I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 64 together.
The Climate Action Plan, which set a target of 936,000 electric vehicles on the road in Ireland by 2030, includes a range of actions to support the uptake of electric vehicles.
Budget 2020 provided €30 million in funding to my Department to support the uptake of electric vehicles through the purchase grants. In addition, €4 million was provided to support the installation of home chargers (including chargers in apartment blocks from early 2020) and €2 million to support the rollout of on-street chargers across the country via Local Authorities.
There is a the wide range of supports already available to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles including purchase grants, tax reliefs, home charger grants, accelerated capital allowances for businesses, low motor tax and discounted tolls. Budget 2020 extended the benefit-in-kind tax relief for battery electric vehicles to 2022 and the vehicle registration tax relief of up to €2,500 for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to 2020.
In August, I announced funding to support the rollout of up to 1,000 on-street public charge points for electric vehicles over the next 5 years. With the additional funding provided in Budget 2020, support is available for up to 400 on-street chargers in 2020. All Local Authorities can now apply for funding to the SEAI for this support to develop on-street charging infrastructure.
In addition, I approved funding of up to €10 million from the Climate Action Fund to support ESB ecars to develop a nationwide, state-of-the-art electric vehicle fast charging network. This project includes the installation of 90 high-power chargers each of which will be capable of charging two vehicles simultaneously, upgrading 50 existing standard chargers to fast chargers and replacing over 250 existing standard chargers with next generation high reliability models. This is a multi-annual project that will see investment across the country and is expected to be fully completed by 2022.
Businesses, including service stations, can already avail of accelerated capital allowances for the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This enables businesses to invest in energy efficient equipment, including electric charging infrastructure, and write down the cost of such equipment in the year of purchase rather than over 8 years.
Home charging is the primary method of charging for the majority of electric vehicles both internationally and in Ireland. Charging at home at night is the most cost-effective and eco-friendly way to charge an electric vehicle. With a high proportion of homes, both in rural and urban areas, with driveways and dedicated parking spaces, Ireland has greater capacity for home charging than many other countries. A Government grant of up to €600 is available, via the SEAI, to the purchasers of new and second-hand electric vehicles to support the installation of home chargers.
