Unused telephone kiosks to be repurposed into charging points
EIR and EasyGo have recently launched the first of a nationwide collection of Electric Vehicle Rapid Chargers which are replacing eir telephone kiosks. The two companies have joined forces to roll-out these electric vehicle (EV) chargers in towns and cities across Ireland, starting with Carlow. The chargers in Carlow, Tullow and Bagenalstown have been installed to help Ireland’s growing fleet of EVs stay on the road, and came at no cost to Carlow County Council. Cllr. Fintan Phelan, Cathaoirleach, Carlow County Council stated: “This joint initiative by eir, EasyGo and Carlow County Council to install state of the art new EV chargers is a great example of how organisations working together can improve the provision and rollout of much needed electric vehicle charging infrastructure in public areas which will be of great benefit and convenience to the public that are switching to electric vehicles while also contributing to achieving our ambitious climate action goals and targets.” The seven new EV chargers installed in Carlow are a mixture of Dual 50kW DC (Rapid) chargers and Dual 22kW AC (Destination) chargers.
Cables
The four Carlow Town chargers can be found at; Kennedy Street, Green Lane (2), and Green Bank Car Park, while a further three EV charging points have been installed in Tullow, Bagenalstown and Borris Main Street. The chargers feature twin cables to simultaneously charge two EVs, adding up to 100km range to an Electric Vehicle and providing up to 80 per cent of the required charge in just 30 minutes. Chris Kelly, EasyGo Technical Director, said: “EasyGo is on a mission to decarbonise transport, and our partnership with eir can go a long way to achieving that. “Together we plan to replace up to 180 telephone kiosks with fast EV chargers at no cost to local authorities. In fact, we are pleased to report that we have active engagement with many councils across the country and will be making some announcements on those in the coming weeks. “Providing EV infrastructure in both urban and rural Ireland is vital to achieving Climate Action Plan goals, and as Ireland’s largest network of EV charging stations, we are delighted
to be leading that effort and helping EV drivers conveniently charge their cars. We welcome any inquiries from any local authority to our office in Maynooth, and our door is open to anyone who requires an EV charger installed!” Oliver Loomes, CEO of eir, added: “Electric vehicles are a critical part of the Government’s Climate Action Plan which sets out a target of almost one million electric vehicles on the road by 2030. “In order for Ireland to move to electric vehicles, we must have the required infrastructure in place, not just in cities, but across all of Ireland. “This new infrastructure will benefit the community similar to the way public payphone services once did. “The chargers will not only benefit people living and working in Carlow, but those travelling through. Wherever possible we will replace unused eir payphone kiosks with rapid EV charging units, and we will continue to assist EasyGo and County Councils across Ireland to help to make the transition to electric vehicle ownership a viable alternative for people.” According to SIMI, about one out of every eight cars sold in Ireland so far this year are fully electric, and the rate of adoption of EVs is growing quickly. Transport accounts for one-third of Ireland’s energy-related Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions which means increasing adoption of EVs is a key aspect Ireland’s Climate Action Plan.