Electric Vehicle charging points – more work needed!

The Climate Action Plan published by Government in 2019 by Richard Bruton T.D. committed to a significant increase in the number of Electric Vehicle charging points by local authorities.

This plan aimed to end all carbon emissions by 2050 with strict Carbon Budgets in that journey. For 2030, policies are being put in place which will deliver: –
• 4 times the amount of renewable electricity
• 10 times the amount of home retrofitting
• Better Farm Practices
• 25 times the penetration of Electric Vehicles
• Half the food and plastic waste
• 500,000 commuters switching to public or active transport

Since the plan was published, we have yet to see the delivery of greater numbers of EV charging points in the northside of the city. I therefore, sought an update from Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council recently as to the progress being made in this regard. The Chief Executive advised me that Dublin City Council is aware of the transition to electric vehicles as set out in the Climate Action Plan as we prepare to respond to the needs of the citizens of the City by providing a sustainable urban mobility strategy. The Council is also aware that technology is changing rapidly and that a range of different solutions will be required to successfully address current and future mobility demand, not only in the City, but also across the wider Dublin Metropolitan Area.

This requires careful consideration and planning to ensure that the Council can play their part to facilitate the provision of a comprehensive, reliable and interoperable electric vehicle-charging infrastructure. This is so that members of the public and business community can be confident in making decisions to purchase electric vehicles and to use electric vehicles for personal, leisure and business use, for use on both short and long journeys.

In order to inform the four local authorities of the type and number of chargers required, the four Dublin Local Authorities, together with SMART Dublin and CARO, have commissioned a strategic study. This will allow us examine how the four Councils can best facilitate the provision of electric vehicle-charging infrastructure across the Dublin region and the scale of investment required.

The study is being finalised, at which stage a presentation can be made to the elected representative of Dublin City Council.

As and when that presentation and information is available, I will share it here and would be happy to get your feedback and views on the study.