ChargePlace Scotland shuts in 2027: chargers must move by year end

Charge point owners in Scotland have less than three months to move their chargers off ChargePlace Scotland, the publicly funded network, before the end of 2026, and the network itself closes in 2027. If you charge in public north of the border, the app you need, and possibly the price you pay, now depends on who takes over your local chargers. Some areas have already switched: Dundee’s chargers sit on the Evolt network, and ScottishPower has been taking on about 123 island and west coast chargers.

The Scottish Government is deliberately moving from a publicly funded charging network to one where more chargers are run by commercial operators. To ease the move, Energy Saving Trust runs a ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) Transition Fund for owners, which receives a share of the £17.8m EV package for 2026-27 that the Scottish Government confirmed in March, as electrive reported. Once a charger leaves CPS, access and payment move to the new provider.

When does ChargePlace Scotland close?

Two dates matter. Owners must remove their charge points from the CPS network by the end of 2026, and the network closes down its remaining operations later in 2027. The owners’ deadline was originally the end of 2025 and was pushed back a year to allow a more orderly transition. ChargePlace Scotland posts updates on its transition resource hub.

When	What happened or happens
2025	EasyGo awarded a 20-year north of Scotland contract
October 2025	ScottishPower named as HITRANS operator for island and Argyll chargers
Winter 2025	First 60 HITRANS chargers due on ScottishPower’s platform
December 2025	Dundee completes its move from CPS to Evolt
Early 2026	Remaining HITRANS chargers were due to follow
March 2026	£17.8m package confirmed, including the CPS Transition Fund
End of 2026	Deadline for owners to remove chargers from CPS
2027	ChargePlace Scotland network closes

Who runs your local chargers next?

There is no single replacement for ChargePlace Scotland. Councils and regional transport partnerships are choosing their own operators, so the answer depends on where you live and drive.

Area	Councils covered	New operator	Status
Highlands and Islands (HITRANS)	Argyll and Bute, Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland	ScottishPower	About 123 chargers moving
North of Scotland	Highland, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray	EasyGo	20-year contract, est. £300m
Dundee	Dundee City	Evolt	Migration complete
Elsewhere	Each owner decides	Varies	Deadline end of 2026

Highlands and Islands: ScottishPower

HITRANS, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership, appointed ScottishPower to manage public charge points across Argyll and Bute, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland as the CPS contract ends, electrive reported. Roughly 123 chargers were set to transfer to ScottishPower’s management platform over 18 months, with the first 60 due to move by winter 2025 and the rest in early 2026.

North of Scotland: EasyGo

EasyGo won a 20-year contract, estimated to be worth £300m, to provide charging infrastructure for the north of Scotland, with Highland Council as lead authority alongside Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray, according to LocalGov. The project is part-funded through the Scottish Government’s £30m Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund, which earmarked more than £7m for the north of Scotland and Dundee, FutureScot reported.

Dundee: Evolt

Dundee became the first Scottish council to complete its migration from CPS, moving more than 190 public and fleet charge points to the Evolt network in December 2025, Fleet News reported. The chargers stayed put; the network and payment system behind them changed. Existing CPS cards were to keep working while the national network remains live.

Everywhere else

Other owners, whether councils, businesses or community groups, pick their own operator. CPS does not own the chargers, so leaving the network does not normally mean losing the hardware. The owner keeps it and decides how it is run after the transition.

What happens to chargers that are not moved?

This is the real risk for drivers. A charger that is not migrated could become a standalone unit, losing its payment system, back office support and visibility to drivers. In plain terms, that is a charger you may not see in your app and may not be able to pay at.

The Transition Fund exists to stop that happening by helping owners cover the cost of moving. We could not find a published count of how many CPS chargers have already moved, so it is not yet clear how many could go dark in 2027.

How much do council chargers cost now?

The end of CPS does not end cheap council charging, because that era had already finished. Councils set their own tariffs, and the latest rates published on council websites range from 35p to 70p per kWh. The last column shows the cost of adding 40kWh on a rapid.

Council	Slow and fast (7 to 22kW)	Rapid	Tariff dated	40kWh on a rapid
Glasgow	40p	70p	1 March 2024	£28.00
Edinburgh	51p (7kW), 56p (22kW), 48p on-street	61p	Current council page	£24.40
Stirling	35p park and ride, 45p elsewhere	59p	8 January 2024	£23.60
Angus	60p	60p	1 April 2025	£24.00
UK average (Zapmap)	54p	77p	August 2026	£30.80

Even after the rises, every council rapid tariff in the table sits below Zapmap’s UK weighted average of 77p/kWh for rapid and ultra-rapid charging in August 2026, by between 7p (Glasgow) and 18p (Stirling). Slower chargers are a mixed picture: Glasgow’s 40p and Stirling’s 35p to 45p beat the UK standard average of 54p, while Angus at 60p and Edinburgh’s 22kW posts at 56p cost more.

Several councils have raised prices. Stirling’s current rates followed an increase on 8 January 2024 that the council put down to rising costs, and Angus moved to 60p on every council charger from 1 April 2025. Edinburgh’s on-street 7kW rate of 48p comes with a £30 overstay penalty after 12 hours, one of several overstay fees drivers now face. For the wider picture, see our guide to public EV charging costs and the latest rapid charging prices across the UK.

Will prices change after the switch?

They could. A new operator does not automatically mean a new tariff, but in our view it is an obvious moment to review one, and none of the operator announcements covered here set out prices.

Highland is the area to watch. Highland Council has previously proposed raising rapid charging from 30p to 70p per kWh, according to a 2024 trade press report, but we could not confirm whether or when that change took effect. Highland is also the lead authority on the EasyGo contract, so its drivers face a new operator and possibly different prices.

What this means for you

For most drivers in cities and larger council areas, this is an admin job rather than a crisis. Before the deadline:

• Check which network a charger is on before you set off. Map apps show the operator, and our guide to the best EV charging apps covers the main options.
• Get the right app for your area. That means ScottishPower across the HITRANS islands and Argyll and Bute, EasyGo in Highland, Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray, and Evolt in Dundee.
• Look at the price per kWh in the new app before you plug in. Council tariffs already differ by up to 35p per kWh, and a new operator is a natural point for change.
• Plan a backup for rural and island trips. Our round-up of charging networks in Scotland lists the commercial alternatives on main routes and in towns.
• Report chargers that vanish. If a charger you rely on drops out of apps or stops taking payment in the new year, tell its owner, often the local council.

The bigger worry, in our view, is smaller owners without a council contract or regional partnership behind them. If they miss the end-of-2026 deadline, their chargers could drop out of apps entirely when CPS closes in 2027. Scotland’s EV grant schemes include the Transition Fund to help owners make the move, so there is little excuse for a working charger to go dark.