Electric car goals 'could be missed by 12 years' as Tories attack launch attack on 'woeful' SNP
Scotland aims to have 30,000 EV chargers by 2030
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The Scottish Government could miss vital electric vehicle charging targets by a staggering 12 years, according to the Scottish Conservatives.
Data suggests that Scotland has added just 169 chargers between October 2022 and August 2023.
Scotland is aiming to install 30,000 electric car charging stations by 2030 to cope with the expected demand before the end of the decade.
Separate research from the Scottish Government shows there were almost 4,000 charging stations across Scotland as of June 2023.
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The Scottish Tories said the Government was “miles off” its targets, saying it could take until 2042 for the country to reach the goal of 30,000 chargers.
According to Zap-Map data, Scotland ranks third for the area with the most charging points, falling behind Greater London and the South East of England.
Despite having 8.6 per cent of the geographical market share of EV chargers, Scotland falls far behind considering the number of motorists in the area.
Douglas Lumsden, the energy and transport spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “These eye-opening statistics lay bare the fact that this SNP/Green Government are miles off delivering electric charging points needed to meet demand across Scotland.
“It is simply pitiful that fewer than 200 charging points were added to the network over a spell of 10 months.
“Progress is going at a snail’s pace and that is all too typical of the SNP/Green Government’s woeful record on environmental targets.”
The Net Zero Scotland website states that the Scottish Government has invested £65million to create the fifth largest EV charging network in the UK – ChargePlace Scotland.
It also provides grant funding for the installation of chargers for rural households, rural small and medium enterprises, third sector organisations, and “factored flatted developments”.
The website also states that public bodies will phase out the need for any new petrol and diesel light commercial vehicles by 2025, although it is not yet known whether these factors will be affected by Rishi Sunak’s net zero announcement.
Net Zero Scotland is also aiming to phase out the need for petrol and diesel vehicles in the public sector fleet by 2030.
A number of councils have made pledges to phase out the use of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles within fleets operated by the council.
Scotland hopes to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, with a number of major cities introducing Low Emission Zones to further reduce pollution rates.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is currently assessing the implications of the UK Government’s decision to backtrack on their commitment to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.
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Scotland currently has around 4,000 EV chargers
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“Our EV Infrastructure Fund aims to leverage £60million of public and private investment to increase the size of the network to 6,000 charge points by 2026.
“The ChargePlace Scotland network provides a strong foundation to support this, and will be an integral part of a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector.”