192 New EV Fast Charging Ports To Be Installed In Ireland – CleanTechnica

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Ireland’s Dept. of Transport recently announced 90 new EV charging hubs will be installed with 192 fast charging ports. The average charging rate for each port will be about 250 kW.

“Today’s announcement marks the final major phase of our Light Duty Vehicle initiative, following the earlier Phase 1 and Phase 2 schemes, and completes this series of investments in our national EV charging network. Together, these schemes aim to ensure that drivers across Ireland will have reliable access to high-powered charging, making the transition to electric practical and convenient. Importantly, this investment will also bring high-quality, high-powered EV charging to more rural locations, helping to promote local economies, support tourism, and strengthen regional development.” said Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien.

The broader plan is to have a national EV charging network with the distance between charging hubs just 30 kilometers or less. Thirty kilometers is only about 18 miles; if there are high-speed chargers every 18 miles along primary and secondary roadways there will be enough charging opportunities so EV drivers don’t have range anxiety.

In a sense, range anxiety is something that occurs partially in people’s minds so they incorrectly assume they need an EV with 700 miles of range, when in fact, all that is necessary is to build out adequate charging infrastructure. As has been pointed out by other CleanTechnica writers, people in general tend to overestimate how much they drive in a day. In Ireland, the average commute distance is about 16 kilometers or 10 miles. For some Irish college students it may be twice that, which is still only about 20 miles.

Zach just wrote an article about high EV sales in California, a US state with a much larger population and economy than Ireland, that also has already achieved a small distance or travel time between EV charging options. This distance in CA may even be less than 18 miles — “to expand the state’s network of EV chargers has resulted in nearly every Californian living within 10 minutes of an EV fast charger.”

To reiterate a point, rural areas of Ireland are not being left out. “I am delighted to see the rollout of these EV recharging hubs right across regional and rural Ireland. Achieving our climate action plan targets will only be possible if drivers know they can charge conveniently and reliably, and today’s announcement is another significant step towards achieving that. This investment marks an important step in giving people the assurance that switching to electric is not only the right choice for the environment, but also a practical one for their daily journeys.” said Minister of State for International and Road Transport, Logistics, Rails and Ports, Seán Canney.

The Irish Times reported in the beginning of this month that BEV sales are doing well in Ireland. Ireland also has a goal to be climate neutral by 2050. “The State shall, so as to reduce the extent of further global warming, pursue and achieve, by no later than the end of the year 2050, the transition to a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy.”

There are relevant goals for the year 2030, one is: “Since 2021, Ireland’s Climate Action Plan has included a target to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources up to 80% in 2030.” This goes to the point that Ireland’s electric vehicles will increasingly be operated using clean electricity.

One of the leading EV nations, Norway, has a similar sized population to Ireland and its electricity is from about 98% clean sources, so it can be done.

The Netherlands is a larger country by population that has taken the approach to build out its national charging networks first, rather than promoting EVs first, as written about by Raymond.

I found this somewhat amusing and astonishing stat about EV charging in the Netherlands: “For instance, in the Netherlands there is one charger for every 1.5 km of road…”

I haven’t been to the Netherlands and I don’t know if that’s entirely true, but it does go to the same point that all EVs do not need 700 miles of range. They only need enough range to get to the next EV charging opportunity, and more and more EV chargers are being installed, so the distance between charging ports is gradually shrinking.