Dundee City Council confirmed that its entire public and fleet charging network of more than 190 charging points will now be managed and maintained by Evolt Charging.
The Scottish city has become the first council to migrate its public charging network away from ChargePlace Scotland.
The move comes as government investment in the centrally managed ChargePlace Scotland ends. Councils around the country are now looking for private partners to keep devices operational.
Seamless Three-Week Migration
The city council and Evolt Charging have worked together for almost 15 years on multiple projects. Their partnership dates back to Dundee’s first EV charging location in 2011 and includes the UK’s first purpose-built EV charging hub at Princes Street in 2018.
The migration saw all 190 of Dundee’s CPS chargers moved to the Evolt network in less than three weeks. This included four rapid charging hubs, with each charger offline for no more than an hour.
Drivers will still be able to use their CPS charge cards to access the chargers for as long as CPS remains operational.
“Over the last 15 years we have built a close, trusted relationship with the city of Dundee and its council,” said Justin Meyer, managing director of SWARCO Smart Charging.
Meyer emphasized the company’s local investment. SWARCO has more than 50 employees based in the city and has built an expert team with deep knowledge of Dundee’s EV infrastructure.
“Our teams know the existing system inside and out, which enabled a rapid, responsive migration process with minimal disruption to drivers which is our most important metric,” he added.
Local Jobs and Economic Benefits
Cllr Siobhan Tolland, depute convener of fair work, economic growth and infrastructure at Dundee City Council, highlighted the partnership’s benefits.
“We’re extremely proud that Dundee continues to lead by example in delivering sustainable transport and mobility solutions,” Tolland said.
She noted that the seamless migration highlights the strength of their longstanding partnership with Evolt Charging. The council remains focused on delivering economic benefits – including retaining jobs locally – alongside ensuring sustained growth and reliability of Dundee’s EV charging infrastructure.
Evolt Charging is part of the larger SWARCO business group, which took over back-end operation of CPS in 2021.
The move will see it responsible for managing, operating and maintaining Dundee’s public and fleet EV infrastructure over the next 20 years.
End of an Era for ChargePlace Scotland
ChargePlace Scotland was a pioneering public charging network set up in 2013 by the Scottish Government to encourage drivers to switch to electric vehicles.
It initially offered free slow, fast and rapid charging at locations around the country. By 2023 it had more than 2,500 devices, including 600 rapid chargers.
However, despite starting to charge for its services, it’s suffered from underinvestment in recent years. This left its technology lagging behind and drivers facing increasing reliability problems.
In 2023, the Scottish Government announced it would stop CPS at the end of 2025. The network’s devices and locations will become the responsibility of individual local authorities.
The government said the rising number of EV drivers on the road and the growing need to keep investing in the network made it “unsustainable” for the public sector to support CPS alone.
As a result, councils such as Dundee are now seeking private partners to help operate and maintain their existing CPS devices and locations.
