ESB criticised for lack of ambition in scaling up EV charging infrastructure

The ESB has shown a lack of ambition in rolling out national infrastructure to enable electric vehicles (EVs) to be recharged at points placed throughout the country, according to Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley.

As a very profitable company, it should have grasped the bull by the horns sooner in having reliable charging points widely available by now, especially in light of a Government target to have one million EVs on Irish roads by 2030, he told the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action on Tuesday.

Responding to an opening statement by ESB ecars indicating it had spent €80 million on recharging infrastructure since 2010, Senator Dooley said he was shocked that the figure was so low. “I would have thought it would be 10 times that...Rollout of charging points is way short of what it should be,” he added.

ESB director of customer solutions Marguerite Sayers defended the level of investment, especially as the ESB faced competition for resources, notably in enabling the electrification of heat and decarbonising power generation in Ireland.

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While it had profits of €400-€600 million in a good year, it had annual investment of €1 billion, a lot of which was spent on decarbonisation, which added up to “a significant level of ambition”, she said.

She accepted the poor quality of chargers in the past, but all of these had been replaced, which had increased reliability. A total of 30,000 charging points were due to be installed in coming years including workplace and home rechargers. The latest range included fast chargers and enabled 300-400 kilometre journeys, Ms Sayers confirmed.

Asked if the one million target could be achieved, Society of the Irish Motor Industry director general Brian Cooke said it was "a massive challenge; not impossible but unlikely based on current sales". He believed a more important target was pursuing reductions of carbon emissions in the transport sector.

There was a need to create a stronger new car market in Ireland and to get as many new EVs on the road as possible in the first instance, Mr Cooke added. It would take longer to establish a market for second-hand EVs, which would probably be after 2025.

The short-term measure was having sufficient financial support for those with a three to four year old car to enable them to bridge the cost gap and acquire an EV, he suggested. He accepted the case for supporting more those who were financially challenged and may be driving a 10-year-old car – there are more than one million vehicles in Ireland which are over 10-years-old.

Mr Cooke rejected a suggestion by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore that motor dealers were likely to favour continued sale of petrol and diesel cars on profitability grounds.

“Our members cannot get enough EVs. They have no issues about selling them. There is a huge appetite for them,” he insisted – while they were investing in the future and training their staff for a world when EVs would dominate sales.

National cycling coordinator with Cyclist.ie and An Taisce Dr Damien Ó Tuama told the committee EVs dominated the debate about mobility too much, when bicycles, e-bikes and e-trikes could play a major role in decarbonising transport, especially in relation to shorter trips in urban areas. Use of ebikes allowed people to travel longer distances, especially where dedicated “cycle super highways” were provided.

Together with use of cargo bikes, they ensured much better use of urban space, facilitating easy deliveries of light goods, and decongestion of cities and towns. In addition, he noted, they increased liveability in urban areas and enhanced public health. “They use minimal resources compared to EVs, which are certainly not zero carbon.”