Purpose and Intended Effect

Objective

The objective of the legislation is to ensure that new developments and major renovations, both domestic and non-domestic, are equipped with suitable infrastructure to enable vehicles that derive some or all of their power from a rechargeable battery by means of a charging cable to charge, and that this is done at the time of construction or major renovation in the most cost effective means possible.

Background

The Scottish Government is committed to the decarbonisation of transport and with demand for electric vehicles (EVs) expected to grow rapidly, enabling people to switch to zero emission vehicles will require ready access to convenient and reliable EV charging infrastructure.

At present there is no statutory requirement for the provision of EV charging infrastructure in the car parks of new or refurbished buildings as they are constructed. Future legislation will require that the car parks of domestic buildings, and non-domestic buildings meeting a particular threshold to provide EV charge points to facilitate the introduction of EV charging infrastructure. Some public charge points that have been introduced in recent years and have been financed from public finances and, predominantly, retrofitted to existing car parks, with others provided through private finance investment. To further develop the introduction of EV charging infrastructure, it has been identified as necessary to introduce legislation to require this be installed in key desirable locations. EV charging infrastructure installed at the time of the building construction is more cost effective than that retrofitted at a later date.

Rationale for Government Intervention

The Scottish Government is seeking to remove the requirement for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, with an increasing uptake of zero emission vehicles in the period up to 2030. In order to support this it will be necessary to expand EV charging infrastructure across the country to allow vehicles to be charged in convenient places at point of origin and point of destination. Infrastructure will be required in residences, places of work and leisure destinations to facilitate this.

Research has been commissioned by Climate XChange (CXC) in association with Transport Scotland to examine the difference in cost of installation of EV charge points at different points in the lifetime of a building, either during initial construction or major renovation or retrofitted to an existing building, and in different locations across Scotland (case studies from the research can be found in Annex A). This research has determined that in both domestic and non-domestic buildings there are cost saving benefits to installing EV charge points during the construction of a building or during major renovation as opposed to retrofitting EV charge points to a building. The extent of this differs between building type and location, however all buildings in all locations have been shown to have the potential to derive these savings.

The UK Government, has legislated for the inclusion of EV charge points in new and renovated buildings in England. The application of similar legislation in Scotland will help to create a consistent approach across the UK.

Building regulations are identified as the most appropriate way of delivering these new provisions at the point building work is planned and undertaken. The building standard system offers an established vehicle for the setting of standards applicable to construction work, one which is familiar to all parties involved professionally in the development of the built environment.

Scottish building regulations address the health, safety and welfare of persons in and around buildings and further both the conservation of fuel and power and the achievement of sustainable development. It is the latter purpose which is identified in relation to the provision of electric vehicle charge points. Building regulations set minimum standards for new buildings and where existing buildings are altered, extended or converted. Whilst buildings can be designed and built to higher standards, in the majority of cases, the mandatory minimum standards set through building regulations are adopted. Accordingly, it is important that these minimum standards address topics which both meet the needs of Scotland's people and to support the wider policy objectives such as our transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric transport.

The legislation will create a minimum standard for provision across Scotland which will ensure that the required level of provision of EV charge points will be made across the country and that the developers and building owners of new buildings, including residents, can understand the level of EV charge point provision. It is anticipated that this will facilitate the transition towards EVs and provide further opportunities for drivers to charge vehicles.

The Scottish Government’s National Transport Strategy 2 and Scottish Planning Policy both link the process of Planning and Transport, requiring that transport considerations be material in the determination of land allocation and planning decisions. The National Transport Strategy 2 states “In identifying sites for development of housing, employment, schools, offices, factories, hospitals, and tourist attractions transport considerations will play a crucial role and will do so as early in the planning process as possible. This will have a positive impact on the choices about the types of journeys we make, when we make them and how we make them.” The implementation of this legislation will assist in the delivery of both these documents.

Principles of Better Regulation

Consideration has been given to the implementation of voluntary regulation and self-regulation. Despite the objective of the legislation being to minimise the costs of charge point infrastructure, this will inevitably introduce a cost of some form to the developer through the requirements for the charge points themselves, the immediate ducting and cabling around them and the potential requirements for more substantial upstream electrical infrastructure. There is some evidence to suggest that previous requirements for planning authorities to require the installation of EV charge points in new development through Scottish Planning Policy received a low uptake due to the non-statutory nature of the document.  It is therefore considered unlikely that all developers would be willing to implement the infrastructure without legislation and enforcement being in place.

Residential developers may be willing to do this, particularly as demand for EVs increases. However this may prove complicated in some residential scenarios of shared parking courts for example, which may dissuade them from implementation of charging infrastructure. In addition, housing developers may offer charge points as an added extra, rather than as standard. In this scenario some house purchasers may not elect to implement a charge point leaving future homeowners to fit one retrospectively which adds to inconvenience and substantially higher costs to do so.

There is no national body or representative organisation to which all suppliers of EV charge points and infrastructure and developers are party to or signed up to. National building organisations do not at present have standards or recommendations for the installation of EV charge points. Should such recommendations exist in the future, these may not necessarily be enacted in all areas and by all developers. In order to achieve the provision of EV charge points at a minimum level and across the whole of Scotland it is necessary to create legislation.