Statistics on the number of electric vehicles in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

 

• How many electric car users there are in Scotland, broken down by local authority area?
• How this is recorded?
• Is there a national target number of users of electric cars?
• Is there a date for this target?

Response

 

In response to the first two bullet points of your enquiry, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because it is not held by the Scottish Government.

Our aim is to provide information whenever possible but in this instance this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

It may be helpful to contact the UK Government Department for Transport for further information:
Department for Transport Telephone: 0300 330 3000
Great Minster House 33 Horseferry Road London SW1P 4DR.

 

In answer to the remaining two bullet points of your question I trust the following information will be helpful to you. The Scottish Government has not set a national target for the number of electric vehicle drivers in Scotland, but has set out a bold ambition to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032. The registration figures, for new battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, has grown by 46% over the past year, compared to 33% in the rest of the UK. Now there are over 10,000 ultra low emission vehicles licensed in Scotland. In addition, around 1.6% of all new car sales registered in Scotland, up to the end of October 2018, were Ultra Low Emission Vehicles - up from 1.1% in October 2017.

Electric vehicle drivers in Scotland benefit from one of Europe’s most comprehensive charging networks - almost 1,000 publicly accessible charge points, including over 200 rapid chargers. The average distance from any given location to the nearest public charging point is 2.78 miles. Continued investment of £15 million, by the Scottish Government, in the electric vehicle infrastructure will add an additional 1,500 new charge points in homes, businesses and local authority land, including 150 new public charge points.

 

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.