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Lanarkshire project could see 500% increase in public EV charge points

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North Lanarkshire Council is backing a project which could see a £5 million investment in electric vehicle (EV) charging and electricity network infrastructure across Lanarkshire.

‘Public use’ hubs will be created in car parks owned and operated by North and South Lanarkshire Councils, in a bid to meet ambitious plans by the Scottish Government to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032.

Preparatory work with Transport Scotland and SP Energy Networks is underway, as part of Project PACE, which aims to determine optimum EV charge point locations and the electricity network infrastructure required to support them.

Locations being considered align with areas of potential demand, taking into account existing electricity infrastructure location and capacity, available land and the need to provide public access.

Councillor Michael McPake, convener of the Environment and Transportation Committee, said, “This is an innovative, ambitious plan for Lanarkshire that will see a real increase in the electric vehicle charging infrastructure on the ChargePlace Scotland network in North Lanarkshire, by the end of this year.

A £7.5 million Strategic Partnership between the Scottish Government, including Transport Scotland, SP Energy Networks and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks was announced by the First Minister on 29 August 2019. SP Energy Networks and Transport Scotland have since established Project PACE with North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council, as beneficiaries to trial opportunities to improve the delivery and co-ordination of investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Scott Mathieson, director of network planning and regulation at SP Energy Networks, said the project “aims to increase the number of EV chargers across the two trial areas by 500% which means the number of EV chargers in Scotland as a whole will increase by 25% in one year. This will serve as a blueprint for other areas across the country in the shift to electric vehicles, ensuring every community has equal access to charging points connected into Scotland’s electricity networks.”