Commercial EV Charging in Scotland: What You Need to Know

Your fuel bill is ugly. It’s not getting better.

Your staff are buying electric cars. You can’t stop it, so you might as well profit from it.

Most bosses look at a charger and see a cost. They see a hole in the ground and a bill from the electrician. They’re wrong. Until March 2026, a charger is a tax shield. The government pays for a chunk of the hardware, and the taxman covers a chunk of the rest.

But that door is closing. If you move now, you get an asset for cheap. If you wait, you pay full price.

1. The "Free" Money (Before it Goes)

A lot of business owners assume the grant pot is empty. It isn't. The cash is still there; you just have to know which form to fill out.

The Easy One (WCS)

First, let's look at the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS). This is effectively a voucher code for businesses. The government knocks £350 off the cost of every socket you install, and you can use that voucher up to 40 times.

That is £14,000 of funding sitting on the table. It is straightforward free money. The only catch is the deadline: the scheme is confirmed to end on 31 March 2026. If you wait until next year, you might miss the boat.

Don’t Dig Twice

Here is a rule for construction: never dig the same hole twice. It’s expensive and annoying.

If you are breaking ground to put in just one charger, you should look at the EV Infrastructure Grant. The rules require you to install one active socket now, but you also lay the cabling for at least 5 other parking spots.

If you do that, the government pays you up to £500 per bay just for the empty cabling. You future-proof the car park for 2030, and they pay for the groundworks today.

The Scottish Rural Angle

If you operate in the Central Belt, you can scroll past this section.

This is for the Highlands, Stirling, and Perthshire. The old business grant is dead. However, the Rural & Island Infrastructure Fund is very much alive. It is competitive—so not guaranteed—but if you are willing to make your chargers public, you could get up to £60,000 for high-speed kit. You help the tourists get around; they pay for your hardware.

2. The Tax Relief (Actually Better than the Grant)

Everyone talks about grants, but the tax relief is usually worth more to your bottom line.

The 100% First Year Allowance allows you to write off the full cost of the equipment against your profits in year one.

Think of it this way: if you spend £10,000 on chargers, you take £10,000 off your taxable profit. At a 25% tax rate, you have just saved £2,500. That is the government effectively paying for a quarter of the job.

Important: The government recently extended this deadline to 31 March 2027.

3. Speed: Don't Buy What You Don't Need

We get asked this constantly: "Do I need the 22kW super-fast ones?"

No. You probably don't.

Unless you run delivery vans that need to be back on the road in an hour, 22kW is a waste of cash.

Stick to 7kW: Your staff are parked for 8 hours. A 7kW unit fills the car by lunchtime. It runs on standard single-phase power. It works.

The 22kW Problem: Fast chargers need 3-Phase Power. Most offices don't have it. If you try to install these, the grid (SSEN or Scottish Power) might charge you £3,000 to £15,000 to upgrade your fuse. Check that before you order anything.

4. Making Money (The Rules)

Can you sell the electricity? Yes.

Modern commercial chargers use a standard called OCPP. It lets you set the price.

For Staff: Charge about 25p–30p. Check your energy bill first—if you buy at 24p, this covers your costs without ripping off your team.

For the Public: If you have a gate near the road, put the chargers on Zap-Map. Open them up after 6pm. Charge 60p. Let the locals pay off your installation cost while you sleep.

5. The Installation (The Scary Part)

Putting these in isn't like wiring a plug socket. The biggest headache is the DNO (the grid).

When we apply to connect you, the grid might say "No." They might say your building is full. They might ask for £10,000 to upgrade the transformer down the street.

Don't pay it.

We use a trick called Load Balancing. It’s a bit of tech that watches your building's energy usage. If the office puts the kettle and the heating on, it slows down the chargers. It keeps the grid happy, and it saves you that £10k upgrade fee.

6. What Does it Cost?

Every job is different, but here are the numbers for late 2025.

Wall Unit (7kW): Budget £1,000 – £1,800.

Standing Pillar: Budget £2,500 – £3,500. (Groundworks cost money).

The Bottom Line

The Workplace Charging grant ends in March 2026. The big tax relief ends in March 2027.

Right now, you can stack them both. In 18 months, you probably can't.

It’s not just about being green. It’s about hiring. Good staff drive EVs. If you don't have a plug, they’ll go to the guy down the road who does.