Glasgow resident says more EV charging points needed in city centre

Alex Cheung, who lives in the city centre, says while it's good to see the number of electric car owners rising, a shortage of charging points in the city centre is "frustrating" for owners.

Alex, whose car is fully electric, believes this has resulted in a decline in EV charging bay etiquette, and says vehicles are often left in bays longer than necessary, including on one occasion where a car was left plugged in for more than four hours after it was fully charged.

He says he believes there needs to be repercussions for drivers who do this. 

The 41-year-old said: "It’s very frustrating and inconsiderate.

"Every car takes time to charge but if you’re fully charged then I appreciate a grace period of people returning to their cars of maybe 15/ 20 minutes, but any longer than that there’s got to be some sort of repercussion for that, something to deter people from leaving their cars at these bays and using them almost as parking spaces."

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said it has more public charging points than any other local authority in Scotland.

There are currently 334 across the city, with 129 within the council ward that covers the city centre.

A further 119 charging points are also planned for the city this year.

However, Alex, who is chairperson for Blythswood and Broomielaw Community Council,  says despite this, the infrastructure has not kept up with the number of electric vehicles and he believes there needs to be more fast chargers in particular installed. 

He said: "We’ve got this push from Glasgow being a green city and there’s been a push for using electric cars with low emissions, however, it’s our feeling the infrastructure isn’t keeping up with that mandate."

He added: "The majority of city centre residents are flat owners, so we only have this infrastructure to rely on, we can’t charge at home.

"So we do need to have an efficient working structure in the city."

Alex also believes the procedure for reporting issues with EV charging points, which are maintained by Glasgow City Council, should be made clearer.

Currently, he contacts Charge Point Scotland regarding issues with any charging points who report these to the council, however, he says it is unclear if this is the correct procedure and if there is a way to contact the council directly.

He also says there have been occasions where reported problems have not been fixed for "a number of weeks" after the issue has been logged.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: "Glasgow currently has more public EV charging points than any other Scottish local authority and plans are in place for further expansion in availability this year.

"We are also working on a tariff scheme for charging that will provide income to support the upkeep of our charging points but also create an incentive for private providers to support the expansion of the city’s charging capability.

"We work closely with Charge Point Scotland on the operation of the network, but it must be stressed that faults should always be reported directly to Charge Point Scotland as not all charging units on that network are owned by the council.

"Our specialist contractor will attend to charger faults as quickly as possible, but certain faults, such as damage from collisions, may take longer to repair due to warranty arrangements.

"Anyone using a public charger must observe any parking restrictions in place at that location or they will be liable for enforcement action from our parking attendants.

"The Charge Point Scotland website is the best source of up-to-date information on the operational status of any public charging point on that network in Glasgow."

Anyone who would like to discuss this issue, or raise any other concern in the city centre, is asked to contact Blythswood and Broomielaw Community Council.

You can find out more at twitter.com/babccglasgow.