If parking is a problem in Malta, it can be even more of a headache for electric car owners.

The electric charging stations that now dot the island are often occupied by their petrol counterparts, says EV enthusiast Luke Zammit.

There is no enforcement either. Fines for blocking a charging station are not being applied, he claimed.

And this is one of the reasons why people would hold back from driving an EV, he said.

While there is no legislation that specifically makes it illegal to park a car with an internal combustion engine (ICE) in an EV charging bay, it is being considered a contravention under the bracket of the €23.29 fines, a spokesperson for the Local Enforcement System said.

“Our officers are instructed to issue fines when they see this happening and, yes, fines have been issued,” a LESA spokesman said.

However, he was unable to say how many were issued as the fine only specifies that the car was illegally parked.

Zammit insists that parking in charging stations is a common occurrence.

“Even though the app for EV charging stations tells you 80 per cent are available, it does not account for the parked cars,” he said.

“This means the police have to be called in and, if you are lucky, the drivers will come and remove their vehicles.”

Cars are not only parked at the new rapid chargers next to the Central Bank in Valletta – “they are double and triple parked!”

For those who live in a flat, or do not own a garage and have to rely on public stations, “it becomes a problem if you do not find one on the day you need to charge,” Zammit pointed out.

However, the situation is set to improve as some 130 new electric car charging pillars are being installed across the island. Together with the modernisation of existing pillars, this will take the number of stations up to 360 by the end of the year.

This exercise has already started, but the app is still “quite buggy,” Zammit insisted. “It is not there yet.”

Charging stations often occupied by petrol counterparts

Not how many but where

A bigger issue than the number of charging stations is their insufficiency in certain localities.

While two are enough in Rabat, for example, they are not enough in towns like Mosta, Sliema and other hotspots where more people work and commute to, Zammit believes.

In the case of the free chargers in Ta’ Xbiex, Ċirkewwa and the Valletta Waterfront, “it is obvious everyone wants to use them – and when they are taken up by parked cars, it can be very frustrating”.

In fact, Zammit would not opt for more of these. Beyond the positive fact that the free pillars are solar-powered, his reasoning is that charging an electric car is very cheap – it costs Zammit just €6 to charge his car every nine days – that it is “not worth the hassle” of having everyone converge on a free station.

“In reality, the fact that they are free causes more problems, with more drivers wanting to use them.”

Malta lags behind

Malta is light years behind in EVs, Zammit said, quoting Norway as an example, where combustion-engine cars will stop being imported in 2025.

The vast majority of Norway’s car sales are EVs, and normal cars are taxed so heavily they cost more than electric ones, he said.

Locally, charging pillars were first installed eight years ago, but “zero effort” has been made to improve things until now, Zammit maintained.

He is also concerned that the government has not set the cut-off date for the importation of petrol and diesel vehicles, contrary to other countries.

My car only cost me €3,000 more [than a normal car]

Running in the family

Zammit manages the Facebook group Electric Vehicles Malta Community, which he started around three years ago and now boasts 4,000 members, with 40 per cent driving an EV and the rest intending to do so soon.

The page was also driven by the need to share knowledge that he claims is lacking.

Zammit comes from a family of ‘pioneers’ in the field of EVs in Malta – they started driving them eight years ago and now have nine between them.

Luke Zammit says finding a charging point can be difficult.

He himself only got behind the wheel of an EV six months ago. But he is convinced an electric car is much cheaper to run and his investment has already been worth it.

So what took him so long?

“I had to save up and I was not a huge fan of the earlier designs,” he explained.

“But comparing like with like, my car only cost me €3,000 more [than a normal car] – when factoring in the new €12,000 grant – and I save around €200 on the licence fee for the next five years, after which, it will only go up to €10.”

Of course, consumers have to cough up the full amount to the car seller and get the refund a couple of months later, he pointed out.

He suggests that EVs should be bought at the reduced prices, with the refund going to the importers instead, to entice more people to go down this route.

“I think they do not yet realise the savings they make on, for example, the free licence, while running costs are immensely cheaper.

“I spend €200 on electricity as opposed to €1,000 on fuel every year.”

It simply “does not make any sense” not to drive an electric vehicle these days, he says.

“Anyone buying a new car today can easily afford the electric version. The price hike is not an issue when you consider how much you will save in the near future.

So, what is holding them back? A lack of education, according to Zammit, and no private garage.

“With enforcement still uncertain, and with people sceptical and worried the stations can be blocked is fair enough.”