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Two new price plans have been launched for the fast electric vehicle charging network across Ireland.
ESB ecars announced the introduction of pricing on a phased basis to support the current upgrade programme of national infrastructure, with plans also afoot to roll out the first High Power chargers in 2020.
Pricing is to be introduced for existing Fast Public Chargers (50kW DC) in Ireland from 18 November. This will be followed by the introduction of pricing for High Power Chargers (150kW DC) once the first high power hubs are installed in early 2020. The standard (22kW AC) network will continue to be free to use while it is upgraded over the coming months.
This is part of an overall €20 million investment programme to meet Ireland's growing demand for electric vehicles.
Under the new pricing scheme, there will be two price plans available for the fast chargers - Pay As You Go or Membership, the latter designed for drivers who typically use the network over five times per month. Pay As You Go is charged at 33c per kWh, while Membership is a €5 monthly subscription fee and a reduced charge of 29c per kWh.
Electric vehicle drivers can avail of an Introductory Offer for a limited time (from 29 October until the end of November) that provides the Membership rate with no monthly subscription for 12 months. Through the Introductory Offer, the average electric vehicle driver could save up to 35% on driving costs compared with a diesel driver over 100km.
Commenting, Niall Hogan, Head of ESB ecars, said: "For Ireland to meet the growing number of electric vehicles on our roads, we need to ensure we have a reliable, accessible, country-wide public charging network. The introduction of pricing to fast public chargers is a natural step in ensuring we improve the network and maintain high standards into the future for electric vehicles. Today's announcement of investment in the public EV charging network is another milestone in ESB leading Ireland's transition to a low carbon economy."
(CM/JG)
