First electric car charge points to be ready for use before Easter

THE FIRST charge points for electric cars in Ireland are to be up and running before Easter.

The three charge points will be located outside the ESB headquarters on Fitzwilliam Street, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on Adelaide Road and the IDA/Sustainability Ireland HQ on Wilton Place, all in Dublin.

They will be the first of 1,500 charge points to be rolled out by the end of 2011. The project will go to tender later this year.

The points will be concentrated in urban areas and along major routes initially. A total of 30 DC fast-charging points will be located on motorways. They will allow an electric car to be charged within a half an hour.

The charge points were agreed last April and are a joint operation involving the ESB, car companies Nissan and Renault, and the Government. They want 10 per cent of all vehicles on Irish roads to be electric by 2020. A total of 30,000 charge points will be needed to supply the whole country for an estimated 230,000 vehicles.

ESB’s head of sustainability for networks, Senan McGrath, told a conference organised by Engineers Ireland last night the Government was genuinely committed to the electric vehicle programme and co-operation from local authorities had been “excellent”.

“What is going on in Ireland is at least as advanced as what is going on elsewhere,” he said, adding that the Government had set targets for electric vehicles while other countries just had aspirations.

The first mass-market electric family car, the Nissan Leaf, is likely to be available by the end of this year, with the Renault Fluence coming on stream in 2011. The cars will have top speeds of about 100km/h and a range of 160km in between charging, much less than conventional vehicles, but it is hoped to target buyers who will use them mostly for urban driving.

The initial targets are for 2,000 electric vehicles to be on the road next year with a further 4,000 sold in 2011. A Government-commissioned taskforce, set up to co-ordinate the rolling out of charging points, has completed its report. The cost of the initial 1,500 charge points will be €20 million.