Public charging dominates
Public charging represented 92.8% of classified energy across the full year, but this annual figure conceals important council and monthly variations.
New independent research · July 2025–June 2026
What is really happening to ChargePlace Scotland utilisation?
A council-by-council analysis separating public charging, private/non-public charging and the effects of chargers migrating away from the ChargePlace Scotland reporting perimeter.
Free to download and share. Please attribute Rural Charge Collective and Alex Reid when quoting the findings.
12-page executive briefing
21.67 GWhOfficial CPS public-network energy recorded over 12 months
−47.8%Reported monthly public utilisation, July 2025 to June 2026
63–72%Estimated share of the apparent decline explained by migration
32Scottish local authorities included in the council scorecard
The central finding
The fall is primarily a transition-of-data story—not a simple demand story.
As chargers migrate to new operators, their sessions and energy disappear from CPS reporting. The effect is uneven by region and by access type, with private and fleet-only chargers often appearing to leave first.
Private data breaks sharply
Private/non-public charging accounted for 14–19% of classified monthly energy from July to October, then fell below 0.5% from November.
Local patterns differ
Edinburgh shows an apparent two-stage migration, while Glasgow retained 97% of its July CPS charger count by June 2026.
Migration effect
Reported utilisation fell faster than the number of chargers remaining in CPS.
The CPS unit count contracted by 30.3%, from 2,791 to 1,946, while official public-network energy fell by 47.8%. A simple decomposition explains 63% of the decline through the shrinking estate; a stable-authority counterfactual raises this to 72%.
Practical interpretation: do not describe the 47.8% decline as a fall in Scottish public-charging demand. It is a fall in energy recorded inside a shrinking and changing network boundary.
Council-by-council view
Migration progress and reported utilisation changes are highly uneven.
Dundee, the North of Scotland group, Edinburgh and the island councils were furthest ahead on this proxy by June 2026. Glasgow and much of the South partnership retained most of their CPS-reported estate.
The charts should be read together. Large kWh falls accompanied by large unit-count falls are predominantly migration or reporting-perimeter effects. Falls with stable unit counts warrant closer investigation.
Edinburgh case study
Private charging disappears before the public-estate fall.
Edinburgh’s private/non-public energy fell by approximately 99% between October and November 2025, while public energy increased slightly. The larger public-estate contraction followed later, especially between March and April 2026.
- Private/non-public energy: 62.1 MWh in October to 0.7 MWh in November.
- Private sessions: 3,342 in October to 117 in November.
- Public energy remained comparatively stable until the later public migration stage.
Data-quality findings
Three issues materially affect interpretation.
The report retains conflicting published values and unclassified sessions rather than forcing an undocumented reconciliation.
September 2025
The official summary reports about 1.23 GWh and 59,963 public sessions, while the detailed session file contains about 2.47 GWh and 128,397 records.
Private-series discontinuity
The abrupt November collapse is unlikely to represent underlying fleet behaviour alone and points to perimeter or reporting changes.
Changing network boundary
Migrated chargers cease appearing in CPS. Successor-network data are needed to reconstruct the full Scottish charging market.
The post-CPS data challenge
Granular utilisation data should remain a free public resource.
The transition to multiple operators risks fragmenting evidence that has supported public investment, local planning and independent scrutiny. Commercial products can add value, but core monthly utilisation data should not become available only through paid services.
Standard monthly fields
Anonymous charger ID, coordinates, access status, power rating, sessions, kWh, availability, failed sessions and reporting operator.
Open and machine-readable
Consistent CSV or API publication, free at the point of use, with stable identifiers that continue when back-office operators change.
Transparent methodology
Published definitions, coverage statements, revision logs and clear separation of public, fleet, destination and other restricted-access charging.
Download the research
Get the complete executive briefing.
Receive immediate access to the PDF report. You can also download the supporting workbook containing the monthly local-authority analysis.
Included:
- National public/private monthly trends
- All 32 local authorities
- Migration-effect calculations
- Edinburgh case study
- Data anomalies and open-data recommendations
This research is intended to remain open. Download the PDF without submitting details.
About the author
Alex Reid
Alex is an independent transport and infrastructure consultant and founder of Rural Charge Collective and Rural Charge Weekly. His work focuses on rural and island e-mobility, place-based infrastructure, stakeholder engagement and the evidence needed to support better investment decisions.