Private chargers around the county

Over the last three years, East Lothian Council has been installing and maintaining a comprehensive network of public on-street chargers and high-profile charging hubs. Our tariff has been deliberately set at a level which encourages private investment in this area, and we are now starting to see a number of commercial chargepoint operators coming to the fore. We are also working with developers to ensure new houses are equipped for an electric future, and new commercial and office facilities have appropriate chargers for staff and visitors.

By way of providing concrete illustration of the variety of solutions out there, this page lists the wide range of privately owned charging infrastructure already in East Lothian or coming soon.

New residential developments

Below we provide links to sites where developers are implementing innovative solutions to provide each household with a charger connected to their private electricity supply, even if they park in a communal area:

Belway at Elphinstone (Planning Application Number 21/01608) has provided space for (and a financial contribution towards) Destination chargers to serve adjacent community facilities, as well as a private charger for every household, inlcuding those in factored parking courtyards.
Persimmon at Blindwells (Planning Application number 21/00308/AMM) engaged with our Road Services Team early in the Planning process to ensure it provided private charging facilities for each dwelling at a low cost. In most cases this was achieved by installing private chargers on back garden boundaries, adjacent to a factored (shared) parking space.
Ogilvie at Blindwells (Planning Application Number 22/00449/PM) provided chargers on all driveways and, where communal parking was provided adjacent to the public road, this has been moved behind the footway to allow chargers from gardens to connect to cars without creating a trip hazard

Existing privately operated chargers

1 journey charger installed at Marston's Inn, Dunbar
2 destination chargers at Dunbar Garden Centre
2 journey chargers at McDonalds Dunbar
2 destination chargers installed at Mercat Grill, Elphinstone
1 destination charger at Elvingston Science Centre
4 journey chargers at Gladsmuir Services
1 destination charger at Gullane Golf Club
1 journey chargers at Starbucks, Haddington
3 chargers at Gateside West, Haddington
7 journey chargers at BP Monktonhall Services
2 journey chargers at Starbucks, Monktonhall Services
1 destination charger at Eskmills Industrial Estate, Musselburgh
2 destination chargers at Tesco, Musselburgh
2 destination chargers at Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh
2 destination chargers at Tesco, North Berwick
1 journey charger at Lidl Prestonpans
1 destination charger at Thurston Manor
2 destination chargers installed at Whitekirk Hill, Whitekirk
several destination chargers installed at Scotrail stations

New commercial charging hubs which are expected

2 journey chargers at Northfield Retail Centre, Prestonpans
7 journey chargers at Fisherrow Service Station, Musselburgh
6 journey chargers at Esso Service Station, North Berwick

ELC High Schools with publicly accessible chargers

Where are secondary school car parks are open to the public during evenings and this weekends, these can provide convenient places to re-fuel for people who live nearby and do not have facilities for charging at home

Preston Lodge, Prestonpans
Knox Academy, Haddington
Musselburgh Grammar (coming soon)
Dunbar Grammar (coming soon)

Workplaces

Additionally, as a major employer in East Lothian, we are leading the way in providing chargers for staff to fuel up while parked at work, while also providing charging for our own fleet vehicles. While we do not wish to encourage people to drive to work purely to charge their car, we recognise that this is an attractive option for people who cannot charge at home.

There are grants available for businesses to install car chargers through the Energy Saving Trust: