Last year, we reported that the Government’s Climate Action Fund was set to invest €10million in the Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure of Ireland. Incredibly, this funding has now been increased to €20million, thanks to an extra investment from the ESB.
This investment will see 50 new charging hubs installed around the country, along motorways and national roads. The primary goal is to remove any “range anxiety” Electric Vehicle owners have over making long journeys in their cars. The hubs will be able to charge up to 8 vehicles simultaneously. Being fast-chargers they will be capable of providing up to 100km of driving range in just 6 minutes, meaning in the time it takes to get yourself a coffee, your car will be charged and ready to go again.
The average range of EVs currently sold by Windsor Motors is
between 200-300km; with the
Nissan LEAF ranging up to 270km, while the Renault Zoe can cruise for over 300km. To put that in perspective; the drive from
Windsor Belgard Nissan in Dublin, to Windsor Galway Nissan is a distance of
201km. Both the LEAF and the ZOE will easily do that journey on a single charge
without need to stop.
In addition to these new high-power hubs, 50 locations
around the country which currently use standard 22kW AC chargers, will be
upgraded to 50kW DC fast chargers. A lot of these 22kW chargers are located on
National Roads or around towns; meaning EV drivers won’t have to travel out to
motorway service centres to find a fast charger. The ESB has published a
provisional map of the planned network, showing the new locations for the
high-power hubs, the upgraded 50kW chargers, and the existing fast-chargers in
Northern Ireland.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said “it is welcome, it is a good news story, and we approve of what they are doing”. However, he believes that yet more could be done by mandating public locations such as shopping centres and car parks to install charge points.
“I don’t see a reason why for every 100 car parking spaces, the business shouldn’t provide five electric vehicle charging points. It’s a cost to the business certainly, but it’s also an attraction to the business”. 1
Jerry O’Sullivan, deputy chief executive of the ESB, said the high-power hubs would enable “seamless EV travel across the island of Ireland”, and that this, in turn “will support the Government’s ambition to have more than 500,000 EVs on Irish roads by 2030.” 2
Windsor Motors are equally committed to this goal. Having sold over 600 Electric Vehicles in 2018, and 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, Renault Twizzy, and top-selling Nissan LEAF; and 2 electric vans in the Renault Kangoo ZE and the Nissan E-NV200.
