A new electric vehicle (EV) project is expected to help deliver savings of up to £2.6 million for consumers in Scotland.
Project PACE, which is a collaboration between the Scottish Government and SP Energy Networks (SPEN), will install around 180 EV chargers across more than 40 charging hubs in North and South Lanarkshire by April next year.
The project will help increase the number of public EV chargers in Lanarkshire and Scotland as a whole by more than 200% and and 14% respectively.
The additional capacity – a 360% boost in Lanarkshire – is expected to accommodate the charging of around 5,000 more EVs. The project is estimated to achieve savings of between £30,000 and £60,000 on electricity grid connection costs per new location.
That equates to a total of between £1.3 million and £2.6 million of taxpayers’ money saved across all planned sites.
SPEN also estimates rolling out the project across other regions could lead to £26 million on connection costs in Scotland and £310 million savings across the UK.
The project’s charging locations will be hosted by North and South Lanarkshire Council in the car parks they own, with charging hubs planned for locations including the Time Capsule, Broadway Stadium, the Ally McCoist Complex and Carstairs Park & Ride.
Scott Mathieson, Director of Network Planning and Regulation at SP Energy Networks said: “The creation of more publicly available electric vehicle charging locations is vital to meeting both Scottish and UK Government net zero targets so we’re proud to be leading the way through Project PACE.
“SPEN invested £500,000 in the optioneering phase to ensure we chose optimum locations for the project, which will be of most use for drivers and help deliver substantial savings for the communities we serve.”
“Project PACE is a blueprint for a more successful collaborative roll out of public EV chargers. The learnings from this trial could be applied across other areas of the country to ensure every local community has access to EV charging points which will help boost a green economic recovery. No community should be left behind in the transition to net zero.”
The first Project PACE location was introduced at Strathclyde Country Park in August and has already been used more than 1,700 times in the 11 weeks since it was installed.
Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity added: “The Electric Vehicle Strategic Partnership between the Scottish Government, including Transport Scotland, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and SP Energy Networks, is transforming the way we deploy and deliver charging infrastructure.
“This effective partnership working, using specialist knowledge, is radically improving the speed, effectiveness and efficiency of the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This is key to responding to the climate emergency and transitioning to a net zero economy as we seek to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032.”
