E -cars: Free parking in Schönau - municipalities in resistance!

E -cars: Free parking in Schönau - municipalities in resistance!

In Bavaria, an exciting development around the topic of electromobility is opened up. From April 1, 2025, electric cars, the license plates of which end with an "e", may park free of charge for up to three hours on publicly marked parking spaces. This has introduced the Bavarian state government to make electric vehicles more attractive and thus contribute to the reduction of noise and air pollution. According to stmi.bayern.de, marked parking spaces for e-vehicles are not necessary, which facilitates the expansion of this regulation.

Especially in the tourist hotspots of Bavaria, this can be a big plus for many drivers of e-cars. So also in the Berchtesgadener Land, where the Königssee attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The large parking lot in Schönau, which is very frequented due to its location, could benefit from this new regulation. But there is already resistance here: Mayor Hannes Rasp (CSU) expresses concerns because the less income of up to 200,000 euros would "hurt" for the community annually. In order to escape this challenge, Schönau converted the parking lot into a "municipal facility" to avoid the Bavarian regulation, as reported by [Br.de] (https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/grateparken-fuer-e--autos-warum-krefozer-suchen ,uohizhy).

reactions from the municipalities

The new regulation not only meets shared opinions in Schönau. The reaction was also negative in Rosenheim, where the city administration did not want to adjust the fee schedule. A maximum parking time of two hours applies here for most public parking spaces, even for electric cars. This leads to tensions with the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, which supports the order, but does not provide for compensation payments for the associated financial losses of the municipalities.

As Hans-Peter Mayer, director of the Bavarian community day, makes it clear, the arrangement from Munich is an interference with the authorities sovereignty of the municipalities. He demands more scope for the municipalities so that they can decide independently on parking fees and regulations. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, on the other hand, refers to the "positive municipal financial equalization for 2025" and would like to strengthen electromobility.

rules for free parking

The regulation for the free parking extends over the first three hours. E-car drivers simply have to put a parking disc behind the windshield or pull a free ticket at a parking space with parking machines. Particularly important: the maximum parking time must not be exceeded. This means that the parking time for long stays has to be planned cleverly, such as erlangen.de explained.

The municipalities in Bavaria can currently be found in a dilemma: they should promote the use of electric cars and at the same time pay attention to their income. The regulation, which is temporarily temporary until 2026, is primarily intended to gain experience and promote e-mobility in urban metropolitan areas. It remains to be seen how the municipalities react to the challenges and whether they find ways to reconcile the interests of tourists and domestic drivers.