WATCH: Edinburgh electric car charging roll-out begins
The first of well over 100 hundred electric car charging ports being rolled out in Edinburgh has been installed at Ingliston park and ride
Brand new electric vehicle charging bays are now up and running at Ingliston Park and Ride in Edinburgh and work is underway to install chargers around the city as part of plans to introduce 81 on-street chargers serving 141 parking bays.
Preliminary work is also underway to install an additional 41 rapid and fast chargers – amounting to 72 charging bays – at on-street locations in residential areas around the Capital.
These will be complete and available for use by early summer.
The roll-out, designed to encourage and support the take-up of cleaner, low emission transport like electric vehicles, is being funded by £2.2 million awarded through Transport Scotland’s Switched on Towns and Cities Challenge Fund.
Councillor Lesley Macinnes, Transport and Environment Convener, said:
"These new chargers will provide convenient charging for people travelling in and out of the Capital, and very soon we’ll be delivering fast, accessible charge points in residential streets around the city too.
"The transition to clean, low emission transport like electric vehicles is critical if we are to meet our ambitious net zero 2030 target, alongside choosing walking, wheeling, cycling or taking public transport to get around.
"It’s our role to support and encourage this so it’s fantastic that we’re now rolling out electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Edinburgh."
Electric Vehicle Association Scotland Director Neil Swanson said: “What we are experiencing today is a seismic change towards low emission transportation.
“As Scotland forges ahead with ever increasing numbers of electric vehicle sales month-on-month, it is important that the country’s public charging infrastructure simultaneously meets the rising demand for a range of suitably located charge points.
“As the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have already indicated in their recently announced commitment to meeting these challenges, there is an urgent need to keep pace with the rapid uptake by those who see the financial as well as the environmental benefits of going all-electric.
“EVA Scotland welcomes this essential, indeed fundamental objective and is committed to working with all those who can make this happen. We cannot go forward in our climate change obligations without having our vital charging infrastructure in place."