Today, ESB announced that there are now 1,200 public electric vehicle charging points across the whole of Ireland, including 391 in Northern Ireland.
As part of a pilot project co-funded by the European Comission, ESB has successfully reached targets to install 48 Rapid Chargers in the Republic of Ireland with a further 5 being installed in Northern Ireland. This brings the total of publicly accessible charge points to 1,200.
Electric vehicle (EV) drivers can now travel across the country using the main roads without being further than 40 miles from a rapid charging unit. ESB hopes this will dissipate concerns with EV range and encourage the uptake of EVs.
The project has been designed to provide advice and a point of reference for similar projects in other European Countries.
“A huge amount of work has been put into providing fast (rapid) charge points throughout Ireland and it is expected that the nationwide network of charge points will encourage people to go electric in the near future,” said John McSweeney, head of innovation at ESB.
“An electric car costs just 2 cents a kilometre to fuel and the average motorist could achieve running cost savings of almost €2,300 a year. Electric cars offer the prospect of very real savings to Irish motorists.”
Northern Ireland’s e-Car network has been incorporated into the project and EV drivers can see the 391 publicly available charging points on Zap-Map Live, our UK-wide charging point map.
Business and Leadership, Irish Independent
