Scotland will need more than two million charging points for electric vehicles by 2045 to meet climate change targets, a study has found.
The forecast was unveiled at yesterday’s launch of Zero Carbon Communities.
It also estimated that nearly two million heat pumps are required to hit the Net Zero emissions target announced by the Scottish Government earlier this year.
The 2045 goal – five years ahead of the UK’s target as a whole – means any remaining greenhouse gas emissions would have to be offset by measures such as planting trees.
Reaching those levels will require more than 150 charging points and heat pumps to be installed each day over the next quarter of a century.
Transforming the nation’s transport and heating systems is expected to cost £25.3billion.
A total of 1,964,438 homes will need heat pumps by 2045, with installation costs estimated at £16.5billion. Another £5.2billion will need to be invested in reinforcing the electricity networks.
The 2,010,543 electric charging points will run to £3.6billion, the study predicted, while 10,081 jobs will be supported by decarbonisation investment.
The Scottish Government has said there are more than 1000 public charging points available across the country.
Zero Carbon Communities was launched by ScottishPower and SP Energy Networks.
Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower, said: “We all need to do more to address climate change and this campaign sets out how we think government and the regulator can help communities drive their own transition to zero carbon.”
