Electric vehicle owners will face tariffs in North Ayrshire from next month [December 1] after plans were previously agreed.

Earlier this year, the council’s Cabinet agreed to introduce charges as part of its Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy 2021-2025, which proposes a target of one publicly accessible charge point for every nine Plug-in Vehicles by December 2025.

A tariff and overstay fee for EV charge points will be introduced.

Due to increasing electricity costs and the need to maintain the EV infrastructure to ensure it remains robust and reliable, council bosses say it is no longer sustainable to provide free electricity for public EV infrastructure.

The tariff and overstay fee proposed for North Ayrshire Council is in line with recommendations from the Electric Vehicle Association (EVA) Scotland and Charge Place Scotland.

The tariff is £0.30 per kWh for Rapid charge points and £0.19 per kWh for Destination charge points. A minimum charge of £1 will apply for each session.

There is an overstay fee of £10 if charge time exceeds 70 minutes on a Rapid charge point and 190 minutes on a Destination charge point.

For destination charge points, an overstay exemption applies for overnight charging between 7pm and 8.30am.

Charge points which are located in park and ride car parks have no overstay fees.

Cllr Jim Montgomerie, Cabinet Member for Green New Deal and Sustainability, said: “We are very proud of the work we have carried out so far as part of our ambitious plans to tackle the climate crisis.

"We have set ourselves a target of being Carbon Net Zero by 2030, so it’s vital that all of us play our part.

“Our Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy 2021-2025 sets out our aspiration to expand our electric vehicle charge point network across North Ayrshire.

"We recognise that it is no longer sustainable to offer free electricity for public EV infrastructure and the tariffs are designed to enable the Council to support, maintain and grow the EV infrastructure.”

The council has a portfolio of 28 EV charge points.

The annual electricity cost was £33,483 - this reflects both public (£31,712) and NAC fleet vehicle (£1,771) use.

Further information at https://chargeplacescotland.org/helpcentre/