Thomas Gould
Question:256. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Transport if grants are available to businesses for the installation of EV chargers. [16646/23]
View answerTuesday, 18 April 2023
Questions (256)
Written answers
The Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the electric vehicle (EV) charging network over the coming years. In January, I launched the national Strategy for the development of EV charging infrastructure, covering the crucial period out to 2025, alongside an Implementation Plan. The strategy sets out the government’s ambition regarding the delivery of a public EV charging network to support up to 195,000 electric cars and vans by the middle of the decade.
Having an effective and reliable recharging network is essential to enabling drivers to choose electric. Home charging is the primary charging method for most Irish EV owners as it’s convenient and cheaper for the consumer as well assists in the overall management of the national grid. Over 80% of charging is expected to happen at home. There is also however, a need for a reliable and convenient public charging infrastructure, and my Department is developing new funding schemes to support the roll out of this infrastructure, which will support businesses in installing EV chargers.
My Department is developing a new destination charging scheme. Destination charging will provide rapid charging solutions (50-100kW typically) at trip attractor locations and businesses such as leisure centres, parks, hotels and visitor attractions where EV drivers could charge their vehicle for 1-3 hours before returning home. There is private sector interest in this area of the EV charging infrastructure market, and in Ireland we have already seen the provision of rapid charging top-up infrastructure in car parks and in trip generating locations such as at supermarkets.
The Infrastructure Strategy envisages a supporting role for Government in providing initial seed funding to stimulate and encourage more widespread roll out of this charging infrastructure. Government will also have a key role in coordinating the various stakeholders involved in delivering this infrastructure. This new initiative will help provide another critical link in the overall network for public charging.
In addition, I launched the EV Commercial Fleet Trial on 21 July 2022 to afford businesses the opportunity to test an EV free of charge for a minimum period of 3 months. This trial will allow businesses real world experience of having an EV on their fleet and showcase the benefits, savings and the suitability and viability of EVs in a commercial setting.
The trial will run in four blocks of 50 businesses. The first 50 businesses have had their charge points installed at their premises with installations and site surveys ongoing for the remainder. The first 14 participating vehicles have completed their first placement, returned, cleaned and maintained and are now embarking on their second placement with a business. The remaining vehicles in Block 1 have been placed in a staggered manner due to vehicle supply issues in the industry. The data being recorded from the vehicles is being collated by SEAI and will be published at the end of the trial. To ensure as positive an experience as possible, ZEVI in conjunction with SEAI have made the decision to install charge points or ensure an operational charging strategy is in place for each business prior to delivery of trial EV.
The participating businesses span a host of different industries and are made up of large industry, public sector and SMEs.