MOTORISTS To Pay For Using Inverclyde’s Electric Vehicle Charging Network

INVERCLYDE Council is set to introduce fees for its electric vehicle charging network.

Councillors are being asked to agree that charges are brought in from 1 November.

The fees proposed are:

— Connection fee for all chargers: £1.00 per connection.

— 22 kW and lower chargepoints: £0.20 per kWh.

— 43 kW and higher chargepoints: £0.30 per kWh.

The council say these prices reflect the costs of electricity provision and ongoing routine maintenance.

A report by officials states: “Originally, a condition of the grant funding was that the chargepoints would be tariff free for a minimum of 12 months from their date of implementation. However, this position has changed over time and Scottish Government are now recommending that local authorities should consider the application of tariffs to their chargepoint network.

“Utilisation is rising rapidly and, where tariffs are not applied, the cost of free provision will also rise. And even where tariffs are introduced, simply covering the cost of electricity will not generate the funding required for asset management and replacement.

“Continuing to provide tariff free access comes at an ever increasing cost to the council and is unsustainable into the future.

“It will be impractical for the public sector alone to fund all investment in the overall charging network within Inverclyde, and in addition, the continued offer of tariff free access, will discourage other potential sources of investment and may both constrain the growth of the charging network and lead to higher levels of public expenditure than is necessary to deliver a national charging network.”

The report continues: “Where tariffs are introduced, they should cover more than just the cost of the electricity supplied. With a potential life of a chargepoint being up to 10 years, there will be a rising replacement cost placed on local authorities to simply retain the network at its existing size, even without accommodating technological advancement.

“Drivers are accustomed to having to pay a commercial price to fuel their petrol or diesel vehicles at present and, in principle, should be prepared to do the same for an electric vehicle.”

The council has public charging points at the following locations:

Gourock — Station Road, Kempock Street

Greenock — Cathcart Street, Pottery Street depot, Dalrymple Street, Custom House Way, Battery Park, Station Avenue, Auchmead Road, Roxburgh Street

Inverkip — Main Street

Kilmacolm — Bridge of Weir road, Barrs Brae

Port Glasgow — Fore Street, Highholm park and ride, Willisons Lane, Auchenleck Lane, Newark School park and stride

Wemyss Bay — A78 at rail station