Annual energy statement: 2020

10. Transport

As of March 2020, there were 17,873 ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) licenced in Scotland.

Up 44.8% from March 2019.

4.0% of all newly registered vehicles in Q1 2020 were ULEVs.

Similar to heat demand, Scotland’s transport demand is still primarily made up from fossil fuels, however progress on renewables has been made:

The National Transport Strategy (NTS) - protecting our climate and improving lives - sets the direction for transport over the next 20 years. The strategy reflects the global climate emergency and the role of transport in delivering net zero emissions by 2045 and has “taking climate action” as one of four priorities.

The transition to zero emission vehicles will reduce carbon emissions from transport significantly and we are already seeing substantial growth in the number of zero and ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) registered in Scotland each year. We are taking a number of actions to aid delivery of this commitment, such as committing to phase out the need for petrol/diesel cars and vans by 2030, decarbonising cars used in public sector fleets by 2025, providing funding for ultra-low emission buses and the provision of interest-free loans to enable households and businesses to switch to ULEV.

In terms of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, we have developed a comprehensive network of over 1,400 publicly available EV chargepoints and funded the installation of over 6,500 chargepoints at homes and over 900 at workplaces. This core network enables the use of electric vehicles right across the country and is complimented by the growing number of publicly available charge points installed by the private sector.

In August last year, the Scottish Government, including Transport Scotland, launched a £7.5m Strategic Partnership with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and SP Energy Networks. The Partnership aims to explore new ways of coordinating the development and delivery of EV charging and electricity network infrastructure to ensure efficient investment and a fair distribution of cost across electricity consumers. It involves pooling resources, expertise, knowledge and data as well as delivering trial projects. One of the projects being advanced is project PACE, led by SP Energy Networks.

This project aims to demonstrate the efficiency of an electricity Distribution Network Operator-led delivery model for the installation of EV charging infrastructure at scale.

With £5.3m of Scottish Government funding, it is anticipated that by March 2021 up to 180 publicly available charge points will be installed across 44 sites in the Lanarkshire area.

To create successful places in the future, we also need to manage the demand for travel to address the effects of continued single occupancy car dependency, which leads to urban sprawl, inactive lifestyles and congestion. The NTS further reinforces the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy in decision-making, promoting walking, wheeling, cycling and shared transport options in preference to single occupancy private car use. We are already investing over £1 billion per year in public and sustainable transport to encourage people onto public transport and active travel modes and, in this year’s Programme for Government, committed to bring forward transformational long-term funding for improved bus priority infrastructure of over half a billion pounds.