Policy decisions

New residential buildings

All dwellings with a parking space to have at least one EV charge point socket with minimum 7kW output power rating.
Exemption to requirement to install EV charge point if additional cost of electricity grid connection exceeds £2,000.
If exemption applies ducting infrastructure to be installed in each car parking space.

This requirement will be taken forward.

Draft legislation will be laid in the Scottish Parliament later in 2022 to enact this.

This requirement will mean that new dwellings (a house, flat etc.) with a parking space, whether that be a private driveway within the boundary of the property or an designated or undesignated parking space for a flatted development, will have one 7kW (minimum output) EV charge point socket provided for that space.

The only exemption will be if the additional cost of an electricity grid connection for that charge point socket exceeds £2000. In that case, the ducting infrastructure must be installed for every parking space where the cost exemption has been exceeded.

Residential buildings (undergoing major renovation)

For buildings with more than 10 car parking spaces, ducting to be installed in each residential car parking space to support the future installation of an EV charge point (unless the cost of recharging and ducting infrastructure exceeds 7% of total major renovation cost).
EV charge points sockets to be installed, with minimum 7kW output power rating, in as many residential car parking spaces as the electrical capacity of building post-renovation allows.

This requirement will be taken forward.

Draft legislation will be laid in the Scottish Parliament later in 2022 to enact this.

This requirement will mean that any residential buildings undergoing major renovation (a house, flatted developments etc.) with 11 parking spaces or more, will require ducting infrastructure to be installed in each parking space and for as many 7kW (minimum output) EV charge point sockets to be installed as the electrical capacity of the renovated building can support.

The only exemption will be if the cost of this work exceeds 7% of the total renovation cost. In that case, as much ducting infrastructure as possible must be installed within that 7% cost envelope.

New non-residential buildings

For buildings with more than 10 non-residential car parking spaces, 1 in every 2 non-residential parking spaces to have ducting installed and 1 in every 10 non-residential parking spaces to provide an EV charge point socket with minimum 7kW output power rating.

This requirement will be taken forward.

Draft legislation will be laid in the Scottish Parliament later in 2022 to enact this.

This requirement will mean that any new non-residential buildings (a retail park, school, sports complex etc.) with 11 parking spaces or more, will require ducting infrastructure to be installed for 1 in every 2 parking spaces and 1 in every 10 parking spaces to have access to a 7kW (minimum output) EV charge point socket.

Non-residential buildings (undergoing major renovation)

For buildings with more than 10 non-residential car parking spaces, 1 in every 2 non-residential parking spaces to have ducting installed and 1 in every 10 non-residential parking spaces to provide an EV charge point socket with minimum 7kW output power rating (unless the cost of recharging and ducting infrastructure exceeds 7% of total major renovation cost).

This requirement will be taken forward.

Draft legislation will be laid in the Scottish Parliament later in 2022 to enact this.

This requirement will mean that any non-residential buildings (retail development, offices etc.) with 11 parking spaces or more, will require ducting infrastructure to be installed for 1 in every 2 parking spaces and 1 in every 10 parking spaces to have access to a 7kW (minimum output) EV charge point socket.

The only exemption will be if the cost of this work exceeds 7% of the total renovation cost. In that case, as much ducting infrastructure as possible must be installed within that 7% cost envelope.

A draft outline of technical guidance will be shared with stakeholders over the course of the summer ahead of the legislation being laid later in 2022. This will provide more detail on how we envisage these requirements working in practice.

Existing non-residential buildings

For buildings with more than 20 non-residential car parking spaces, by 1 January 2025, 1 in every 2 non-residential parking space to have ducting installed and 1 in every 10 non-residential parking space to provide an EV charge point socket with minimum 7kW output power rating.

This requirement will be not be taken forward at this time.

There were a number of factors that have influenced our decision to not proceed with this requirement at this time.

Firstly, this proposal, unlike the other proposals, could encourage car use into areas that could be served by more sustainable travel options and, importantly, would not give the flexibility to local planners or those delivering local transport needs to make decisions that would be appropriate for those areas.

We are also currently seeing an increase in private sector investment into publicly available charging, whether that be retailers and local authorities entering into partnerships with the industry to provide publicly available charge points, or energy and EV charging companies embarking on ambitious plans to install on-street charging. It is clear that, at the moment, the private sector is beginning to step up to the challenge of increasing the availability of public charging.

Therefore, given the above reasons, the Scottish Government is not proceeding with this requirement at this time. However, Scottish Ministers will continue to monitor the growth of publicly available EV charging carefully over the next few years and may introduce legislation at a later date if the availability of public charging is not progressing as expected.

Given that we are not proceeding with this option there is now no requirement to designate a public body to enforce this requirement or to determine appropriate incentives or penalties within legislation.

Accessibility

At least 1 accessible parking space should have access to an EV charge point socket for every 4 accessible parking spaces. This requirement would be over and above the requirements set out in our policy proposals to ensure that adequate provision is provided for those that use these spaces.

We intend to proceed with the proposed requirements for accessible parking spaces.

A number of concerns were raised by respondents about the wider concerns they had on the accessibility of charge points themselves and related concerns for those people that use these spaces. This proposal was solely looking at the provision of a minimum number of EV charge point sockets for accessible spaces rather than the standards of the charge points or the parking spaces themselves.

However, our recently published draft vision for public EV charging, A Network Fit For The Future: Draft Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network, outlines our core principles for the EV public charging network and how we want to ensure people have access to an inclusively designed and comprehensive public network of charge points that works for everyone regardless of age, health, income or other needs. We would expect building owners to follow those principles.

Safety within the Built Environment

The Scottish Government will be not be requiring new buildings with enclosed car parks to meet these EV charge point requirements at this time, although we may do so at a future date.

Whilst some concerns were raised around the general safety of EV charge points and the associated infrastructure, there is nothing to suggest that they are an increased safety risk that cannot be dealt with through current legislation. However, the characteristics of an EV fire are different from a diesel/petrol vehicle fire and, whilst there is no evidence to suggest that current fire safety building regulations are not sufficient enough to mitigate the risk of an EV fire in enclosed car parks, we believe undertaking further work to understand how enclosed car parks are able to withstand an EV fire before proposing any new legislation is a sensible precaution.

< Previous | Contents | Next >