Electric car charge point use doubles in Scotland
News
10 Nov 2016
Electric vehicle charging points in Scotland were used 26,119 times during August 2016, up from 12,939 in August last year, and nine times the usage in August 2014.
Despite the overall increase in usage there were still 25 per cent of charge points that were not used at all during August 2016, though this was down from the 32 per cent not used at all in August 2015 and 45 per cent that went unused in August 2014.
At the end of June 2016 – the latest figures available – there were 3,575 electric cars and vans licensed in Scotland eligible for the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes. This is compared to 2,050 at the end of June 2015.
The figures are revealed as part of RAC Foundation analysis of data collected from the ChargePlace Scotland network.
As of August 2016 there were 870 public and commercial charge points in the ChargePlace Scotland network with a total of 1,772 connectors (sockets) between them. This compares with 694 charge points and 1,373 sockets a year earlier.
Rapid chargers made up 18 per cent of the total number of chargers but were used for 42 per cent of all charging sessions.
According to ChargePlace Scotland the “majority of public charge points will fully charge most EVs in 4-8 hours. Rapid chargers can charge most EVs from 0 to 80 per cent in 20-30 minutes.”
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “They say that when it comes to buying a house location, location, location is everything. So it goes with electric charge points. Facilities need to be in places where people will use them. But there’s something more.
“The evidence suggests that it is rapid chargers that are getting a disproportionate amount of use, which bears out the view that improving the convenience and speed of ‘filling’ up with electricity is mission critical to the wider take-up of these vehicles."
