BYD owner’s ‘disgraceful’ act prompts electric car ‘war’

After a BYD electric vehicle was “dumped” in a one-hour charging bay for “at least five days” in a highly coveted inner-city location, EV owners turned on the driver in their quest to have the car removed.

A war of words erupted this week after the red BYD Atto 3 was ditched at an EV hub on Edward Street in Brunswick, in Melbourne’s inner north, with many frustrated drivers sharing their grievances online, and two even going as far as penning handwritten notes and leaving them on the windshield.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, a spokesperson for Merri-bek City Council confirmed they were aware of the apparently dumped vehicle and said they had sent a staff member to investigate, but were not able to ascertain who owned the mysterious vehicle.

Aussies turned over mysteriously abandoned BYD

Some Melburnians desperate to charge up their EVs at the station were incensed by what they described as “entitled” and “selfish” behavior on the BYD driver’s behalf, but others wondered whether there was a more sinister reason for the vehicle being left behind, and questioned the owner’s welfare.

“So much hostility,” one person wrote of the heated online debate. “Bad enough there’s a ‘war’ between EV and ICE drivers. Now EV drivers turn on each other — chill out.”

Others theorized the car was a rental, and argued perhaps the driver “didn’t know how to charge it” and “dumped it” as a result. One handwritten letter said the motorist should be ashamed. “You are a disgrace of an EV owner! So selfish! Learn some manners,” they wrote in frustration.

Another note read: “One hour max, and only while charging, you’re not the only one driving an EV.” An infringement notice from council to the tune of $119 was also seen beside the other two informal notes.

“If it’s been there at least five days I’d be concerned for the driver’s welfare,” a woman said online. But speaking to Yahoo on Thursday morning, a council spokesperson said the BYD had since vanished. The spokesperson had no further details on what led the driver to abandon the $44,000 EV for almost an entire week.

BYDs soaring in popularity, in line with rising EV uptake

While the Melbourne drivers may not have cared too much for the safety of their car, Chinese-made BYDs are actually soaring in popularity in Australia, with the rate at which Australians are buying them rivaling Elon Musk’s Tesla. In fact, China’s emerging ascendancy in the electric vehicle sector is a good thing for both Australian consumers and the environment, one of the country’s leading transport experts argued.

Professor of Future Urban Mobility, Hussein Dia, said China’s “dominance of the EV market is not a coincidence” but instead “a result of a targeted strategy that built on their strength in advanced battery technologies” over the past two decades, and their partnerships with leading car manufacturers.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia previously, Dia said Aussies are already buying Chinese EVs in record numbers — and this is only the beginning. “People who drive electric vehicles, most of them say ‘there is no going back’ because it’s so different, in a good way. Particularly when it comes to the technology inside and the energy management systems. And Chinese vehicles are no different,” I have told Yahoo.

Australia this week is on track to shatter EV sale records across the country as new data emerged showing “unprecedented” demand for the environmentally-friendly vehicles, a surprise to some amid intense and prolonged cost-of-living pressures.

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