- Pringle: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael campaign promises don’t match up to government record
- Pringle, Flanagan say FF/FG haven’t shown the political will to provide 100% redress
- Pringle supports health workers protest, calls for focus on recruitment at LUH
- Pringle: FF, FG promises to Irish fishing mean nothing after years of government failure
Will Donegal get electric vehicle (EV) chargin points in the next round of installations?
- Updated: 24th April 2019
______________________________________________
For Written Answer on : 18/04/2019
Question Number(s): 235 Question Reference(s): 18165/19
Department: Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Asked by: Thomas Pringle T.D.
______________________________________________
QUESTION
[Ref No.: 18165/19]
* To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a list of all high power multi-charger sites and new faster charger sites for electric vehicles by county will be provided; the timeline for the instalment of the recently announced new charging hubs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. – Thomas Pringle.
* For WRITTEN answer on Thursday, 18th April, 2019.
(587 Received on 15th April, 2019.)
REPLY
Providing adequate charging infrastructure is critical to ensure continued growth in electric vehicles.
Home charging is the most cost-effective way to charge an electric vehicle and is the primary method of charging for the majority of electric vehicles both internationally and in Ireland. A Government grant of up to €600 is available, via the SEAI, to the purchasers of new and second-hand electric vehicles to support the installation of home chargers.
There are currently over 650 standard public charge points and 78 fast chargers as a part of the ESB eCars network. In addition there are public chargers provided by local authorities, retail outlets and private companies.
Under the first call for applications from the Climate Action Fund, I approved funding of up to €10 million to support ESB eCars to develop a nationwide, state-of-the-art electric vehicle fast charging network. This project successfully completed the assessment stage and the validation stage is now underway.
The project includes the installation of 90 high-power chargers each of which will be capable of charging two vehicles simultaneously, upgrading 50 existing standard chargers to fast chargers and replacing over 250 existing standard chargers with next generation high reliability models. This is a multi-annual project and is expected to be fully completed by 2022.
The locations of the chargers has not been finalised. However, a provisional map of the planned network, showing indicative locations, was developed by ESB eCars and has been published on my Department’s website. ESB eCars is currently identifying the most appropriate locations for the chargers to be sited. The sites will be identified using the latest software mapping techniques, taking account of information on current charge point usage, traffic volume, accessibility, amenities and grid capacity at the sites.
My Department, in conjunction with the SEAI, is also working on how best to support the provision of greater levels of on-street public charging.
