IRELAND needs to ramp up the installation of electric vehicle public chargers to honour its climate commitments.
This is a big statement, I know, but I do believe it is something we as a country must focus on in the coming years. I think that if we focus on this as a priority more people will be willing to make the switch to electric vehicles.
A 2023 all Ireland study by the Irish EV Association (IEVA) showed more than four in five respondents had low confidence in the infrastructure available to facilitate the adoption of EVs. The study also showed that 72% of those surveyed believe targets of one million EVs in Ireland by 2030 will not be achieved.
While the majority of EV users charge at home, I believe there exists a pressing need for more public charge points, to serve those who don’t have access to a charger at home or in the workplace, and to facilitate longer journeys. The government aims to have 180,000 EVs on our roads by the end of next year, and while public chargers are being installed by private companies on a continuous basis, the pace of this is behind what it needs to be, to adequately serve those who might want to go electric but don’t feel confident doing so yet because of a lack of public infrastructure.
A recent study by the European Federation for Transport and Environment sustainable transport umbrella group Transport & Environment (T&E), has shown that there has been a three-fold increase in the number of EV public chargers in the EU in the last three years, with the charging network growing faster last year than the electric vehicle fleet.
However, Ireland lags behind its European counterparts in this regard, meeting less than 50% of its targets.
In February, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan announced a new €21 million grant scheme to boost EV charging infrastructure on big interurban routes, targeting motorway and dual carriageway networks.
If we want to propel the movement of EV driving in Ireland, we need to prioritise the rollout of public charging, not just on motorways and in major urban areas, but in small towns and villages up and down the country. Green transport is a crucial part of the country’s climate policy and we’re not taking it seriously enough.There’s been a significant uptake in EV sales in Ireland in recent years, but consumer confidence is dipping, and will continue to do so, if the government doesn’t work in tandem with the private sector in moving on with much needed infrastructure.
I am a first-time candidate for the European Elections for Fine Gael and I am entering politics from a business and civic background. I founded renewable energy company, Amarenco in 2013 and was nominated as an EY Entrepreneur of the year in 2019. I also served as Chairman of the Port of Cork and was Chief Executive of Bord Gáis Eireann from December 2007 until the end of 2012. During this time, BGE established a significant electricity business and developed significant renewable and conventional generation assets. I have held other senior management positions with ESB, ESB International, PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK) and NTR plc.
Although I live in Cork and grew up in Cork, firstly on Barrack Street and then Knocknaheeny and Bishopstown, I have been travelling the constituency of Ireland South the last few months chatting to people about what they would like to see their representatives in Europe do for them.
One of my main priorities if I am elected will also be to ensure that consumers in Ireland can get more access to banks from across Europe which would cut costs and bring more competition into the market. Just like airlines being able to operate in other countries under the Open Skies policy, so too should banks under an Open Banking policy.
We need to focus on bringing more competition for consumers into the banking market in Ireland.
Currently, we really have just three consumer banks operating here in Ireland. We have seen how successful Revolut has been since it came here but we need more than that. With very little competition in any market it is essentially the consumer who suffers and that is what is happening with banking in Ireland right now.
I believe it is possible for European banks to operate in Ireland as banks in Europe are regulated by one entity, which is the European Central Bank (ECB). We need to start exploring options on how we can do this and help consumers in Ireland get cheaper mortgage and lending rates and higher deposit rates for their savings. There should be no reason people in Ireland cannot get mortgages from banks in Central Europe at cheaper rates than they are currently being offered by widening out the market.
In addition, we need more European telecommunications, energy and insurance companies to follow suit and create real value for customers.
Read More
A simple way to make roads safer: disable drivers’ phones More in this section
Want more EV users? We need more public chargers
19
0
08.05.2024
IRELAND needs to ramp up the installation of electric vehicle public chargers to honour its climate commitments.
This is a big statement, I know, but I do believe it is something we as a country must focus on in the coming years. I think that if we focus on this as a priority more people will be willing to make the switch to electric vehicles.
A 2023 all Ireland study by the Irish EV Association (IEVA) showed more than four in five respondents had low confidence in the infrastructure available to facilitate the adoption of EVs. The study also showed that 72% of those surveyed believe targets of one million EVs in Ireland by 2030 will not be achieved.
While the majority of EV users charge at home, I believe there exists a pressing need for more public charge points, to serve those who don’t have access to a charger at home or in the workplace, and to facilitate longer journeys. The government aims to have 180,000 EVs on our roads by the end of next year, and while public chargers are being installed by private companies on a continuous basis, the pace of this is behind what it needs to be, to adequately serve those who might want to go electric but don’t feel confident doing so yet because of a lack of public........
© Evening Echo
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Tarik Cyril Amar
Rami G Khouri
Dr Ramzy Baroud
Mort Laitner
