A POLITICIAN has taken aim at what he calls ‘not reliable’ electric car chargers on Alexandra Parade in Dunoon.
Andy Wightman, who stood as an independent candidate in the recent Holyrood elections, visited Dunoon on May 7 and found an issue when he tried to plug in his car.
In a tweet, he said: “Dunoon EV (Electric Vehicle) charger ‘can’t communicate with server’.
“Scotland’s electric charging network is pretty rubbish and doesn’t merit the hype.”
We reached out to ask him about the issue and he told this newspaper: “[The] problem was quite routine, the chargers on the Charge Place Scotland network are not reliable. They are prone to connection errors and other faults. I got a bit of charge from another
(slower) charger in a business park which got me enough charge to get to Rothesay.”
This comes just one month after Argyll and Bute council introduced a charging tariff for use of their charging points. As of April 9, a tariff of 25 pence per kilowatt-hour (with a minimum charge of £1.80 per charging session) was introduced.
Argyll and Bute council operate 28 charging points across the county including two in Dunoon, one in Inveraray and one in Rothesay. They are each manufactured by ChargePlace Scotland.
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute council
said: “The electricity supply to the electric vehicle chargers in Dunoon has been repaired. These points have been used daily throughout April and May and are in the top ten most-used chargers in Argyll and Bute.
“The fees at electric charging points cover the cost of the electricity, with a small contribution towards the upkeep of the system. Previously, the council bore the costs of the electricity used, which is not sustainable long-term. To date, the council has secured £700,000 of Scottish Government funding to develop its network of EV charging points across the area.”
