Drivers with electric cars are growing frustrated with continuous problems at charging points across Moray – including some being faulty for months.
Despite the push to switch to electric, or at least hybrid, broken charging points are often the cause of concern for many in the region.
It can take drivers hours to fully recharge their cars – which may only last 211 miles on average.
There are 90 EV charging points across the area, with 28 of these owned by Moray Council.
According to the Zap Map, a handy app used by EV owners to check where they can charge up, there are 11 points in Elgin – six of these are maintained by the local authority.
Out of the 34 chargers, 12 are currently out-of-service on the app, and another eight have been logged as “unknown”.
Out of the 34 chargers, 12 are currently out-of-service on the app, and another eight have been logged as “unknown”.
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This does not include the six chargers located at Moray Council’s headquarters which are all working.
These chargers are only for the local authority’s fleet of vehicles during the week.
However, EV drivers have been left annoyed to find they can’t get charged up at a public point because a council vehicle is hooked up, instead of at one of their own bays in the Annexe.
Where are the faulty chargers?
In Elgin, three of the council-owned charging points have faults and are awaiting an engineer.
This includes the ones found in the Ladyhill car park, the Northport car park and Northfield Terrace.
EV drivers have been unable to recharge their batteries at the point in Northfield Terrace since June 29.
A spokeswoman for the council stressed this was due to an “administrative error”, meaning the fault was not picked up as promptly as usual.
Due to an administrative error, the fault with the Northfield charger wasn’t picked up immediately but is logged now and it is being fixed.
Some have been logged as out of action for up to three weeks.
More charging points across Moray have also been affected, including the one in Tomintoul car park, Reidhaven Square in Keith, and the chargers on Victoria Street in Aberlour.
A Moray Council spokeswoman said: “At present, there are six charger faults in Moray and those are being fixed, they are awaiting engineer attendance. Those are at Tomintoul Car Park, Victoria Terrace in Aberlour, Reidhaven Square in Keith, Ladyhill Car Park in Elgin, Northport Car Park in Elgin, and Northfield Terrace Car Park in Elgin.
“Due to a regrettable administrative error, the fault with the Northfield charger wasn’t picked up immediately when it was logged with us at the end of June, but is logged now and it is being fixed.
“Our vehicles should use dedicated charging facilities, although sometimes they will need to top up at any public ChargePlace Scotland site.”
The council plans to introduce 61 more publicly accessible points across the region.
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