Scottish Government to put up £7m to help councils improve charging network

The Scottish Government is providing five councils with more than £7m to improve the electric vehicle (EV) charging network.

Transport Scotland announced the funding, for Dundee, Highland, Moray, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils, which is intended to stimulate private sector investment.

Dundee City Council will receive £300,000 in funding, with the remaining councils forming a partnership and benefiting from £6.9m, according to the Government.

“I’m pleased that the Scottish Government is providing over £7m in targeted support to attract in further private investment in our publicly accessible, electric vehicle charging network,” transport secretary Fiona Hyslop has said.

“The scale of our ambition to decarbonise transport cannot be met alone and I expect that our commitment for approximately 24,000 additional public charge points by 2030 will largely be met by the private sector.

“This can only happen, however, if the conditions exist to support this investment – which is exactly what our electric vehicle infrastructure fund is working to achieve and with a particular focus in our rural and island communities.

“As a direct result of previous investment, per head of population, Scotland has more public EV charge points than any other part of the UK, except London.

“We also benefit from more rapid, public EV charge points than any other UK region.

“We have over 5,600 currently and we are well on target to have 6,000 public EV charge points by 2026, through increasing private sector investment – with the private sector investing between £40 (million) and £55 million in public EV charging in Scotland in 2024 alone.”

Vicky Read, the chief executive officer of ChargeUK – a group made up of dozens of EV charging companies – said members “stand ready to deliver” the Scottish Government’s target of improving the charging network as it seeks to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

Jim Savege, the chief executive of Aberdeenshire Council, said: “The commitment to, and journey towards, net zero is a significant challenge for us all, and one that requires leadership and activity at scale and pace.

“We are proud to come together as a ground-breaking consortium covering Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Moray and Highland Council areas with this significant investment in our EV charging infrastructure across our diverse urban and rural communities.

“We are looking for a private sector partner to work with us and co-invest alongside us, a partner who has the same ambition and commitment to net zero, and who has the scale, reach and commitment to work with communities across the North of Scotland as we change our approach to travel and connectivity across the area.”