Matthew Sealy
Chairperson, Irish EV Association
Electric vehicle (EV) charging is the new ‘hot topic’ for current and prospective EV owners — at home, in the office and on the move across the country.
At the Irish EV Association (IEVA), we have seen the early adopters’ concerns around ‘range anxiety’ shift as we head towards the early majority stage of EV adoption — where EVs have much better range — but the charging infrastructure is a concern.
Battery electric vehicle adoption
According to car sales statistics for the current year, plug-in vehicles now account for over one in four sales, with battery electric vehicles (BEV) approaching one-fifth of total sales. For BEV, this is a 50% increase in 2022 and close to a 300% increase compared to 2021 figures. With this trend continuing into the next two years, close to half of all cars sold will be fully electric.
Analysis of EV charging habits
We regularly run analyses of charging habits and gauge EV usage and issues. From our home charging survey, close to 90% of those surveyed charge at home, with off-street parking being the predominant place to charge.
So, how do we help those without a dedicated parking location or when they are away from home? We found that when current EV owners are away from home, they use the public network infrequently and mainly when taking longer journeys.
Our analysis of the public en-route charging network earlier this year showed an inadequacy in the current network, with several M-category roads having zero charging infrastructure available. Based on the existing internal combustion engine (ICE) refuelling network, we project that the existing network needs to grow 12-fold to match this by 2030.
Plug-in vehicles now account for over one
in four sales, with battery electric vehicles
(BEV) approaching one-fifth of total sales.
Things are looking up for EVs
Since our analysis at the start of the year, we have seen hubs arrive on some M-category routes. With currently approved planning permission applications, some of our main routes can hit our 2025 en-route charging analysis.
The EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) has been signed into law, establishing charging infrastructure requirements on Europe’s core transport routes, with specific deployment targets for 2025 and beyond. Through our conversations with charge point operators (CPOs) and Government offices, such as ZEVI (Zero Emissions Vehicles Ireland), we observe that there will be a lot of public charging to come in 2024–25.
The framework is being put in place, and while not as visible as we would like to see, CPOs, ZEVI and city councils are setting up plans to produce an adequate public charging network.