Scottish Government electric vehicle (EV) charging point numbers: FOI release

Information requested

The following information over the last 5 years by Local Authority (LA) area for all public electric vehicle (EV) charge points:

• The number of EV chargers?
• The number of instances where an EV charger has broken/stopped working?
• The average time taken for an EV charger to be fixed?
• The longest time taken for an EV charger to be fixed?
• The shortest time taken for an EV charger to be fixed?
• The total spent on fixing broken EV chargers in each of the last five financial years?
• The average number of EV chargers operating at any one time?
• What information the Scottish Government holds on how many minutes of downtime were recorded across the public electric vehicle (EV) charger network in each of the last 12 months, broken down by local authority area.
• What information the Scottish Government holds on how many fault reports submitted by members of the public regarding the public electric vehicle (EV) charger network were received in each of the last 12 months.

Response

Please note, you requested information on all public EV charge points, however I can only provide details regarding the Scottish Government funded ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network. The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to other public EV charging networks.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. Some of the information you have requested is available as follows:

• The number of electric vehicle (EV) chargers?

ChargePlace Scotland: Total electric vehicle charge points by local authority area from 2017 - 2020 can be found here –

Chapter 13: Environment and Emissions | Transport Scotland - Table 13.11:
Please note that due to a change in CPS contractor the total charge points by Local Authority (LA) area was not collated between 2021 and September 2022, but was collated for each LA who owned the charge point -Chapter 13 - Environment | Transport Scotland - see table 13.11) Chapter 13 - Environment | Transport Scotland (2021 - see table 13.11). From October 2022 the number of electric vehicle charge points were recorded by LA area again and can be found here -Monthly Charge Point Performance – Charge Place Scotland.

• The number of instances where an EV charger has broken/stopped working?
• The average time taken for an EV charger to be fixed?
• The longest time taken for an EV charger to be fixed?
• The shortest time taken for an EV charger to be fixed?
• The average number of EV chargers operating at any one time?
• What information the Scottish Government holds on how many minutes of downtime were recorded across the public electric vehicle (EV) charger network in each of the last 12 months, broken down by local authority area.
• What information the Scottish Government holds on how many fault reports submitted by members of the public regarding the public electric vehicle (EV) charger network were received in each of the last 12 months.

The information for each of your requests above is not explicitly held by the Scottish Government. However, a limited amount of information relating to ‘faults’ and ‘downtime’ is available on the CPS website here Monthly Charge Point Performance – Charge Place Scotland.

Please select ‘ Ticket Breakdown’ at the link above to download monthly lists of ‘tickets’ logged with the CPS contact centre via email and telephone calls by users of the network to flag issues or requests for assistance. Column ‘H’ indicates the reason, including types of ‘fault’. Please note that a ‘fault’ does not necessarily mean that the charge point itself is broken, for example, a user may have pressed the emergency stop button or it may relate to an electricity supply issue beyond the control of the network operator. Many issues recorded as ‘faults’ may be very transient in nature and resolved swiftly by the network operator.

Please select ‘Charge Point Performance Summary’ at the link above to view a table showing the percentage of ‘uptime’ across the CPS network on a monthly basis by Local Authority area. This equates to the average amount of time charge points are available for use each month. Please note that this may also include downtime due to planned maintenance and does not necessarily mean a charge point was broken or faulty in any way.

• The total spent on fixing broken EV chargers in each of the last five financial years?

Transport Scotland and CPS do not have responsibility for fixing broken EV chargers, as this is organisations that own the charge points. It is therefore only possible to provide details where Transport Scotland has provided grant funding to charge point owners to support repairs.

Transport Scotland has provided grant funding to some CPS charge point owners to support some repairs where those repairs are not covered by a warranty or maintenance agreement, including replacement of damaged cables, connectors and faulty display screens.

Repairs Under GOLs *	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24
Total	£ 4,535.12	£ 11,274.61	£ 12,277.00	£ 8,199.95	£ 51,586.00

* GOLs - Grant Offer Letters

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.