Plug in. Pay out. Give up?
They have been hailed as the future of our roads as the world combats climate change. Cleaner cars running on batteries, not petrol, were meant to transform driving as motorists, benefiting from grants to buy and free power, charged- up at roadside power points.
However, drivers of electric vehicles ( EVS), already hit by cuts to grants for buying new cars, have been dealt another blow as local authorities start introducing fees for using their charging stations.
Most of the public facilities have been free to use for the past few years in Scotland but councils are now bringing in tariffs for plugging into their devices, located mainly on streets and in city car parks.
The move comes on the heels of the UK Government slashing subsidies aimed at encouraging people to buy electric vehicles. The Department for Transport has reduced the grant from £3,000 to £2,500 and restricted it to cars costing less than £35,000.
Environmental and motoring organisations have criticised the shift by councils to introduce fees for their chargers. They are concerned that this will delay more people from transitioning to electric cars – and also make it more difficult to reach government targets of banning the sale of new non- hybrid petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
And, with Scotland set to host the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow in November, Friends of the Earth said the introduction of fees at charging stations could slow the uptake of electric vehicles.
The organisation’s air pollution campaign boss, Gavin Thomson, said: “Unexpected cost hikes will turn people off electric vehicles very quickly. Councils and governments need to make it cheap and easy for those who need cars to ensure they are electric.”
The RAC said that, while it was perhaps inevitable that drivers would have to start paying to use public charge points, the timing of the move was “less than ideal”.
Spokesman Rod Dennis said: “Drivers tell us that cost is the biggest barrier to them opting for a zero emissions car over a petrol or diesel- powered one – the more incentives there are the quicker the transition.”
He said about a third of UK households do not have the facilities needed to install a home charger, such as a driveway, and that fees for using public chargers also needed to be made clearer.
“These people will have no choice but to rely on the public charging network, so it’s vital that drivers can easily compare charging prices to make sure they’re getting good value,” he said.
“The current picture–with
many different operators and tariffs – doesn’t make getting the best deal when charging up all that easy, so we would like to see clear “pence per kilowatt hour” pricing displayed at all charge points.”
Environmental Protection Scotland, co- ordinators of Clean Air Day, said: “Whilst it is understandable that local authorities are now looking to recoup some of the costs of providing power for the vastly increasing number of public EV charge- points, this needs to be balanced against the current relatively high costs of buying a new EV.”
The moves come after campaigners claimed in last week’s Sunday Post that the main political parties had ignored climate change in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament election.
There are about 2.9 million cars in Scotland. At the moment only about 50,000 of these are powered by electricity, but demand is rapidly increasing.
The Post asked Scotland’s 32 councils if they had brought in fees for using public chargers. Of those that responded, almost half said that their facilities were now fee- paying – and most of the rest said they were considering introducing charges in the future.
They insist that, as more electrical vehicles appear on the roads, their associated bills are rising to unsustainable levels.
Last week, Highland Council agreed to start making motorists pay for using electric vehicle charging points after its free facilities ran up an annual bill of more than £50,000.
Motorists look set to be charged between 20p and 30p for every kilowatt hour of energy used. Users will be charged a minimum of £1 per charge. And those using the very fastest charge points – socalled “rapid” chargers – will also face £ 1 per minute overstay fees should they stay beyond 45 minutes and a subsequent 15 minute “grace period”.
The decision by Highland Council echo es recent moves by Glasgow City Council, which this month brought in charges for its public network.
The bill for the city’s 218 charge points reached more than £215,000 over the past year. This included staff costs, annual maintenance and £ 93,000 on electricity.
Other local authorities that have introduced fees include Aberdeenshire, Falkirk, Dundee, East Lothian, Moray, Midlothian, Argyll & Bute, and Fife. More are set to follow. Transport Scotland, which funded the public charging points, said there were no plans to extend the subsidies and it was up to councils to set their own tariffs and said: “We have invested over £45 million to grow Scotland’s accessible public electric vehicle charging network. This has funded the installation of more than 1,700 charge points across the country, many of which are hosted by Scotland’s local authorities. It is for hosts to decide on tariffs and connection fees, based on the energy costs of charging.”
Electric vehicle organisations and user groups say they are disappointed but not surprised that more councils are now introducing fees.
Despite the days of free power coming to an end, they insist electric cars are still much cheaper to run than a diesel equivalent, despite recent reports to the contrary. Derek Osborne from the Scottish EV Drivers Club said: “We have had a mixed response from our members to the new council charges but we have to accept that free electricity wasn’t going to last for ever. It is still much cheaper to pay these fees than it is to run a traditional car.”
Neil Swanson, director of EVA Scotland, which represent the interests of electric vehicle users, said technology was continually improving and he expected home charging to become easier and cheaper the future.
He also pointed out that people who do not have off- road facilities can ask their council to install a charger in the street.
“Free charging has been great while it lasted but it has downsides,” he said. “Some private firms capable of building mass charging hubs and which would bring costs down even further have so far been reluctant to invest in Scotland because you can’t compete with something that is for free.
“It has also created queues and disruptions at free charging points caused by people who nip in to top up their cars for nothing, even when it is not necessary.”
He added: “Councils are not allowed to make a profit from these fees so our expectation is that the revenue will now be re invested into improving and expanding our present charging network and making it ultimately cheaper to use.”
Drivers say cost is the biggest barrier to opting for a zero emissions car