ScottishPower & HiTrans team up to expand ChargePlace Scotland
ScottishPower and the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HiTrans) have agreed to boost the EV infrastructure across western Scotland through 24 new rapid charging stations. The Scottish utility will manage the installations with a focus on underserved areas and with external funding.
ScottishPower will supply Raption 50 chargers with 50kW charging capacity and says the technology was “tried and tested”. The utility started building a network in 2019.
The new charging infrastructure will be installed in Argyll and Bute, the Highlands (Skye, Lochaber and Lochalsh) and the Western Isles.
The sites have been identified by another project partner, the Power Network Demonstration Centre, and will form an extension to the existing ChargePlace Scotland network.
In today’s announcement, Chris Carberry, Smart Solutions Director at ScottishPower, said: “We recognise that rural areas often face more challenges when it comes to accessing charging infrastructure, and we are very pleased to be working with HiTrans to improve this and support wider public access to rapid charging for their vehicles.”
ScottishPower will provide a three-year warranty and maintenance package and a one-year works guarantee, with all work expected to be completed before the end of October 2023.
The initiative is part of the FASTER project, which has received €6.4 million in EU funding under the INTERREG programme. The project supports the transition to electric vehicles across Western Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Border Region) and targets rolling out 73 rapid charging stations before May 2023. The Special EU Programmes Body manages it.
As for ChargePlace Scotland, it is a public charging network funded by public-private partnerships. In 2022, the Scottish government announced plans to grant up to £60 million to local authorities over the next four years to grow the network. The private sector is expected to invest approximately half of this funding and bring ChargePlace Scotland to 4,200 charge points.
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