Niamh Smyth
Ceist:177. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Transport the status of the rollout of electric car chargers nationwide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21324/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 14 May 2024
Ceisteanna (177)
Freagraí scríofa
The Government, through Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI), is investing €100 million between 2023-2025 in EV infrastructure as we look to accelerate the delivery of EV charging across our national road network and local and regional networks.
In January 2023, Minister Ryan launched the national Strategy for the development of EV charging infrastructure, covering the crucial period out to 2025, alongside an Implementation Plan.
As of end March 2024, there were over 121,000 electric vehicles registered in Ireland. Ireland has a target of 175,000 EV cars and 20,000 LGVs on the road by 2025.
Since late 2022 the number of publicly available charge points has increased from 1,700 in September 2022 to 2,400. To achieve our targets, it is expected that we will require between 3,200 – 6,210 public chargers nationally depending on need.
A significant number of charge points are scheduled to be delivered over the next year.
These include the roll out of public accessible charge points through the Shared Island Sports Club EV Charging Scheme, the EU Just Transition Fund (JTF) Community Facilities EV Charging Scheme and the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Light Duty Vehicle Enroute Grant Scheme all of which are currently live and expected to begin delivery on the ground in late 2024, early 2025.
The National Road Network EV Charging Network Plan, launched in September 2023, will see 8-12 high-power chargers on the motorway network every 60KM, 6-8 HPCs every 60 km on the single carriage national roads and 1-2 high power chargers every 30 KM on the secondary national roads.
This month, we will launch a public consultation on the Regional and Local Plan and roll out of EV Infrastructure for destination and neighbourhood locations through Local Authorities.
This is a critical step in our EV transition that will see us move from the current business led model to a planned approach which leverages private funding and resourcing while allowing Government funding to flow to the areas it is needed.
To facilitate this, ZEVI have been engaging extensively with Local Authorities and agreed in principle a regional set up to deliver EV Infrastructure Strategies and Implementation Plans which will result in a planned and phased roll out of infrastructure over the next 5 years.
A crucial element of this approach is to ensure we deliver a cohesive, resilient network and adequate planning is essential to ensure any infrastructure delivered is installed in the right location for the right purpose to meet user needs.