The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) has taken over the responsibility for the operation, maintenance and development of the charge point network for electric vehicles users in Northern Ireland from today, 30 July.

The move follows successful completion of the installation of a network of 334 public charging points across Northern Ireland, jointly managed by the Department for Regional Development (DRD) and Department of Environment (DoE) ecar project, which began in 2011.

The transfer to ESB facilitates the next phase of the project, which will seek to put in place a cutting edge operating system to allow the Electric Vehicle charging network to be run commercially within the electricity sector.

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Transport Minister Danny Kennedy said: "My vision four years ago was to create a network of electric vehicle charge points which would become an integral part of the transport network.

"The completion of the network has contributed to the increase in the number of ecars registered here from five in 2011 to around 750 today, a number that continues to rise steadily month on month. Charge point usage has significantly increased in parallel with this growth and there have been over 23,000 individual charging events carried out over the past three years.

"The transfer of the network to the commercial sector offers electric vehicle drivers the benefit of a streamlined and customer-focussed approach to the on-going operation of the charge points within one entity and provides ESB with the opportunity to develop a commercial approach to meet increasing demand. I wish the Electricity Supply Board every success as the ecar project moves from strength to strength."

(CD/MH)