Buzz about new Transport Scotland contract award
Electric car users across Scotland will be able to plug in to an improved charging network thanks to a Transport Scotland contract awarded in early August.
The new contract sees Charge Your Car Limited appointed to operate the Charge Place Scotland network of over 550 publically available electric vehicle charge points. It will also provide customer service facilities and a robust fault management system.
Key user benefits of the new contract are:
- a full 24 hour 365 day a year customer helpline with a new dedicated ChargePlace Scotland phone number;
- an enhanced fault management system
- a dedicated ChargePlace Scotland network manager based in Scotland;
- new Charge Place Scotland website, twitter and Facebook accounts to enhance customer communications
Humza Yousaf, Minister for Transport and the Islands, said:
“The Scottish Government has set a clear vision of freeing Scotland’s towns, cities and communities from the damaging emissions of fossil-fuelled vehicles by 2050.
“Our aim is to encourage more individuals and businesses to make the switch to electric vehicles. The Switched on Scotland roadmap recognises the importance of robust and reliable charging infrastructure and 24/7 customer support. This is why we are continuing to invest in growing and operating the network across the country.
“The network operator has a key role to play in this process and I look forward to working with Charge Your Car to deliver a robust and reliable charging network along with the promotion of electro-mobility in Scotland.”
Charge your Car will now develop a detailed mobilisation plan and will be touch with all existing hosts and users in due course.
Calvey Taylor-Haw, Chief Executive Officer of Charge Your Car, said,
“We are immensely pleased to be able to build on Charge Your Car’s and Transport Scotland’s success over the last three years in establishing a successful charging network right across Scotland from the Borders to the Shetland Islands, and now we will work together and further invest to extend the reach and quality of the network as we move from emerging technology, through mass mainstream adoption of electric transport”.
The procurement process attracted interest from across the transport, technology and energy sectors, culminating in four parties being invited to tender. The competition had a strong focus on quality, with a 65% weighting in the evaluation.
Charge Your Car Limited have been successful in the final tender evaluation and an agreement now been concluded. The new contract has an estimated value of £750,000 over the next three years.
The ChargePlace Scotland network of publicly available electric vehicle charge points is funded by Transport Scotland and now comprises almost 1,100 bays (equating to over 550 charge points) across Scotland. In the year to 31 March 2016, the network delivered around 1,220,000 kWh of electricity.
The on-going development of the ChargePlace Scotland network reflects the actions contained within the Switched on Scotland roadmap. The roadmap sets out a number of actions to realise the widespread adoption of plug-in vehicles in Scotland.
Charge Your Car is one the UK’s first open access charge point network operators, offering clients across the UK nationwide resource and experience.