THE ESB hopes to have the first on-street charging points for electric cars in place in Dublin by the end of this year. It will be quickly followed by points in place from Dublin to Cork. Twenty charging points will be rolled out initially, with 10 in the capital, six in Cork and four in other locations on the route.
The announcement was made by ESB chief executive Padraig McManus, who was presenting plans for a standardised recharging system for cars in Europe to the EU Transport Commissioner.
The Government has set targets to have 10 per cent of all vehicles in the State electrically powered by 2020 and while the progress of electric vehicles being presented by car manufacturers gathers pace, there has been uncertainty about how the infrastructure to operate such vehicles would be rolled out. The question has also been raised about whether the electricity used to power these new vehicles would itself be clean.
These matters were addressed by Mr McManus when he presented to the EU Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani at a meeting in Brussels yesterday.
Mr McManus was speaking as electricity companies presented the Commissioner with a declaration of their intent to join forces and standardise systems for recharging electric vehicles.
The Union of the Electricity Industry – Eurelectric – represents the major electricity companies across Europe and Mr McManus, along with 60 other European chief executives from the industry, has signed a declaration with the goal of achieving a carbon-neutral power sector by the mid-century.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr McManus said: “My own company, ESB, has embarked on a major capital investment programme for the de-carbonisation of electricity by 2035. This will, of course, facilitate a national electric transport fleet and ESB will build the vehicle re-charging network required as part of the development.
“Under the company’s new Strategic Framework, ESB is on track to cut carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2010; by 50 per cent by 2020 and be net-zero by 2035. A total of €4 billion will be invested in renewable energy projects including wind, biomass and new technologies.”
Mr McManus said the transport sector is responsible for 23 per cent of the total EU CO2 emissions and a move to electric vehicles and clean sources of electricity to power them will have a positive effect.
“Electric road transport not only cuts emissions, it also boosts EU energy security by reducing dependency on fossil fuels. Setting standards for plug-in vehicle charging infrastructure will provide benefits to all stakeholders – the car industry, equipment manufacturers, electricity companies and the customer.”
Mr McManus told The Irish Timesthat the ESB hopes to have the first on-street charging points rolled out by the end of this year.