When you drive to the supermarket for your weekly shop, there are often certain rules you have to follow.
For instance, many shops will have a time limit on how long you’re allowed to park outside for, while others might only allow customers to use their car park.
But for Sainsbury’s customers, there might be a few more things drivers need to be aware of when heading down to grab groceries — especially if they drive an electric vehicle (EV).
This is because the supermarket has made a major change to its parking and launched an industry first, which will allow EV drivers to earn bonus Nectar points.
The change is all to do with ‘ghost charging’, which is where drivers with EVs will park their cars in charging spot and pretend they are using a charging point, in order to nab a space.
Sainsbury’s has conducted its own research and found that over half of EV drivers admit they have worked the ‘ghost charging’ move, in order to get through the weekly shop in a speedier manner.
What’s more is that 70% of them have agreed that better etiquette is needed when it comes to charging EVs.
In a bid to crack down on ‘ghost charging’, shoppers who park and actually use the charging points can now earn Nectar points while they do so — which is an industry first.
‘Customers can now also reap the benefit of collecting Nectar points whilst charging. Not to forget the added advantage of popping into a Sainsbury’s store to pick up some groceries while waiting for their vehicle to charge,’ Trish Devin, customer director at Sainsbury’s Smart Charge, said.
Sainsbury’s sesearch also showed the issue was a particular problem in large cities, with Cardiff, Birmingham and Belfast topping the list.
Nearly 90% of drivers expressed their frustrations at other drivers not following the rules – but also admitted that it is hard to know exactly what the correct etiquette is, with EVs being a relatively new concept.
Moving on to explore more things that drivers spoke up as being a nuisance, with people hogging plugs, long waiting times, poor parking and ‘cable spaghetti’ (where drivers drag the cable onto the wrong side of the car, leading to a tangled situation) being revealed as the most annoying.
As such, Sainsbury’s Smart Charge has partnered with William Hanson, an etiquette coach, to share some unofficial parking rules to make the process a little easier.
William shared guidance for those heading to Sainsbury’s soon, with some do’s and don’ts for parking at the supermarket with an EV.
According to the expert, drivers should aim to not use the bay for any longer than needed, with 30 minutes is more than enough to get 200 extra miles of charge.
He continues to say that it’s also important to park considerately and keep the size of the bays in mind, as despite being larger than a normal parking spot, you can still end up crossing outside the lines.
And he adds that people shouldn’t use the charging bays unless they actually plan on charging their car.
William also states that working with Sainsbury’s Smart Charge on the EV Etiquette Guide aims to ‘reduce the frustrations felt by the electric vehicle community, so people can have a more enjoyable, stress-free experience.’
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