The City Region includes eight local authorities including North and South Lanarkshire.(Image: PA)

Glasgow City Region has kicked off a procurement exercise which will dramatically boost the number of electric vehicle (EV) charge points across the Region’s eight council areas.

The contract is the largest in Scotland and one of the largest of its type in the UK. This is the start of a procurement process that is expected to see a private sector Charge Point Operator appointed for a period of 20 years.

Once in place, the Operator will install a minimum 3,000 new charge points that will be sited in local authority owned car parks and in on-street locations in communities across Glasgow City Region.

The cost of delivering this expansion in EV charging will largely be met by leveraging in private sector investment. Transport Scotland has provided funding of £3.6m to Glasgow City Region to support the delivery of the project.

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This grant funding will be used to ensure the equitable delivery of new charge points in communities throughout the City Region.

In addition to the new charge points, the existing network of 600+ local authority owned charge points will be migrated over to the new Charge Point Operator.

The City Region includes eight local authorities including North and South Lanarkshire.

Councillor Jim Logue, Leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: “We are seeing increasing use of electric vehicles and this will only continue, so it’s important that we meet demand for public charging points.

“Through this innovative approach by Glasgow City Region, we will deliver more charging points at locations within local communities that make owning an electric vehicle much more accessible for residents across North Lanarkshire.”

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The contract will deliver a nationally significant increase in electric vehicle charging point numbers.

And importantly it will widen access to charge points for the thousands of people across the Region who cannot charge at home, as well as providing charge points in areas that typically may not be attractive to the private sector, enabling a more just transition zero emission forms of transport.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop said: “I’m pleased that £3.6 million from the Scottish Government is transforming public electric vehicle infrastructure across the Glasgow City Region – enabling an innovative procurement partnership across eight local authorities.

“Our £30 million Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund has now been fully allocated to support this type of collaboration across the country and is expected to support the delivery of around 6,000 additional public charge points by 2030.

“This truly collaborative approach directly contributes to our ambition to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.”

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