Hansard

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 past, the Scottish Government has supported rural petrol stations, and I believe that it can revitalise rural areas by providing electric vehicle charge points. Those can be fitted at cafes and shops, which local people and visitors might wish to use while their cars are charging. That should be considered as a way of building a new infrastructure for the modern age. It could be a real boon to rural areas. The investment would also help to encourage more electric car use and ownership in rural areas, and it would allow folk to tap into cheaper forms of transport—most electric vehicle dealers have many lease options available, such as the one that I have.

The total cost of ownership can be considerably less for an electric vehicle than for other vehicles—10p or 25p a mile may be possible. Taxis could save anything up to £9,000 a year on fuel costs. Indeed, on Tuesday, I was tagged on Twitter by someone who enthused that he had seen an electric taxi in Edinburgh, and, like me, he was calling for more.

I have received messages of support from many people in the run-up to the debate, and I would like to quote one of them. Mr Gill, who got in touch recently, shares my concerns. He tells me that it is

“incredibly difficult to get to and from the Isle of Skye with an electric car”.

I can testify to that. It is essential that the Shiel Bridge and Broadford rapid charge points are working as soon as possible. I am due to go to Skye a week tomorrow and, if those points are not working, I will have to hire a diesel or petrol car to get there. Maybe the minister can help me by ensuring that those two rapid charge points are working next week.

Mr Gill’s wife Heather tried to use the rapid charger at Broxden in Perth. There are two on the site, but one of them was completely offline—it was just not working, and apparently the second unit, which has been there for a year, has not been powered up. She was fortunate to be able to divert to South Inch in Perth, where the charger functioned, but only when she held the connector in place as some of the levers on the old connectors were broken and would not stay attached to the car. The newer connectors are much better, so we need the old ones to be replaced with newer ones as quickly as possible.

That brings me back to my earlier point: although improvements to the network have been made and there are plans for more rapid charge points, there must be a concerted effort to streamline the whole charging experience for the user. We cannot possibly hope to increase electric vehicle ownership unless the network is maintained to an exemplary standard. That must be our aim.

It is essential that electric car travel in Scotland becomes more efficient and that reliable rapid charge points become the norm. I take this opportunity to encourage electric car use in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and across the country as a means to reduce our carbon footprint. I call on all members in the chamber to campaign in their constituencies to make electric car travel more prevalent.

Finally, I look forward to hearing more about the good work of EVAS—