A new report has revealed electric vehicle (EV) drivers in Scotland are unhappy with the condition of the public charging network.
Almost half of the EV users surveyed in the YouGov poll for Consumer Scotland said public charging points were not “in good working order”, and almost 40% said there were “not enough” charging points.
One driver said: “Charging is the big negative. We’ve had a full electric car for 5.5 years and it is still very difficult and inconvenient to take it on long journeys. We thought the amount of chargers and reliability would have improved much more in this time.”
Of around 500 respondents to the survey, four in 10 also said they were surprised at the cost of running an EV. The results also showed that participants were concerned about the vehicle maintenance and repair infrastructure for EVs.
Another driver added: “If I had to rely on public charging I’d sell the car and get something else. Public charging is out of control for cost. It takes too long and is very inconvenient.”
Nearly three-quarters of EV drivers in Scotland have reportedly turned to home charging to combat these challenges. But home charging remains a widely inaccessible option for many, with over 60% of the country’s population living in flats or terraced houses, as revealed in the country’s latest Scottish Household Condition Survey.
These findings follow the Scottish Government announcing in July a new £7m fund to help five Scottish councils improve their EV charging networks in a bid to adopt a greener transport grid: Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, The Highland Council, Moray Council and Dundee City Council.
But Consumer Scotland’s head of analysis Eleanor Mullan, said that stakeholders need to pull together for a succesful outcome: “There are many organisations involved in delivering an effective EV sector and it is essential they work collaboratively to ensure EVs and the infrastructure that supports them work for all consumers,” she said.
