The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, has announced the locations of 17 new high-powered recharging pools for electric vehicles along the National Road Network. Each of these recharging pools provides banks of Fast and Ultra-Fast recharging points, so that people can charge their EVs quickly.
This initiative will bolster Ireland’s Electric Vehicle (EV) recharging infrastructure and promote sustainable transportation. It is the first part of a major plan to ensure that there are more recharging points along our roads. A second grant scheme concentrating on national roads is expected to open later this year.
The new recharging infrastructure to be provided under this Scheme, as well as those intended to be provided under the next national roads scheme, are expected to be in place by the end of 2025. Following the installation of the grant-aided recharging infrastructure, the average distance between high-power recharging pools along the scheme routes will be 45km.
Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport, said:
“EVs are an important part of our journey to reducing emissions in the transport sector. They are cleaner, better cars but we want to provide extra certainty to people either using an EV now or thinking about one into the future. Putting in place these banks of high-powered recharging points is an important first step in our commitment to people and to a more sustainable transport system.
We will follow it up with many other schemes to ensure people know that they can charge their cars easily. This will complement our other commitments such as the EV purchase grant scheme, which will remain unchanged again next year, our grants for home chargers and the continued VRT reduction for EVs. Add this to the greater choice and price competitiveness on the market, we hope more and more people will be encouraged to choose electric.”
The 131 high-power recharging points will provide 24,260 kilowatts (24 megawatts) of additional recharging capacity. They will be funded by Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) under the first EV Charging Infrastructure LDV (Light Duty Vehicle) En-Route Grant Scheme and led by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The grant scheme was launched in February this year and aims to accelerate the development of EV recharging infrastructure across Ireland’s road network by incentivising private sector involvement.
Peter Walsh, CEO of TII, said:
“Our collaboration with ZEVI and private businesses underscores the importance of public-private partnerships in advancing EV recharging infrastructure. These recharging points will not only benefit individual drivers but also contribute to Ireland’s overall environmental objectives.”
There were no successful applicants for additional High-power recharging pools to supplement the existing recharging pool at Cashel, on the M8 corridor between Junction 3 Ballacolla and Dunkettle, a route also served by other existing recharging pools. However, additional LDV en-route grant schemes are under development and will seek to address any areas of the network requiring additional support, where it was not possible to make sufficient awards under the initial LDV grant scheme, as well as providing further EV recharging infrastructure coverage of the National Road Network.
This first scheme represents a significant step toward achieving Ireland’s clean energy goals under the National EV Charging Network Plan. The Plan will provide a pathway for the accelerated delivery across the en-route, motorway, and primary and secondary Roads, alongside the regional and local networks in cities, towns, and villages across Ireland.
The scheme is one of several key actions and deliverables from ZEVI and TII in 2024.
