ESB launches home car charge points

ANOTHER MILESTONE in the deployment of electric vehicles was marked yesterday with the launch by the ESB of home-based car charging points.

Sweeping aside concerns relating to “range anxiety”, the availability of lithium for batteries, the price of electric vehicles and the safety implications of the absence of engine noise, the ESB said electric vehicles were continually being “mainstreamed”. The power company has plans to install some 2,000 home-based charging points across the country by next year. The State’s first home-charging pilot project will see 12 people driving an electric vehicle for four months each, while the ESB and Trinity College Dublin assess the suitability of the charging systems.

One of the participants, AA Ireland’s Conor Faughnan, said his test vehicle, the Mitsubishi iMiev, was perfect “as a town car”.

“I am playing golf later this week in Bray and I am going to drive it out there to embarrass my friends.” On the section of the M50 which allowed such speeds, he was easily able to reach 120km per hour.

“I left a man in an Audi 8 behind me, he was stunned,” he said.

Dervla O’Flaherty of the ESB said while the car was small, a bigger electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf, was launched on Wednesday and was a five-seat family saloon.

While Mitsubishi has not released the price of Mr Faughnan’s iMiev, Ms O’Flaherty said the price of the Leaf – taking into account the Government’s tax incentive of €5,000 – was €29,995. Nissan claims running costs for the car will be less than €1.20 per 100km.