Exciting news for Electric Vehicle drivers this week as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton announced a major investment in the Electric Vehicle charging network as part of the first round of funding under the Climate Action Fund.
The fund is planned as a €500million package and is one of four established under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 as part of Project Ireland 2040. The fund will support initiatives that contribute to the achievement of Ireland's climate and energy targets.
The ESB followed Minister Bruton’s announcement by confirming that €10million has been allocated for a national high-power electric vehicle charging network in Ireland. Theirs is one of 7 projects to share in €77million in funding which are hoped to reduce emissions by 200,000 tonnes a year between them.
The ESB plan to use the funding to install over 100 high-powered (150kW) chargers at key locations on the national road network. These rapid-charging stations can typically add up to 100km of additional range to electric cars such as the Nissan LEAF.
Other plans include replacing 100 50kW fast chargers, which can recharge EVs to 80% in 25 minutes, and refurbish up to 200 standard 22kW chargers. Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director of Customer Solutions at ESB, stated that they are “committed to supporting the government’s ambition to have over 500,000 electric vehicles on Irish roads by 2030”.
Windsor Motors are equally committed to this goal. Having sold over 600 Electric Vehicles in 2018, with that number expected to rise again in 2019, Windsor Motors are the Number 1 Electric Car dealer in Ireland. Windsor Motors currently sells 5 different Electric Vehicles across its Windsor Nissan and Windsor Renault brands. Windsor's current EV range includes 3 passenger cars in the Renault Zoe, which currently comes with an amazing offer of 0% APR, and top-selling Nissan LEAF; and 2 electric vans in the Renault Kangoo ZE and the Nissan E-NV200.
Minister Bruton followed the announcement by saying: "The decisions we make now in tackling climate change will define the next century. I want to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change, not a follower. That will require a significant step change right across our society. The projects we are supporting under the Fund, will support decarbonisation across the transport, heat, electricity and agriculture sectors and demonstrate the types of investments we need to make.
For example, the investment we are making in the ESB to develop a nationwide, state-of-the-art electric vehicle charging network, will be crucial to reducing range anxiety and supporting individuals to move to electric vehicles.
This investment by the Government will leverage additional investment from the project promoters and marks significant step towards achieving our ambitions."
