Cork plans up to 700 public EV chargers by 2030

Last year’s €100m national three-year EV strategy provided a roadmap for the delivery of four main EV charging categories — home/apartment charging, residential neighbourhood charging, destination charging, and motorway/en-route charging.

Last month, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan launched a €22m grant scheme to accelerate the development of high-powered EV charging infrastructure on the motorway and dual-carriageway network by the end of next year.

But local authorities will play a key role in the residential neighbourhood and destination charging categories.

Cork City Council’s draft EV strategy aims to have 44 normal-charging pools and 26 fast-charging pools operational by 2025, requiring an investment of between €4m to €5.5m.

Each pool will have capacity to charge several cars simultaneously.

The second phase, which will require an investment of another €11.5m to €17m, aims to have 200 normal-charging and 39 fast-charging pools up and running by 2030, providing between 550 and 700 individual charging points.

The normal chargers will be within a two-minute walk of every home without off-street charging, with the fast-chargers within a five- to 10-minute walk of every home without off-street charging.

It will involve a mix of public and private funding, with the charging units set to be privately run on a tender basis, but with a universal payment system.

The charging pools will be based in publicly managed car parks, publicly controlled lands, in private retail car parks, and in community car parks attached to sports grounds or churches.

The normal charging units will be located in housing estates or on side-streets, with the fast charging units in publicly accessible locations such as libraries and car parks.

The draft plan will show the indicative locations for the charging pools, with individual site surveys required before each location is confirmed.

There are about 3,000 electric cars in the city today which accounts for about 3% of all cars in the city. That figure is expected to grow to 36,000 by 2030.

The draft plan sets out how the city will prepare for that expansion, particularly for residents who do not have a driveway and access to home charging points — which accounts for about 20% of households.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said there is a huge appetite for EV infrastructure such as this.

“It's something residents have been demanding for a long time, particularly those close to the city centre, where own-home charging is not an option,” he said.

“The strategy will point to areas that are going to be prioritised within a walking-distance radius.

“That's going to really 'bring it home' for people and give confidence to anyone considering an electric car about the roadmap ahead.” 

With Cork aiming to be carbon neural by 2030, Mr Moran said this strategy will bring the city much closer to feeling what the transition to a net zero future looks like.

“Nonetheless, as important as this strategy will be, it's still important that it doesn't take focus away from public transport and active travel,” he said.

“They both fit under the umbrella of climate action; but in terms of quality of life, we'll still be running to stand still if we don't change to prioritise other transport options in the city.”

Cork City Council's new climate action plan promises to "continue to support bus and rail investment in the rollout of Bus Connects, investment in suburban rail and plans for light rail" as well as "continue to extend active-travel routes and infrastructure, including dedicated/separated cycle routes in all parts of the city".