Number of Midlothian electric vehicle charging points rises over last two years

There are more public electric vehicle charging points in Midlothian than there were two years ago, new figures show.
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Department for Transport figures (DfT) show there were 60 publicly provided charging points in Midlothian on January 1 – up from 38 two years ago. They were among 28,375 installed across the UK at the start of this year, up from 16,505 in January 2020.

Midlothian residents had also installed 426 at-home charging points through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme as of January 1 – a 120 per cent increase over the last two years, further DfT figures outline.

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The scheme gives applicants a 75 per cent grant towards the cost of installing the charging point up to £350.

File photo by Owen Humphreys. PAFile photo by Owen Humphreys. PA
File photo by Owen Humphreys. PA

There have also been 42 charging points installed at workplaces.

Across Scotland, only 43 charging points have been fitted as a part of the On-Street Residential Scheme, to which local authorities can apply to fund installations. A further 282 applications have been approved since April 2019, but installation remains incomplete.

As people are urged to "invest in our planet" for Earth Day 2022, the Government is aiming to entirely phase out petrol and diesel-powered cars by 2030. But with battery electric vehicles planned to account for all car sales by 2035, it has faced criticism from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which says there are not enough charging points for many people to purchase electric vehicles.