Electric vehicle charging points in Scotland were used 26,119 times during August 2016, according to data published by provider ChargePlace Scotland.

As of August 2016 there were 870 charge points in the ChargePlace Scotland network.

The figures were revealed as part of RAC Foundation analysis of data collected from the ChargePlace Scotland network.

ChargePlace Scotland claims this is twice the volume (12,939) in the same month as a year earlier, and nine times the usage in August 2014 (2,885).

Despite the overall increase in usage there were still 25% of charge points that were not used at all during August 2016, though this was down from the 32% not used at all in August 2015 and 45% 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 bulk of the charge points in the ChargePlace Scotland network are publicly accessible though some are located on private commercial premises and will have limited public availability. The analysis does not include domestic charge points also funded by ChargePlace Scotland.

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% of the total number of chargers but were used for 42% 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% in 20-30 minutes.” The full analysis is available here.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, commented: “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.”