Tesla driver is slammed over 'entitled' parking act at a busy shopping centre in Queensland

A Tesla driver has been slammed after they parked across two parking bays out of apparent desperation to charge their car. 

The electric vehicle (EV) was spotted by another shopper at Orion Springfield Central in Ipswich, in central Queensland, on Monday. 

The car was left parked next to the charging bay - that had already been taken up by another vehicle.

It is not known whether the Tesla driver disconnected the charger from the other car - or if the vehicle parked in the bay was not using the charger. 

Shoppers were left unimpressed by the parking act regardless, slamming the Tesla driver for taking up the unecessary amount of extra space. 

Photos circulating on Facebook showed the Tesla parked over two spots and hooked up to the charger, while another EV occupied the bay the charger belonged to.

'She had to charge... I hope someone parks next to her to block her in,' a shopper captioned the photos. 

Social media users questioned why the driver hadn't reversed into one parking bay to reach the charger, calling out the move as 'entitled' and 'annoying'. 

This incident is one of many which has seen Tesla owners slammed in recent times. 

Another Ipswich driver was critisised for mounting the kerb to recharge last month because the charger was too short, Yahoo reported.  

As the hype around electric vehicles reaches new heights in Australia, more and more drivers are becoming frustrated over the insufficient EV infrastructure.

A video shared on TikTok showed at least 10 electric vehicles lined up waiting to use public charging stations in South Australia over the Easter weekend.

For a Tesla Model 3 sedan, it takes at least 20 minutes to fully charge at a Supercharger station, meaning some owners could have potentially waited hours before they were able to hit the road again.

There are around 198,000 electric vehicles driving on Australian roads, but currently only 3,000 public charging stations nationwide.

The government claims it is working quickly to increase the availability of fast chargers, with the number of sites forecast to double this year.

A report by consulting firm Next System also found that even though Tesla dominated electric vehicle sales it was Chargefox that provided the greatest share of charging sites.

The findings came after record sales of electric vehicles, and despite concerns from some potential buyers that Australia's charging network was not large enough to support the technology.

The Public Fast Charger Network Report found Australia had seen another 397 car-charging sites and 755 new charging points built during 2023, but predicted that number would rise significantly higher in 2024.

Next System founder Daniel Bleakley said the analysis showed charging stations were already planned for another 470 locations throughout Australia and a total of 900 new charging sites could be expected during the year.

Electric vehicles are a crucial part of the government's strategy to cut emissions from new vehicles by 61 per cent by 2030.

The NSW Government is investing almost half a billion dollars in tax cuts and incentives to drive uptake and reduce barriers for electric vehicle purchases over the next four years.

States across the country have implemented fines if drivers of any vehicle park in designated EV bays without using the equipment. 

In Queensland drivers that block chargers can cop hefty fines of up to $2,757, while drivers in NSW may be forced to pay up to $2,200.

There are currently no fines for removing a charger from an EV, but it's been deemed an anti-social.