National Trust bosses fear that being ordered to put in new car electrical charge points at castles and landmarks could put off visitors.
The historic building quango said mandatory EV (electric vehicle) plugs could be a blot on the landscape at some of its sites – and should instead be put underground.
It comes as the Scottish Government asks organisations what they think about plans to make new car parks greener.
Authorities are looking to make it mandatory to provide EV charge points in new and existing car parks.
It could mean one in every 10 spaces is turned over to provide greener power for vehicles to charge by 2026.
But bosses at the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which runs 129 sites including Culzean Castle in Ayrshire
and Edinburgh Castle, said making it a requirement at their sites might not work and said the target date is too “ambitious”.
In a submission to a Scottish Government consultation on the proposals, the quango welcomed the increased provision of EV charge points but said: “This should not be carried out at the expense of our landscape or our historic buildings.
“In order to mitigate landscape impact… consideration should be given to the presumption of any new grid connections being undergrounded.”
A spokesman for the conservation charity added: “We have absolutely no difficulty about installing EV chargers so long as they don’t disrupt the very places that people value and want to visit.”
NTS has installed EV points at Culzean Castle, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire, Brodie Castle in Forres, Moray, and Culloden battlefield.
It plans to install more at Inverewe Garden near Poolewe in Wester Ross, Bannockburn and Brodick Castle, Arran.
But it said they would be impossible to install at sites such as St Kilda, or Pollok House in Glasgow and Falkland Palace in Fife, where councils manage parking.
Edinburgh City Council said the new rules would only put us on a par with the Netherlands – five years ago in 2017.
Neil Greig, policy and research director at road safety charity IAM Smart, said of public EV chargers: “Drivers tell us they struggle to find places to charge their cars.”
Transport Scotland said: “Our funding has already delivered over 2100 public charge points, over 14,000 domestic charge points and a further 1400 across businesses.”
