Ireland charges ahead with electric vehicle infrastructure

With the announcement of the Source London scheme last week, aiming to install 1,300 public charging points across the city by 2013, mayor Boris Johnson employed his usual love of hyperbole. The scheme, he said, would make London ’the electric car capital of Europe’. But, despite the ambition of Source London, he might have to concede the title to the capital city to the west: Dublin.

The Republic of Ireland is in the midst of a plan to spread electric vehicle (EV) charging points all over the country. Aiming to make Ireland the first country in Europe with a charging infrastructure that is truly accessible to anyone, anywhere, the E-Car Ireland scheme is an integral part of the government’s plan for a tenth of all cars to be electric powered by 2020 a goal that would mean that 250,000 EVs need to be on the road in the next nine years.