Public Charging

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Public Charge Point, Planning for Businesses

One of the strategies that we see as part of supporting just transition to broader EV ownership is 'Lifestyle' or 'Opportunity' charging. This offers greatest benefit to those who cannot charge at home. With the average annual vehicle mileage in Scotland being around 8600 miles, the average daily mileage is less than 30 miles. For a car with a 6.6kW charger this equates to just over 1 hours charging a day. While this might be at work, it could just as easily be at the gym, swimming pool, cinema, shops or eating out.

To support this, many businesses will benefit from providing charge points. A strategy that supports the business as well as drivers is key and to meet both needs, a range of charging power may be required, tailored to the individual business or location.

There is no prescriptive right and wrong, but key business considerations are:

How long do customers spend here?
Do we want then to spend more or less time here?
Is there a marketing benefit in providing cheaper power to draw customers in?

Some straightforward examples would be hotels, where the provision of 7kW managed charge points would provide an ideal way to charge guests vehicles overnight, This can also be applied to attract customers to restaurants or cafes. While not discouraging such establishments from the installation of #JourneyCharging equipment, we would recommend that tiered tariffs are used to ensure customers are encouraged to use the local business.

For leisure businesses, charging infrastructure with attractive pricing will provide not only an additional income stream but can also offer the potential to encoutage customers to stay longer.

We would encourage businesses in Scotland to look to the ChargePlace Scotland network, which operates as the eMobility Service Provider for many Charge Point Owners. This offers visibility to the majority of EV drivers in Scotland, nearly all of who already use the network.

EV services like PlugShare, Zap-Map and Watts Up offer further opportunity to highlight businesses offering charging infrastructure.

We would encourage all businesses to adopt tariffs following our guidance, ensuring that best use is made of the charge points, maximising revenue for owners and availability for users.

Charging Tariffs

Our view on Charging Tariffs

The Association supports the introduction of tariffs for charging on the public network. We believe that this, done properly, will enable best utilisation and availability of charge points for all. We support the introduction of equitable tariffs based on the guidance that we offer in our Guidance Document.

We oppose the use of connection fees, with a minimum fee offering a fair and even approach. The price charged per kilowatt-hour should be tiered dependant on the maximum power the charge point can deliver. We recommend that Destination Charging, up to 22kW should be set a slightly above the average price for power domestically, while at #JourneyChargers it should be at least 3 pence but ideally no more than 10 pence more. Actual prices will need to reflect the Charge Point Owner's actual costs for energy and maintenance.

We promote the use of overstay fees where appropriate. These are particularly important to #JourneyChargers, but may also apply to on-street chargers covered under a Traffic Regulation Order. For longer stay carparks, local regulations should apply.

An example of a well-designed tariff can be found at Electric East Lothian