry by the Times, the DSAT emphasized that parking or driving in the opposite direction to that of traffic is against the law. “[Changing the laws] will be risky to the safety of [all] road users,” the DSAT said, adding that drivers may be fined by the police for doing so.
Indeed, the taxi sector has said that some drivers who parked in the opposite direction to charge their vehicles have been fined for doing so. Traffic police officers have also been seen issuing tickets to EV drivers for being similarly parked.
The bureau was questioned as to whether it had plans to change the law to allow EVs to park and charge more conveniently. The bureau simply did not reply to this question. It only asked EV drivers to choose appropriate spots for their vehicles, offering the various styles of charging spot layouts as justification.
The topic of fair use, if the law is changed, may concern some people, although the status quo is that when they need to park their cars, EV drivers may choose between regular parking spots and those equipped with a charger.
EVs are not prohibited from parking in regular spots, whether by the roadside or in parking lots. In contrast, normal cars are prohibited from parking in spots with chargers, at least in public parking lots.
The government has rolled out a policy to mandate that the taxi sector gradually transform to a full-EV fleet. Furthermore, the Macau Environmental Condition Report 2020 noted that the use of electric vehicles and clean energy should be further promoted.
Apparently, the various bureaus of the government have not yet come to a consensus on the practicality of EVs. In fact, some drivers have suggested charging cables be extended to eliminate the problem of mismatches between certain EVs and charging stations.
In response to the taxi sector’s complaints about the charging station layout, Macau electricity supplier Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM) told the Times in 2019 that “CEM has installed some EV chargers in front of the parking space and some at the back of the parking space.”
Additionally, the government has not provided sufficient data on carbon emissions saved from using EVs and electricity generation as compared to driving gasoline-powered vehicles.
