A motorist has slammed council bosses over electric charging costs, saying it is cheaper to charge his car in Ayrshire.

Brian Keith, 62, who lives on the Esplanade said he has had his car for just over a year.

He is querying why charges vary so much and wants to know why the tariffs are more expensive in Inverclyde.

Mr Keith said: "You can pay between 50p and 79p in Inverclyde but in Skelmorlie it is 37p.

"Why should there be such a variance in price? The Government wants us to but electric cars, so I think they should subsidise the cost of charging them.

"There should be a standard charge UK wide. Electric cars are expensive to buy so there should be an incentive to make charging the car as cheap as possible."

ChargePlace Scotland is Scotland's national Electric Vehicle (EV) charging network.

Owned and developed by the Scottish Government, it has been developed through public grant funding of Local Authorities and other organisations to install charge points across Scotland.

The actual cost to charge an electric car is set by the local authority.

Mr Keith is also critical of some companies who ask for a fee up front before you can charge your car.

He said: "I used a charger at Starbucks in Greenock and it asked for £40 upfront, what if I only want to spend £10?"

The Tele contacted the Starbucks who said that they only operated the site and referred us to the website of the company Ionity, who run the chargers.

It says: "In order to offer a smooth payment process, we need to make a pre-authorization/reservation of 40 EUR on your card, to verify that the card is working and that sufficient funds are available to cover the payment."

While council bosses said the cost charged was agreed by councillors at committee last year.

A spokesman for Inverclyde Council said: "An Inverclyde Council spokesperson said: “The current pricing structure for electric vehicle charging points for council operated charging points has been in place since 1 May 2023 following approval at committee.

“This was the first increase since 2021 and prior to that council operated electric vehicle charging points were free to use. Charges were established simply to cover costs.

“The tariff increase last year was in response to huge increases in energy costs, as well as increased maintenance, insurance and other costs associated with running the electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“The £1 connection fee has remained the same.”

In response, a Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “To reduce transport emissions and protect the climate, the Scottish Government is committed to phasing out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.

"We can only do this if people have confidence in availability of charging infrastructure – and that can only be achieved through private investment in the network.

“With private investment we can grow the network with the pace and scale required to meet our commitment to see approximately 24,000 additional public charge points added by 2030.

"The Scottish Government’s £30 million Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund is an example of how we’re working to continue to attract in private investment in public EV charging and continue to grow the network as we transition to a net zero transport system."