Fees for charging electric vehicles in Glasgow will be rolled out next month.
All users will pay a £1 connection fee per session and then a rate for the electricity consumed from Tuesday, April 11.
The cost has been set as 40p per kWh for standard charging units (7-22kW) and 70p per kWH for rapid units (50-150kW). There will be an overstay charge of £40 automatically applied at all chargers after drivers have reached the maximum stay.
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The maximum durations are one hour at all rapid charging units, two hours at on-street standard units in the city centre and three hours at on-street standard units in the rest of the city.
Drivers using standard units in council family car parks, such as Glasgow Life venues, can stay for four hours.
Cllr Angus Millar, the council’s transport convener, said: “Introducing a tariff for using public EV charging points will bring Glasgow into line with other local authorities across Scotland. The tariff itself will also be on a par with rates for public charging in neighbouring authorities and the wider city region area.
“At a basic level, a tariff will discourage drivers from overstaying in charging bays, which we know is an issue that causes frustration for other EV drivers.
“But we have also been subsidising the cost of electricity for public charging until now as a way to support a shift to emission free electric vehicles and that has proved to be effective.”
There are more than 300 live charge points across 173 units for public use in Glasgow and, in 2022, there were just under 160,000 sessions on the network, consuming 3.05 million kWh.
Cllr Millar added: “Even with our plans to increase public charging points by around 35% this year, growing demand for charging will outstrip the current provision before very long.
“If we are to meet this anticipated demand, the public and private sectors must work together on developing the charging network.
“Introducing a tariff will ensure investment in EV charging is more commercially viable and will help ensure electric vehicles become an integral part of the effort to reduce transport-related emissions in the city.”
Charging on the public network has been free since 2013, but the introduction of a tariff was approved by councillors in April 2021 and included in the budget for 2023/24. Revenue will go towards supporting the network, a council spokesman said.
The council expects a tariff to make private sector involvement in developing the network more likely, as firms will be able to raise an income from providing charging.
All council chargers are connected to the ChargePlace Scotland. Any issues regarding tariff collection issues, or faults with the network, should be directed to ChargePlace, the council has said.
Overstay charges will be applied “directly to the payment method used”.
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