Operation of ChargePlace Scotland (CPS): FOI release

Information requested

1. Outage Records

a. A complete list of all recorded service outages or disruptions affecting the ChargePlace Scotland app, website, or account login services.
b. For each outage:

• Date and start time of the incident
• Duration of the outage (in minutes/hours)
• Affected systems (app, website, account login, payment processing, etc.)
• Root cause as recorded in any incident report
• Whether the incident was classified as planned or unplanned
• Steps taken to resolve the incident

2. Incident and Problem Reports

a. Copies of incident reports, problem tickets, or post-incident reviews produced by the operator in relation to the above outages.

3. Performance and Availability Statistics

a. Monthly uptime/availability statistics for the app and website over the requested period, including any KPI or SLA performance metrics.

4. User Complaints and Support Cases

a. The number of user complaints, support cases, or trouble tickets logged relating specifically to users being unable to log in to the ChargePlace Scotland app or website during the requested period, broken down by month.

5. Service Level Agreements and Enforcement

a. Copies of any SLA documents in effect between Transport Scotland and the contracted operator relating to uptime/availability of the app and website.

b. Records of any SLA breaches and associated penalties or service credits issued to the operator.)

Response

I am able to supply some of the information requested and will address your five numbered requests in turn. Please note that the time period for which you have requested information spans two different ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) contractors and therefore the format and nature of the information available may differ. The current contractor, eVolt Charging (AKA SWARCO Smart Charging) commenced operating CPS in July 2021.

1. Outage Records

a. A complete list of all recorded service outages or disruptions affecting the ChargePlace Scotland app, website, or account login services.
b. For each outage:

i. Date and start time of the incident
ii. Duration of the outage (in minutes/hours)
iii. Affected systems (app, website, account login, payment processing, etc.)
iv. Root cause as recorded in any incident report
v. Whether the incident was classified as planned or unplanned
vi. Steps taken to resolve the incident

Please find attached a document showing outages arranged in chronological order to address your point (a) and most of point (b). This document is called “System Outage 2020 To Date”. Where “MBORC” is used for an outage type please note that this stands for “Matters Beyond Our Reasonable Control”.

2. Incident and Problem Reports

a. Copies of incident reports, problem tickets, or post-incident reviews produced by the operator in relation to the above outages.

Much of the key information you have requested has been provided in the attached document “System Outage 2020 To Date”. Please note that incident reports and similar information has been prepared by the eVolt Charging business and shared with all of their clients, of which Transport Scotland is one, on request. The information contained in such documents relates to the CPS contractor’s own technology platform as well as the respective suppliers of various IT services required to operate their business, for example, data centre providers.

An exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA (commercial interests) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of eVolt Charging. Disclosing this information would be likely to give eVolt Charging’s competitors an advantage in future similar tendering exercises, which would substantially prejudice eVolt Charging’s ability to submit competitive tenders and so could significantly harm their commercial business.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which enter into Scottish Government contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

3. Performance and Availability Statistics

a. Monthly uptime/availability statistics for the app and website over the requested period, including any KPI or SLA performance metrics.

Section 17 (1) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002.

eVolt Charging took over the operation of the ChargePlace Scotland network in July 2021. The current ChargePlace Scotland mobile app and website were implemented at that time. Prior to this the mobile app and the website were provided by eVolt’s predecessor, BP Pulse.

Under Section 17 (1) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 an authority does not have to disclose information it does not hold. There are no uptime and availability statistics for the mobile app or website and as such no information on such performance metrics can be supplied.

4. User Complaints and Support Cases

a. The number of user complaints, support cases, or trouble tickets logged relating specifically to users being unable to log in to the ChargePlace Scotland app or website during the requested period, broken down by month.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 – exceeding upper cost limit.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. Although CPS have long-standing procedures for recording, investigating and resolving users complaints, support cases and trouble-tickets (i.e. customer service cases raised via telephone and email), these cases are not categorised in a manner that enables issues to be readily identified as being related specifically to users being unable to log in to the ChargePlace Scotland app or website. To achieve that level of detail each individual case would need to be manually opened so that the associated case notes can be read.

Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

However, to help you with your enquiry the best we can, we have provided a basic breakdown of general website/app calls and complaints each year since these call categorisations were implemented. Hopefully you find the following information helpful. Note that these statistics will contain multiple calls/cases about the same individual events and each call/case may will not necessarily relate to actual technical faults.

2025 (up to 31 August 2025)
Web/App - 11034 calls
2024
Web/ App Query - 4806 calls
2023
Web/ App Query - 12208 calls
2022
Web/App Query - 3648 calls
Cases relating to the mobile app that have been specifically categorised as ‘complaints’ from 2022 onwards when complaints were first categorised in this manner:
2025 (up to 31 August 2025)
340 Complaints
20 App Complaints = 6%
2024
377 Complaints
22 App Complaints = 6%
2023
136 Complaints
6 App Complaints = 4%

You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs on his website at: https://www.foi.scot/how-do-i-ask 

5. Service Level Agreements and Enforcement

a. Copies of any SLA documents in effect between Transport Scotland and the contracted operator relating to uptime/availability of the app and website.
b. Records of any SLA breaches and associated penalties or service credits issued to the operator.)

Section 17 (1) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002.

There are no SLAs or KPIs specifically pertaining to the CPS app or the website.

Under Section 17 (1) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) 2002 an authority does not have to disclose information it does not hold.

About FOI

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

FOI 202500482330 - Information released - Annex

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Excel document

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19.3 kB