A Georgia family called 911 earlier this summer after a staffer for Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm used a non-electric vehicle to pick up the only open EV charging station outside a local Walmart while Biden administration officials were still en route.
Granholm, 64, was on a four-day trip from North Carolina to Tennessee, promoting green energy with a traveling caravan of electric and non-electric vehicles, when members of his predecessor’s team used a gasoline-powered car to reserve a charging station for him, according to NPR, sparking outrage at least a family that has been waiting in line.
The reckless practice is known as “ICEing” — a reference to the internal combustion engine inside a gasoline-powered vehicle — and is subject to a $100 fine in Washington, DC, where the Energy Department is headquartered, but it’s not illegal in Grovetown, where June incident happened.
“There’s a non-electric car that’s taking up a space, that’s saying they’re holding that space to someone else, and it’s holding up a bunch of people who need to charge their cars,” an angry woman told a 911 operator, according to the Augusta Press.
A Georgia family called 911 after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s staff used a gas vehicle to capture the only open EV charging station outside a Walmart while the official was en route.X / @SecGranholm
Granholm, 64, is on a four-day trip from North Carolina to Tennessee, promoting green energy with a traveling caravan of electric and non-electric vehicles.Getty Images
A member of his predecessor’s team used a gasoline-powered car to reserve a charging station for him, according to NPR, angering at least one family who had been waiting in line. Getty Images
An NPR reporter who traveled with Granholm’s caravan noted that it was a “hot” day and that the boxed woman had a baby with her.
A charging station opened while the woman was on the line with 911, but she said, “There are other people waiting to charge, and they’re still here, and it’s not an electric car. And the sign says it has to … you can’t park here unless you’re charging.”
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the scene but was unable to remedy the situation as the practice is not illegal there.
Granholm’s staff reportedly “scrambled to get things going” by moving the car to another charging station.
The Energy Department would not comment on the incident, only touting President Biden’s “historic investment” in EV charging infrastructure when contacted by The Post.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
