Study shows EV Charging Infrastructure is clearly Inadequate

The Irish EV Owners Association analysis of the EV charging infrastructure along the main routes on the island shows a major challenge.  We conclude the infrastructure for those traveling city to city is totally inadequate for the current number of EVs.  This situation will be in crisis by 2027 if there is not a substantial investment in EV charging infrastructure projects.   

We approach our analysis in a systematic way.  We created a formula to estimate the number of EV DC Fast Charge Points needed based on the relative number of EVs compared to the number of petrol/diesel pumps for those cars, adjusted for the different fuelling behaviour between EV and ICE [internal combustion] vehicles.   

We believe the current fuelling infrastructure, for fuelling petrol and diesel vehicles,  should be the template for EV charging.  We have seen this pattern in the most advanced countries for EV adoption, like Norway, where 90% of new vehicles are electric.  Forecourt owners there allowed different  companies to  install charging infrastructure in their extensive carparks, with major forecourts having 20-60 charge points supplied by different providers. The UK government fully funds the installation of electricity infrastructure like power lines and  substations for such installations in England.

Our  study calculated a score for the M1 of  minus 19, meaning there are 19 DC Fast EV Charge Points short to meet current demand. For the M8, between our two biggest cities, the score is minus 39. That means the situation is much more serious than stated in the new National EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy published recently by ZEVI. 

One of our members reported having to go to  6 different charging locations, on December 29, to find a chargepoint that was  open, in working order, with a queue of less than one hour.   That happened on the M7, where all EV drivers that day faced massive queues.  When did this ever happen to a driver of a petrol or diesel car?  This is not a once-off exception. A survey of our members found that half of EV drivers experience queues every second visit to a public charging location. When members were  asked about the worst queue last year,  the average was 39 minutes.  No one has to  queue to get petrol or diesel – certainly no more than 5 minutes.  Neither should EV drivers experience queues of more than 5 minutes. That is what we mean by a “just transition”. That is a fundamental principle we need to uphold as we transition to more sustainable transport. 

The government has an aggressive policy to increase the number of EV to one million by 2030. This is vital if we are to meet our EU CO2 reduction targets.  Although we might not achieve that exact number by 2030, following Norway, UK and most EU countries, we will have very significant EV adoptions by 2030.  It seems the government has failed, to date,  to have the same focus on the necessary EV charging infrastructure to  support their EV adoption policy.  With the  publication of the new National EV Charging Infrastructure strategy, this might be changing. And with this, we are seeing a shift from the “early-adoption” phase where 80% of charging is done at home, and moving towards mass-adoption where shared-charging & on-route charging will start to hold a larger percentage of the charging solution across the island.

We are very pleased at the launch of ZEVI, a dedicated office in the Dept of Transport to drive forward the necessary strategy and plans to facilitate the transition to more sustainable transport.  We support the new National EV Charging Infrastructure strategy.  Our analysis reveals how the current infrastructure is totally inadequate to meet the current need.  We need more urgency to meet the need, now. 

Total Number of Additional  EV DC Fast  Chargers Needed on major routes