The Scottish government has pledged to invest more than £7m across five councils to encourage greater private investment in the electric vehicle charging network.

Funding has been structured to draw in private sector investment in line with the Government’s vision for the charging network

The investment from the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is being awarded across Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, the Highland Council, Moray Council and Dundee City Council.

Funding has been structured to draw in private sector investment in line with the Scottish government’s vision for the public charging network. Outlined last year, this sets out plans to expand the public EV charging network with the help of private sector investment to meet fast-rising EV take-up. A key part of the vision is that the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network will transition towards a public charging network in partnership with private charge point operators.

The newly announced funding reinforces this focus and also has a particular focus on more rural areas of Scotland.

The funding will enable local authorities to work with the private sector to continue to grow Scotland’s public EV charging network. This is achieved through partnership working with the private sector to operate existing EV charge points and deliver new EV charge points.

Transport Scotland said the funding would enable new and more reliable EV charge points across Scotland – supporting the Scottish government’s commitment to phasing out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.

Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop 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.”

Hyslop added: “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 and £55m in public EV charging in Scotland in 2024 alone.”

Vicky Read, CEO of ChargeUK, welcomed the new funding, saying: “ChargeUK’s members stand ready to deliver the Scottish government’s vision of a just transition to electric vehicles, through investment in charging infrastructure at pace and scale. The first Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund awards are an important and welcome step in delivering the vision.”