The revelation comes from the Highland Council, which prompted a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) to review the prevalence of broken or inactive devices throughout the region.

The least used charging point, situated at Inverness Campus, registered just six sessions over the entire year, resulting in an output of under 70 kWh. 

Similarly, a hub at Bayfield car park in Portree recorded a mere eight sessions, while a charger at Dornoch South community car park saw 19 uses. Golspie’s charging point at Drummuie was slightly more utilised with 44 sessions throughout the year.

In contrast, some chargers saw significant usage. A charger at Aviemore’s public toilets car park was used 2,667 times, generating over 51,600 kWh. Another high-use charger at Fort William’s An Aird Car and Coach Park recorded 2,368 sessions.

“These eye-opening statistics lay bare the fact that far too many electric vehicle chargers are broken or inaccessible to people in the Highlands,” said Scottish Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Tim Eagle.

Scotland is actually a frontrunner among all UK regions when it comes to the density of public EV charging infrastructure, according to data from the Department for Transport.

However, some industry pundits, like Grant MacLennan, co-founder of Bypass, which monitors UK charging networks, have pointed out that Scotland’s charging points are “notoriously flaky.” 

“Providing reliable and accessible on-street charging is fundamental in our mission to decarbonise transport and achieve our net zero targets,” added Eagle.

“But many people living in rural areas are still not confident enough to buy an electric vehicle due to the lack of charging points, while the ones that are in place are often broken as these figures suggest.

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“Progress on delivering more, reliable chargers is going at a snail’s pace and that is all too typical of the SNP government’s woeful record on environmental targets.

“People in remote and rural areas should not be penalised for where they live but it’s clear that less priority is being given to transport infrastructure in areas such as the Highlands which is currently unfit for purpose.

“If the Scottish Government is serious about getting people to make the switch then they need to start properly investing in the Highland electric vehicle charging network.”