Scotland’s target of 6,000 chargepoints has been met two years earlier than planned through a combination of Scottish Government funding, increasing private sector investment and local authority planning and leadership.
To further accelerate the charging infrastructure delivery, £6.3m has been awarded through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund to support 11 Local Authorities across Glasgow City region and Ayrshire region.
First Minister John Swinney says: “This announcement is clear evidence of our commitment to making sustainable travel accessible for everyone in Scotland.
“We need to maintain this rapid progress, working in greater partnership with the private sector to accelerate the pace and scale of delivery right across the country.
“By fast-tracking EV infrastructure, we’re paving the way for a net-zero Scotland while advancing our goal to phase out new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.”
Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop says the council received matched investment from businesses such as Ionity which is helping to scale up the provision of public EV charging across Scotland.
Ionity country (UK & Ireland) manager, Andreas Atkins, says: “A continued collaborative approach between the public sector and private industry is required to tackle and deliver the roadmap for net zero transport and Ionity will continue to play a key role in this.
“We will have injected a £20m investment in Scotland by the end of 2025, with a further £20m committed into Scotland by 2028 – delivering 100% green electricity through our chargers from Scotland’s main cities to the West Coast and the Highlands.
“Not only will we enable electric transit right across Scotland, but our charging hub site partners, such as food and beverage retailers, retail parks and hospitality venues will directly benefit. The Ionity hubs are introducing those businesses – and wider local economies – to new revenue streams and additional footfall, bringing entire communities with us into the era of EVs.”
Zapmap COO and co-founder Melanie Shufflebotham says that since the target of 6,000 public EV chargepoints by 2026 was announced by the Scottish Government in June 2023, chargepoint infrastructure has grown at an impressive rate – up 49% from 4,023 in June 2023.
“This number covers many different charging use cases across diverse locations, from low-powered, on-street chargers to destination chargers at scenic spots to 150kW+ charging hubs.”
ZapMap has confirmed Scotland had 6,030 public charge points as of October 31, which means per head of population, Scotland has more public EV chargepoints than any other part of the UK, except London. Scotland also benefits from more rapid public EV chargepoints than any other UK region.
The Scottish Government has announced a commitment to enabling approximately 24,000 additional public chargepoints by 2030 and expects the majority of these to be delivered by the private sector.
Public chargepoints are only one part of the overall charging mix. The Scottish Government has also provided £5.7m to support the installation of 18,861 domestic chargepoints and £10.8m to support 1,432 higher powered workplace chargepoints – all complementing the public network.
