The second phase of the ChargePlace Scotland migration programme is now underway, with the team endeavouring to complete or organise repairs to charge points that are faulty or not operating as intended.

Several potential issues identified prior to the migration – including the need to liaise with third-party manufacturers with legacy equipment installed on the network – are now being addressed, and further issues that were anticipated are also in the process of being fixed.

As well as liaising with third-party providers, ChargePlace Scotland also has its own team of engineers in the field, with faulty units in rural locations being prioritised so that drivers are not left stranded without a charge.

As identified prior to the migration process starting, data is one of the biggest challenges, and the ChargePlace Scotland team is working hard to clean multiple user databases that it has inherited and create one master database that can be relied upon going forward.

The customer service team is helping existing members whose RFID cards are not working, partly as a result of data not being available to the new operator from the beginning which meant some existing accounts were not carried over. Existing customers are encouraged to contact ChargePlace Scotland directly if they continue to have a problem so the issue can be speedily resolved.

Martin Symes, SWARCO’s Framework Director for ChargePlace Scotland says that resolving issues is a top priority: “The migration work continues and there is a team in place to manage the next phase.

“Many of the problems we have encountered were anticipated and planned for, but there are always the ‘unknowns’ and we are working hard to address them. As the new operator we now have much better visibility of the issues in front of us and we have a professional team of technicians, engineers and customer service representatives who are working hard to fix them.

“Our priority has to be fixing technology issues first and foremost, which not only relies on the cooperation of the incumbent operator but also support and action from other manufacturers who have charge points on the network.”

Martin says that bringing all of the ChargePlace Scotland charge points online for the first time under one operator is a huge undertaking: “This was never going to be a straightforward exercise, but once we have all of the chargers online and transmitting reliably we will be able to monitor the health of every charge point 24/7. Gone will be the reliance on the driver community to report issues with charge points at the very moment they need them the most.”

Martin says the key learning for future migrations, especially those that involve multiple third-parties, is that collaboration is essential: “A network is only as strong as its weakest link, and reliability can be easily compromised. The team is working with charge point owners to ensure that maintenance agreements are in place, understood and upheld. We’ll be endeavouring to ensure that these legacy issues remain in the past and are not carried forward.”

All drivers, hosts and owners who are experiencing any problems on the network are encouraged to check for status updates on our website or contact the ChargePlace Scotland customer service team.