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Minister Ryan Announces 17 new high-powered recharging pools across Ireland’s National Road Network
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- Minister Eamon Ryan has announced 131 new high-powered recharging points for electric vehicles to be built across 17 recharging pools along major roads.
- Average distance between recharging pools will be 45km
- The infrastructure will be built by private business, grant aided by the Department of Transport.
- 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.
The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, has today 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. Check gov.ie for further details.
Notes to the Editor
Background information:
The grant scheme targeted businesses within 3km driving distance of the motorway network such as service area operators, hotels, retail outlets etc.
As part of the scheme launch, TII gathered information on existing recharging pools nationwide to ensure the most efficient provision and distribution of new infrastructure.
This initiative takes the form of a competitive grant process, adhering to General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) State Aid rules. These allow EU member states to bring certain state aid schemes into place without prior notification to the EU Commission. They are designed to maximise support and incentivisation for private companies.
This grant aid will support the capital costs of installing the new infrastructure, with up to 60% of eligible costs under the scheme potentially funded. Eligible costs under this scheme include a wide array of charging infrastructure-related expenses, including construction, installation, upgrade, or extension of recharging infrastructure, as well as associated civil engineering works and Local Authority development consent fees.
Grant aid is claimed and paid on successful completion of two milestone events, the first being the entering into a grid connection agreement with ESB Networks, the second based on the final testing and commissioning of the new EV recharging infrastructure and it being operational and available to the public.
This grant scheme drives the delivery of ZEVI’s Alternative 2 “Medium EV Charging Capacity Scenario” which calls for AFIR 2030 TEN-T targets for LDVs to be delivered in 2025.
The EV Infrastructure Implementation Report, which is also being published today, is an initial set of actions and deliverables that support the delivery of the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. The plan sets out a road map for the delivery of Ireland’s EV recharging infrastructure between 2023-2025, assuring car users of the feasibility of switching to an EV, and enabling Ireland to meet our national carbon reduction targets.
The National EV Charging Plan is comprised of the National Road EV Charging Network Plan and Regional and Local EV Charging Network Plan. The final National Road EV Charging Network Plan was published in May 2024 and focuses on the En-route, Motorway and Primary and Secondary Roads. The draft Regional and Local EV Charging Network Plan was launched for public consultation in May 2024. This plan provides a pathway for the accelerated delivery of regional and local networks of public electric vehicle (EV) recharging infrastructure in cities, towns, and villages across Ireland, in line with both national and European ambitions for cleaner transportation. The final plan is expected to be published in late 2024.