S’pore electric vehicle driver allegedly incurs S$297 idle fee from charging station after falling asleep

Singapore driver allegedly incurs S$297 idle fee from charging station, warns others

An electric vehicle (EV) driver in Singapore allegedly ended up with a S$297 idle fee after using a charging station.

On 10 Jan, the OP made a post to the Singapore EV Enthusiasts Group on Facebook.

In it, he described a purported frustrating experience with “excessive idle fees”.

He claimed the experience was recent, although the date in a provided photo was listed as 1 Oct 2024.

According to the post, the driver used a charging station late one night and fell asleep.

The next morning, he found that his car had been incurring idle fees the entire night.

He was shocked when he realised the fees amounted to S$297. He paid a total of S$319.50.

Charging stations charge idle fees for EVs remaining in the lot after a charging session. The penalties are meant to discourage hogging of charging lots.

Driver idled for over 5 hours

According to a provided photo, the car began charging at 9.23pm, for four hours and ten minutes.

At 1.33am, the session entered an idle state for five hours and 27 minutes.

He claimed he tried appealing to the unnamed company, but they only offered a “one-time administrative fee” of S$100.

The OP said his biggest issue was the provider not having a cap on the idle fees.

He also felt that the service provider should take the time of day into account, as drivers were likely to fall asleep at night.

The driver thus offered advice to the EV group, telling them to check the idle fee policy, set an alarm for the end of the charging session, and advocate for better industry standards.

EV enthusiasts praise idle fee policy

However, many in the EV group instead praised the policy.

One of them even said the idle fee should be higher as they believed that the hogging of charging lots was an ongoing and frustrating issue.

Another netizen also felt that a cap should not be set.

“A cap will mean a rich man intentionally parking for a week while on vacation is liable to pay the same cap as a poor man who had a family emergency and left the car there overnight.”

However, one commenter felt sympathetic for the OP, saying that drivers shouldn’t be expected to be awake to stop the charging at 1am.

They even said they left their car charging overnight if their EV’s state of charge was below 30%.

Also read: ‘I deserved this fine’: Woman charged S$20 idle fee for leaving car at Jewel Changi Airport’s EV lot

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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Carbuyer, for illustration purposes only.