Calls for change to EV feature after Tesla driver sabotaged by own car

There are calls for the EV badge on electric vehicles to be changed after one unfortunate driver was brought undone by one on her own car. Even an expert has agreed a change is required when asked by Yahoo News Australia.

Over the weekend the Tesla Model Y owner was left staring at her white car atop a tow truck after the triangular EV label on her number plate, which is compulsory for EVs registered in Australia, came loose and stuck into her tyre, puncturing the material and rendering it useless.

“What are the odds!” she wrote on social media, holding the “sharp” piece of metal in her hand. “I vote for circular EV number badges.”

EV owners push for number plate label to change

Australian EV owners are required to have the number plate label to ensure emergency crews can easily identify a car as electric, which in turn allows them to respond accordingly if one is involved in an accident. Every EV manufactured after January 1, 2019 is required to have it in Australia, however, there is no clear reason why they are triangular.

After sharing her dilemma online many more EV owners shared a similar sentiment to the driver, questioning why the label is triangular when its pointed edges threaten damage like this. Some suggested alternative designs to help avoid a similar situation in the future, even comparing to overseas regulations

“They should be printed onto your number plate,” one wrote, suggesting a similar initiative as the UK has whereby green banners indicate a car is electric. China has a similar approach another pointed out.

Many others confirmed they too had their tyres punctured from the triangular label and called for a better solution, with the idea of stickers or a marker printed onto the number plate bandied around.

Teslas are known not to have a spare tyre, meaning all who drive the cars are susceptible to the same towing fate if this occurs to them.

Triangular EV labels ‘not suitable’ for vehicles, expert warns

Amid the calls for change among EV owners, an “EV advocate” and expert believes a change to the EV label would also be positive.

“This incident obviously shows that that element of the number plate is not suitable for the vehicle… it needs to be adjusted,” Swinburne University of Technology Professor Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian told Yahoo News. “Stickers can be a good way for authorities, such as a police car or an ambulance, to detect them on the roads as well as detection systems.”

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