But electric vehicles are still in the slow lane
JUST two of the country’s 31 local authorities have availed of a flagship Government scheme to build power points for electric cars, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The revelation comes as Green Party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan faces renewed criticism for the Coalition’s failure to provide adequate infrastructure for the growing number of e-cars.
There are just under 50,000 (47,054) electric vehicles on our roads, but the Government has vowed to increase this to 194,540 by the end of its term in 2025.
However, in response to parliamentary queries from Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke, Mr Ryan confirmed that only two councils – Dublin City Council and Louth County Council – have availed of the Government’s Public Charge Point Scheme (PCPS), administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Another 11 councils have enquired about it. The scheme provides local authorities with up to €5,000 to develop onstreet public chargers.
Referring to the target of having almost a million e-cars on our roads by the end of the decade, Mr Ryan insisted: ‘Ireland is on track as regards projected uptake of EVs in the fleet.’
However, the infrastructure needed to power e-cars is behind international norms.
The minister said his department has ‘committed to reviewing the Public Charge Point Scheme later this year to ensure that it is as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort’.
He said that ‘13 local authorities have been in touch with SEAI in relation to the scheme [and] letters of offer have issued to Louth County Council and Dublin City Council in 2021, to install a total of 29 charge points within their administrative areas’.
Mr Ryan confirmed the total investment in the charging points in Dublin and Louth amounts to just €143,038. And the performance of the scheme to date is unlikely to meet Mr Ryan’s own admission that: ‘There is a need for a seamless public charging network that will provide for situations where home charging is not possible such as on-street and residential charging, destination charging, and workplace charging.’
Gerry Cash, founder of EasyGo which has partnered with Eir to transform 180 telephone kiosks across the country into charging points, said Ireland has fallen behind other countries in providing infrastructure for electric vehicles.
In Norway, he said, 65% of new car sales last year were fully electric – 92% including hybrids – and the government there offers tax and toll exemptions.