Telecoms company Eir has teamed up with EasyGo to instal a network of electric vehicle chargers across the country.
The first phase of the project includes seven new stations in Co Carlow, in conjunction with the local council, with four chargers installed in Carlow, and one each in Tullow, Bagenalstown and Borris. Further installations are planned in the coming months, with plans to swap unused phone boxes for electric chargers where possible.
"This new infrastructure will benefit the community similar to the way public payphone services once did. The chargers will not only benefit people living and working in Carlow, but those travelling through," said Eir chief executive Oliver Loomes.
Mr Loomes said the company was in talks with other county councils across the country. "We hope others will follow Carlow's lead," he said. "Wherever possible we will replace unused Eir payphone kiosks with rapid EV charging units, and we will continue to assist EasyGo and County Councils across Ireland to help to make the transition to electric vehicle ownership a viable alternative for people."
The joint venture plans to replace up to 180 telephone kiosks with fast EV chargers.
Mission
"EasyGo is on a mission to decarbonise transport, and our partnership with Eir can go a long way to achieving that," Chris Kelly, EasyGo technical director, said. "We are pleased to report that we have active engagement with many councils across the country and will be making some announcements on those in the coming weeks."
The launch of the new charging infrastructure was welcomed by local councillor and cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council Fintan Phelan. "This joint initiative by Eir, EasyGo and Carlow County Council to install state of the art new EV chargers is a great example of how organisations working together can improve the provision and rollout of much needed electric vehicle charging infrastructure in public areas which will be of great benefit and convenience to the public that are switching to electric vehicles while also contributing to achieving our ambitious climate action goals and targets."
