Below is a briefing on City of Edinburgh Council’s provision of charging for electric vehicles. The expansion in 2020 will focus on tenemental areas where there is little scope for people to install their own charging point. I have raised concerns about this and the need for charging hubs for heavy users such as taxis.

I have had two people contact me recently who had bought an elecric vehicle without really thinking about where they would charge it. Please consider this if you are thinking of buying one.

Briefing
I can advise that currently, the Council have 43 chargers available to the public, within Council operated facilities, and are about to install another 35 across the city which should be delivered by late spring 2020. The current chargers are based as follows: West Pilton Gardens (2), Captains Road (5), Drumbrae Library (2), Straiton park and Ride (5), Kirkliston library (1), Craigentinny Community Centre (2), Bankhead Depot (4) Russell Road (2), Ingliston Park & Ride (7). Hermiston Park and Ride (3), Westerhailes Healthy Living Centre (2) Murrayburn Cab Depot (3), South Queensferry (5).

The additional 35 chargers will be located at Clocktower, Craigmillar, Saughton Park and Kingshaugh.  Again, it should be noted that all these chargers will be located within Council operated facilities and will be installed separately to the on-street implementation plan.

I can also advise that Charge Place Scotland (CPS) is the current contractor appointed by Transport Scotland to provide a back office function for EVs nationally. This includes monitoring usage of chargers, dealing with faults, promoting free and/or available charging spaces and providing information monthly via CPS software to the Council.  The CPS website provides a helpful link to the EV charging points within Edinburgh and across Scotland and can be found at: https://chargeplacescotland.org/ .  The website advises users which bays are currently available or in use. 

For on-street bays – a detailed Project Plan has been developed along with identifying specific locations for the installation of 66 on-street charging points (including 32 fast chargers, nine rapid chargers and 25 slow chargers) across the city to strengthen the existing network.   The Transport and Environment Committee report from 5 March 2019 entitled ‘Electric Vehicle Business Case: Implementation Plan’ provides further details.  The Project Delivery Plan, included within Appendix 2 of the report, provides details on the commencement dates of the various stages of the plan.

Unfortunately, due to staff restructuring there has been some slippage in the proposed Project Plan. However, conversations are ongoing with Transport Scotland and the energy network operator to ensure that the charging points will be delivered.

The Council is also working with some pioneering research and development firms to introduce vehicle to grid charging and wireless charging which will see an additional 22 chargers installed over the coming year which will free up publicly accessible charge points further.