The Minster for Transport, Eamon Ryan T.D. has launched a new €21m scheme to accelerate the development of high-powered Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across Ireland's road network.

This scheme aims to stimulate the private sector by installing high-powered recharging pools every 60 kilometres along major roads by 2025. The scheme also targets publicly available facilities within 3km driving distance of the motorway/dual-carriageway network such as service area operators, hotels, retail outlets for example.

Future schemes, which will be rolled out over the coming year, will continue to target other parts of the road network as well as recharging at destinations and in neighbourhoods, further supporting Ireland's Climate Action Plan targets and the country's EV growth trajectory.

Minister Ryan said: "This will help ensure that we have pools of high-speed chargers at dependable distances along our road network. It will give assurance to EV drivers that they will have accessible and rapid charging facilities on their journeys, driving even further EV adoption and helping to reduce our emissions.

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"Ireland is perhaps more suited to EVs than many countries because more of us live in houses where we have space to charge at home. This gives us a huge advantage and signs on it, with over 110,000 EVs on the road already. This scheme will back this advantage up, providing more reliability once we hit the road and ensuring reliability for those who may not be able to charge at home."

Highlighting the scheme's significance in the delivery of road infrastructure, Peter Walsh, CEO of TII, said: "This initiative marks a significant leap towards enhancing services across our road network. We are committed to delivering robust recharging infrastructure that underpins economic growth and sustainable connectivity across Ireland's roads."

This program operates through a competitive grant system, following the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) State Aid guidelines, with the aim of accelerating the deployment of recharging infrastructure.

Funding from these grants will cover the capital expenses of implementing new infrastructure, providing substantial support for other qualified costs. Eligible expenses include various aspects related to charging infrastructure such as construction, installation, upgrades, extensions, as well as associated civil engineering works, and fees for Local Authority development consent.

Applications are open until 10 April 2024, with successful applicants to be notified by mid-2024.