Survey on future of electric vehicle charging points in West Lothian

An online survey on the council’s website hopes to build a picture of current and future EV ownership.

Tariffs to charge EVs come into force next month for the first time in the county, with a £1 minimum charge at a kW/h rate of 40p. That charging also carries a maximum charge time of 50 minutes and a £10 surcharge tariff for staying beyond that time limit. There’s a ban on returning to charge within 90 minutes of initial charge.

The cheapest – and slowest – chargers are 30p kW/h, with a £1 minimum charge. On these there’s no minimum stay limit and no overstay surcharge.

The majority of Scotland’s local authorities have now introduced tariffs to meet surging electricity costs and to fund maintenance and development of the network.

The survey asks drivers if they own an EV, or plan to buy one in the near future. It also seeks to build a picture of the home charging apparatus – something most EV owners are advised to have as practical. It also seeks to build a picture of age and population demographic of EV ownership.

The council hopes to build as broad a picture as possible of EV ownership within the next five years to inform decisions on network expansion across West Lothian.

It currently has 32 charging points at 17 locations. A number of charge points are operated by other organisations, including those located at railway stations.

A spokesman for the council said that Scottish Government policy nudged towards the direction of introducing tariffs to help develop a network across the country, as well as providing well maintained charging apparatus.

Poor maintenance was an issue raised by contributors to recent studies of EV charging across the UK featured on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme. The debate has been sparked by questions of whether the charging network will be ready to meet government plans that demand all new cars should be electric by 2030.

In March last year the UK government announced convenient, affordable and reliable charging for all as it committed £1.6 billion to expand the UK charging network – with around 300,000 public chargers expected to be available by 2030.

Additionally big players such as BP have committed to developing the EV charging network.

Many contributors cited instances of journey times being extended by waiting times queuing to use one operational charger at a site where two or three were out of use.

At the meeting which agreed to introduce charges last month Tom Conn, the Executive councillor for the environment and sustainability, said: “As Transport Scotland and the Scottish Futures Trust concluded in their EV charging infrastructure report last year, whilst it was an important driver of early uptake, the provision of free to use public charging points needs to change and more sustainable financing models are required to remove barriers to private sector investment.”

To have your say, visit https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/ev-charging before the deadline on February 10.