Stealing electricity in parking garages to charge electric cars

In Stockholm, electric car owners have found a way to charge their vehicles without having to pay for the electricity. But now the city of Stockholm promises to put an end to this cheating.

It is in Hornsberg in central Stockholm where electric car owners charge their vehicles outside the parking garage on Strandbergsgatan. They park on the street where residential parking and other fees apply, and connect their cords to the parking garage’s charging stations, stealing electricity. The cables hang over the low wall that separates the garage from the street.

The first time Stockholm Parking noticed this phenomenon was before the summer, and they have determined that it involves unauthorized energy diversion.

According to Fredrik Söderholm, CEO of Stockholm Parking, they have not reported anyone to the police as this will only be possible for a limited time, but he emphasizes that they have the option to do so.

The reason this is possible at all is that electric car charging is included in the parking fee at the parking garage, and the charging does not need to be started separately. However, the current system is being phased out as Stockholm Parking has started to introduce charging fees at facilities with visitor parking. The charging outlets are locked until the customer has registered a payment via one of the company’s payment apps, and this will soon also apply to Hornsberg.

Not ill-considered

Despite the illegal charging and the fact that it is a system that is gradually being replaced, Fredrik Söderholm does not consider it to have been ill-considered.

– Just because someone wrongly does it this way does not mean that our expansion was ill-considered. It is these unauthorized chargers who are acting wrongly, and soon they will not be able to do this anymore, he tells Mitt i.