34-year-old Dr. Akhil Gupta, an endocrinologist, and an obstetric physician told SMH that his apartment block has refused to allow him to use a Powerpoint in the garage to charge it.
He had offered to pay a weekly fee to the Owners Corporation for the electricity – about $10 a week and has even offered to pay for the electricity usage in the apartment block in Darlinghurst.
“It meant I was having to drive around Sydney to find a charger somewhere else and then sit in it for up to an hour, as my EV was a few years old, to fully recharge the battery.”
Dr. Gupta was devastated as he had to sell his electric vehicle, a 2018 Hyundai IONIQ, for an old petrol car, a Mercedes-Benz.
He adds:
“It added such a huge amount of time onto my commute to the hospitals I work in, and my 10-hour working day, and it seemed ridiculous when there was a perfectly good working power point in our garage where I could charge up the car overnight.
But when the strata sealed it up to stop anyone having access to it, I had no choice.”
Luke Bowen, managing director of Sky Living Strata, which looks after the 120-unit Parkridge Apartments, said:
“But we can’t allow one individual to use the power as the whole building would be paying for it. And an owners’ corporation can’t invoice one individual to pay.
He’s been told that a by-law would have to be drafted to allow access to common power and proposed at a general meeting.”
Dr. Gupta is sad about the choice that he had to make in buying a technology that is not suitable for the environment.
“My role is to help people, not harm them with carbon emissions. This short-sightedness has compromised my ability to do the best I can for the community.“
The latest figures show that the number of EVs and hybrid petrol-electric cars have more than doubled in Australia.
