Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 December 2021
51. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Transport the number of successful applications to his Department for the installation of rapid e-car chargers in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, by county, in tabular form. [62378/21]
View answer52. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Transport the number of unsuccessful applications to his Department for the installation of rapid e-car chargers 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, by county, in tabular form. [62379/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 52 together.
The Deputy will be aware that the Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the electric vehicle charging network over the coming years. A national charging infrastructure strategy is due for publication early next year which will set out a pathway to stay ahead of demand over the critical period out to 2030.
Preparations are underway to establish an Office of Low Emission Vehicles. This Office will play an important role in our transition to zero emission vehicles. It will co-ordinate measures to support the uptake of EVs and the rollout of charge point infrastructure.
In terms of existing supports for public charging, the Public Charge Point Scheme, which is administered by the SEAI, continues to be available during 2021 to provide local authorities with a grant of up to €5,000 to support the development of on-street public chargers. The primary focus of the scheme is to provide support for the installation of infrastructure which will facilitate owners of electric vehicles, who do not have access to a private parking space, but instead rely on parking their vehicles in public places near their homes to charge their EVs. It should be noted that this scheme facilitates the installation of standard charge points.
My Department has committed to reviewing the Scheme later this year to ensure that it is as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort.
Thirteen local authorities have been in touch with SEAI in relation to the scheme. To date, 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.
|
Item |
Count |
Charging Stations |
Charging Points* |
Value (Total) |
|
Applications Approved |
3 |
19 |
29 |
€143,038 |
|
Applications Expired/Cancelled/Rejected |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
Applications Under Review |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
Total Applications |
3 |
19 |
29 |
€143,038 |
*A charging station can be dual which results in two charge points being available for cars to use.
There were no letters of offer issued in 2019 or 2020 respectively.
There is also a need for a seamless public charging network that will provide for situations or instances where home charging is not possible such as on-street and residential charging, destination charging, and workplace charging.
€10 million was committed from the Climate Action Fund to support ESB investment in the charging network and this has leveraged a further €10 million investment from ESB, with the infrastructure to be in place by the end of 2022. This intervention alone will result in:
- 90 additional high power chargers, each capable of charging two vehicles
- 52 additional fast chargers, which may replace existing standard chargers
- 264 replacement standard chargers with more modern technology and with each consisting of two charge points
Since the inception of the project, nine 3-bay charging hubs and one 8-bay charging hub have been installed with further hub locations planned. In addition, 30 of the 50 existing Standard (AC) chargers have been replaced with Fast (DC) chargers with further upgrades planned in various locations. Further details on the progression of this project can be found at esb.ie/ecars/our-network/network-upgrades.
My Department is also developing a new scheme which will support the installation of destination charge points in locations such as hotels, visitor centres and parks. This new initiative will help provide another critical link in the overall network for public charging.
