Ambitious plans to accelerate electric vehicle take-up to help rid Scotland’s towns and cities from petrol and diesel vehicle emissions by 2050 have been published by the Scottish Government.The Electric Vehicle Roadmap document – entitled “Switched On Scotland: A Roadmap to Widespread Adoption of Plug-in Vehicles” – comes as the Scottish Government commits to almost complete decarbonisation of the road transport sector by 2050.

The move is being led by Scotland’s stringent climate change legislation and targets as well as plans to tackle air quality, thereby improving public health and wellbeing.

The roadmap looks specifically at fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, adding that other technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, will complement these in the future.

The Government says Scotland has already begun to make progress in encouraging the adoption of plug-in vehicles, supporting the early market through purchase incentives and deployment of recharging infrastructure. However, in order to achieve the roadmap goals will require more extensive goals, including:

• Investing over £14m over the next two years to encourage motorists and businesses to switch to electric vehicles.
• Installing charge points at Scottish Government buildings and replacing its fleet with electric alternatives.
• Offering 100 per cent funding for the installation of home charge points.
• Offering funding to businesses and employers to encourage recharging points to be installed at workplaces.
• Supporting public sector fleet operators to access evidence-based analysis to create new opportunities for the deployment of plug-in vehicles.
• The deployment of rapid charge points at intervals of at least 50 miles on Scotland’s primary road network to enable extended all-electric journeys.
• Support for the promotion of shared plug-in vehicles through the Developing Car Clubs in Scotland programme.