Over 6.4 million electric kilometres driven on Irish roads in 2016, using Ireland’s Electric Vehicle Charging Network

Ireland’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network was used over140,000 times to recharge electrically powered vehicles in 2016, converting to over six million zero tailpipe emission kilometres on Irish roads and displacing 390,000 litres of fossil fuels.

This is according to Gareth Davis, Head of ecars at ESB, who set out the critical role of electric vehicles in mitigating climate change and improving air quality at a major conference this morning in Dublin Castle.

Mr Davis told the Transport and Climate Change Summit this morning that these new figures highlight the real benefits to Irish motorists, our economy and environment as the electrification of our road transport fleet spearheads the fight against climate change. “The threats to our environment have forced us to think about the way we live, including the way we travel. Supplementing the ever wider choice of ecars on offer from car manufacturers, ESB has developed an island of Ireland-wide charging infrastructure of 1,200 public charge points and innovative services to support the widespread adoption of electric vehicles on Irish roads.”

Easing the transition from conventional cars to electric vehicles is key to encouraging people to make the switch. The driving experience for EV owners is improving all the time, and Mr Davis outlined ESB’s enhanced charge point management system, now powered by infrastructure software provider Driivz. “This system allows ESB ecars to monitor the availability of the charge point network and to remotely operate charge point units in the field, as well as the ability to carry out fault diagnoses and repair. So as drivers plug in their EVs, and others disconnect and continue their journeys, the charge point map is constantly changing to reflect this.”

“This exciting new system underpins our ‘ecar connect’ app that provides real-time public charge point status and occupancy information to users across web and mobile platforms, with a 24/7 customer support helpline also available,” Mr Davis concludes.

In addition, the charge point management system provides ESB with data on overall usage, which will assist with the future planning of the network.