With another record year for EV sales, we are expanding our charging network with a significant investment in new hubs and upgrading works. Almost a fifth of all new cars being purchased in Ireland are now electric, with a 46% increase in new EVs in 2023 compared to the previous year.
While most people continue to do most of their charging at home, our recent survey shows that almost 80% of EV drivers in the Republic of Ireland use our network as their main source of public charging and to supplement long journeys.
Since our inception in 2010, we have invested almost €90m in building the country’s largest public charging network. Today, we have more than 1,500 charge points across the island of Ireland and have also grown our presence in Great Britain with sites in Wales, Scotland and England. In 2023, we installed over 250 charge points across all our jurisdictions.
“The electrification of transport is critical to countries achieving net zero emissions by 2040. We have led the way by building Ireland’s largest EV charging network and now using that expertise to extend this offering in the UK. In line with Ireland’s climate targets, we aim to build out the network to 3,000 chargers by 2030 and this represents an investment of more than €300 million,” explains John Byrne, Head of eMobility at ESB.
Republic of Ireland
2023 was a record year for the construction of new EV charging hubs by ESB ecars. We constructed a further 16 high-powered charging hubs (representing 84 additional charge points) in Ireland, including Barack Obama Plaza (Tipperary), Kinnegad (Westmeath) and along the Wild Atlantic Way. To date, we have built 36 charging hubs with another two in construction. Carrickmines and Blanchardstown in Dublin will both go live in early 2024.
Our focus continues to be on providing charging hubs on high volume routes, such as motorways and national routes, with amenities that are well-lit and accessible to all.
We have also been working on improving the existing chargers on our network, upgrading rapid chargers around the country from 50kW to 100kW, enabling quicker charging and less queuing for our customers.
Northern Ireland
Following our application to the Levelling Up Fund in November 2021, we were awarded a contract to renew and upgrade the entirety of the existing ESB public charging network in Northern Ireland. Due to complexities in relation to the NI Protocol, the contract between ESB and the Department of Transport UK was delayed and was signed at the end of May 2023.
Since then, we have been busy mobilising the project in relation to equipment ordering, safety procedures, charge point testing and project governance amongst many other deliverables.
We have upgraded almost 90 charge points in the last three months with works ongoing.
Great Britain
We continue to expand our offering in Great Britain, working with local councils and operators to help fulfil their climate ambitions.
As part of our partnership with Birmingham City Council, we are continuing to roll out the planned 200 fast and rapid electric vehicle chargers across Birmingham.
We also constructed a further two sites in London (comprising of 10 charge points) as well as our ultra rapid (300kW) charging hubs in Cardiff, Oakham and Scotland, comprising of 28 new charge points.
For more information, check out esb.ie/ecars