From Wednesday 1 February, vehicle owners will be required to pay a minimum fee of £1.50 at Council owned EV charging points. The new tariff is set at 25p/kWh at slow and fast charge points and 35p/kWh at rapid charge points.
In addition to the tariff, a maximum stay of 40 minutes will be applied to rapid charging points to improve availability and ensure fair usage. An overstay charge of £1 per minute, capped at £60 will be implemented to enforce this.
Elected members approved the decision to implement a tariff on EV charging points last October in response to the growing demand for electric vehicles across the Stirling area in recent years and so the Council can cover the operational costs of the units. This brings Stirling in line with most other local authorities.
'Ensuring that infrastructure remains sustainable'
Environment and Housing Convener, Cllr Jen Preston said: “The uptake of electric vehicles across Stirling is a highly encouraging sign for our long term ambitions of reaching net zero. Transport routinely accounts for a large portion of carbon emissions in Stirling and every effort towards reducing this is to be encouraged.
“While we want to encourage and support the continuing growth in EV ownership, we have a responsibility to ensure the infrastructure for charging vehicles remains financially sustainable. Introducing a tariff enables us to recover the energy consumption and asset management costs of the charging units.”
The demand for electric vehicles has risen significantly in the last six years with Stirling Council now ranking second out of all local authorities in Scotland for EV ownership, accounting for 10% of all licensed vehicles. With Scottish and UK Government ambitions to phase out new fossil fuel vehicles from 2030, this trend is expected to continue.
Significant increase in EV charging usage
2021 saw a 260% increase in usage of Council-owned charging points, consuming over 2,000,000 kW of power and costing a total of £134,728 in the last financial year. Currently, it costs Stirling Council an estimated £35,000 per month to operate its EV charging network made up of 187 charging units.
Full information on the new tariffs can be found on the ChargePlace Scotland website.
Stirling Council boasts one of the most comprehensive EV charging infrastructures in Scotland with Castleview Transport Hub providing one of the largest low carbon EV charging facilities in the country. The solar powered park and ride facility alone provides 64 charging points for motorists.
The Council declared a Climate and Nature Emergency in October 2019. As part of its Climate and Nature Emergency Plan, the Council aims to be carbon neutral in its own operations by 2035 and achieve ‘net zero’ in 2045.