Bid to use street lights as charger stations goes flat
AN innovative plan to charge electric vehicles from lamp posts appears to have been sunk by council bureaucrats.
As the Government struggles to meet its EV targets, calls have been growing for the use of electric lamp posts as chargers for terrace houses without driveways.
However, Dublin City
Council has warned such structures require planning permission as they are a permanent structure to the front of a house.
The council has also cracked down on the installation of ‘crane style’ charging devices, where a charging cable connects to the lamp post at a height of approximately 2.3 metres from a post installed on the homeowner’s property. It has ruled these too are a breach of planning laws.
One industry source noted that, when it comes to buying an EV, ‘most garages say: “If you can’t charge at home, don’t buy one.”’
One of the chief advocates of the ‘charging lamp posts’, Green TD Patrick Costello, has urged his party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to follow the example of innovative schemes in London, Berlin and Valencia, which have all installed these devices.
Commenting on the council’s objections, he told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘There is an element of the silo mentality involved where councils say: “Well, it’s not our job”, but everyone has to work together to make it their job.
‘This is a serious issue; when I go canvassing a lot of people in terrace houses say they would like an EV but there are no charging facilities.
‘Dublin City Council needs to look at a better strategy in planning when it comes to this issue. We need to become far more innovative in optimising resources.’
Mr Costello said when it comes to e-charging solutions, Ireland ‘should look to the example of countries like Germany who do it, and it works’.
He added: ‘We need to respond to the current challenges with creativity mixed with practicality and a bit of common sense.
‘I have loads of constituents in terrace houses who cannot source charging points but could use lamp posts to charge their cars.’
Mr Ryan recently promised that a new residential neighbourhood charging scheme will be launched by local authorities to provide electric vehicle charging for householders without access to off-street parking.
He said the scheme will be designed to mimic home charging and will incentivise off-peak charging ‘in a location convenient to the resident’s home’.