Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2016
10 Mar 2016 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Electric Car Rapid Charge Points
I thank the member for that intervention. We need to sort out the charge point network—I will come on to that later. There are more and more electric vehicles on the road—especially all-electric vehicles, which need the rapid charge points, whereas the hybrids can run on petrol or diesel for a wee bit. The point is that we need to move away from petrol and diesel. Of course, electricity is also a lot cheaper.
EVAS hopes that the support that it has received from Transport Scotland, the Energy Saving Trust, green tourism and electric vehicle dealerships will result in electric vehicle roadshows, at which local people will be able to test drive an electric vehicle. I can tell you that my Nissan Leaf will do zero to 60mph in 11.5 seconds—it is very nippy, and very economical.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-15291, in the name of Dave Thompson, on the need for more electric car rapid charge poi...
Dave Thompson (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
I am very pleased that my motion has received cross-party support and I thank all the members who backed it. That cross-party support highlights the fact tha...
Bruce Crawford (Stirling) (SNP)
SNP
Callander is in my constituency. If Dave Thompson had driven a bit further north and gone on to Killin, he would have found a fast charge point.
Dave Thompson
SNP
There may well be a fast charge point in Killin, but it would take three hours to get an 80 per cent charge. I need rapid charge points, which do that in 30 ...
Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member accept a brief intervention?
Dave Thompson
SNP
Yes.
Kenneth Gibson
SNP
I thank the member. For me, this is a wee bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. A lot of people want to move to electric cars, but they do not do so because ...
Dave Thompson
SNP
I thank the member for that intervention. We need to sort out the charge point network—I will come on to that later. There are more and more electric vehicle...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
Will the member take another brief intervention?
Dave Thompson
SNP
Presiding Officer, will you give me a little bit of extra time if I take more interventions?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Yes.
Liam McArthur
LD
I am very grateful to Dave Thompson—not just for taking the intervention, but for bringing the debate to Parliament. My question is rather different from Ke...
Dave Thompson
SNP
The member raises an important point. Those clusters—and people’s confidence that they will be able to get charges when they need them—are vital. In the pas...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
You must close, please.
Dave Thompson
SNP
The work that EVAS is doing to promote and represent the interests of electric vehicle users is first class, and I hope that members will consider getting al...
Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I thank Dave Thompson for bringing the debate to the chamber. The expansion of electric vehicle charging networks across the UK in recent years is a welcome...
Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP)
SNP
I am grateful to Dave Thompson for securing this important debate. I was pleased to support the motion in his name. There is no doubt that electric vehicles...
Cameron Buchanan (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I am pleased that we have the opportunity today to discuss the need for electric car rapid charging points, because it highlights the wider subject of the ne...
The Minister for Transport and Islands (Derek Mackay)
SNP
I congratulate Dave Thompson on securing the debate and on raising awareness of the uptake of electric vehicles and all necessary matters. As he described, h...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
I thank everyone for taking part in the debate. 13:00 Meeting suspended. 14:00 On resuming—