In Europe, as in the United States, it seems governments just can't stay out of the business of picking winners and losers and using taxation and fees to enforce those choices. The latest such example? Now, in various places in Europe, you may be subject to increased fees if you take too long to charge your government-subsidized electric car.

Charging station operator now levying extra fee if you take too long to charge your electric car. The aim: “fairer distribution”.

Germany’s online BlackoutNews.de here reports how Dutch charging station operator Allego is imposing a “blocking fee” at all its European fast chargers.

The fee went into effect on July 1st.

For example, in Germany, if drivers take more than 45 minutes to charge their electric cars at an Allegro fast-charger, then they will have to pay an extra 25 cents-euro for each additional minute of charging beyond 45 minutes.

What if one's car isn't fully charged after 45 minutes? There will always be differences in charging rates; everything from outside temperatures to the age of the battery to the level of charge in the battery before charging will make a difference in how long it will take to top the battery off.

But what's revealing here is the reason given for this new surcharge.

“This measure is intended to ensure a fairer distribution of the charging infrastructure and prevent unnecessary over-parking, writes Blackout News. “So if you stand at the charging station for an hour longer, you pay almost 15 euros extra,” according to elektroauto-news:.Apparently, the fee is designed to reduce the long charging lines occurring at charging stations, especially as millions of Europeans head out on their summer holidays.

See Related: Where Are Those 500,000 EV Chargers Biden Promised? Turns Out They've Been Delayed by… DEI Requirements. 

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It is belaboring the obvious that drivers of traditional gasoline or diesel-powered autos will not face this problem.

This, of course, will be noticed by the "green energy" crowd on our side of the Atlantic, as well. As noted above, the American government has failed abysmally in its goals of producing 500,000 EV chargers, while still demanding subsidies to try to persuade more and more American drivers to give up their old benzene burners for Priuses; this proposal will likely be pitched here in the United States.

The left, after all, has never seen a "redistribution" or "fairness" scheme they weren't in love with. And there has never been a "fairness" scheme that the government couldn't find a way to screw up.

Consider the entire picture here: The government subsidizes electric vehicles, and places increasing regulations on traditional vehicles, to attempt to push people into switching to electric vehicles. The government then appropriates money to build charging stations, which are mysteriously not built; then, a new policy penalizes people who use more charging resources — in other words, and in most cases, people who travel more, be it for business or pleasure.

Stick to your internal combustion engines, folks. There are consumers for whom an EV makes sense, but the calculus should include what is likely to happen with charging stations, including the possibility that you will, in effect, be penalized for driving too much.

Feature? Or bug?