The gradual switch to electric vehicles is picking up speed in Dumfries and Galloway as a raft of new charging points are to be installed across the region.
More than £1m has already been spent on electric charging units, and more cash has been made available to introduce others in Kirkcudbright, Dalbeattie, Lockerbie, Creetown, New Galloway, Dumfries, Moffat, and St John’s Town of Dalry.
It was confirmed at the council’s communities committee last week that the charging points will be put in place in these locations by the end of this financial year.
However, Annandale East and Eskdale Councillor Denis Male highlighted a bump in the road with the scheme.
He said: “I’m just wondering if there are any people across the region who have got problems with the public charging because I’m getting quite a few complaints that out of the ones installed in Langholm there’s only one that can be used.
“And there’s not enough information supplied with them either.”
Gordon Bryce, the council’s transport and operations manager, replied: “The charging network is managed by ChargePlace Scotland and on the chargers there will be a sticker with phone number if there are faults.
“Once those faults are called through there’s an automatic process where ChargePlace Scotland gets a supplier out to get them fixed.
“There are also agreements in place that they do this within certain timelines.
“I can specifically look at those in Langholm to see which ones are online and which are not, and see if there’s been a delay in getting them fixed.”
A report tabled at last week’s meeting also revealed that four fully-electric buses are to replace old council coaches that are 10-14 years old.
And two of these new electric buses will be the first of this type to be operating in the UK.
The report states: “Orders have been placed for four fully-electric buses which will operate within our council’s bus fleet.
“These buses will be based at Langholm, Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Newton Stewart with the associated EV charging infrastructure being installed in August/September 2022.
“Two of the buses (SIGMA 10) will be the first of this model type to be operated within the UK.
“The procurement of these vehicles was possible due to successfully securing external funding from the ScotZEB fund which awarded the council a total of £633,919 towards buses and charging infrastructure.”
