To provide drivers of electric vehicles with better access to charging points, ScotRail intends to introduce charges for the use of those points from next Monday, 8 January 2024.

A charging tariff will apply at all charging points in ScotRail car parks. Until now, parking of electric cars at ScotRail stations has been free of charge to help promote their use in reducing carbon emissions. However, providing users with charging facilities free of charge costs ScotRail about around £700,000 a year.

ScotRail’s charge of 43 pence per kilowatt hour is similar that charged by most local authorities, and comes in the bottom third of the tariffs listed on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

It is anticipated that by introducing these charges, non-rail users will be discouraged from blocking electric car charging bays, which has been a recurring complaint from customers.

ScotRail emphasises that it will make no profit from introducing the charging tariff as the charges are intended to help recover the cost to the taxpayer from operating the charging points.

At the moment, 60 locations at ScotRail stations have charging points, with a total of 80 charging points providing 168 individual connections.

The new station at East Linton that opened on Wednesday, 13 December has provision for charging 18 vehicles.

In an effort to discourage people from blocking access to the charging bays, there will be a fixed overstay payment of £12 per 12 hours. However, if the overstay is because a train has been delayed, customers will be entitled to a refund.

Since 2019/20, ScotRail has made impressive advances in decarbonisation, and so far has achieved a 12 per cent reduction in emissions (CO2e). By providing electric vehicle charging points, those efforts are being supported which help towards achieving the Scottish Government’s target for net-zero.

More information about electric car charging at ScotRail stations and a full list of  locations is available on the ScotRail website here.

David Lister, ScotRail Director of Safety, Engineering, and Sustainability, said “We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible journey experience, and improving the availability of electric vehicle charging points is one of the ways we can do that.

“One of the main complaints we receive is that the charging points at our car parks are currently being blocked by vehicles overstaying, and the tariff from 8 January 2024 will help to remove that issue.

“It is important that ScotRail delivers the best possible value to taxpayers and the charging tariff will ensure that we recover the cost of operating them, allowing funds to be spent on improving rail services.”