Folks, 2022 was a rollercoaster of a year for EV ownership and the association in general. The headlines: We saw enormous growth in the sale of EVs across the year. The climate around EVs shifted, with price hikes on charging, general malaise around public infra, etc. We polled councils around the country to definitively say who charges for parking in an EV while charging. We launched /q to get better data on charging queues. I discussed the future of the association and how we should elevate our ambitions. We attended the Energy Saving Expo, EV Summit & more. We ran a home charging survey. Finally, IEVOA and our friends up north got together! ZEVI was formally launched. Our annual charging queue survey was released. The committee put together a lengthy and detailed response to DoT’s EV infrastructure strategy. This was before ZEVI was launched. Our friends at Tesla Owners Ireland ran humanitarian trips to bring Ukrainian refugees here. The committee rotated (per usual) after the AGM. I wrote a detailed response to the RTE Prime Time climate episode on EVs. On top of that, we finally put some love and attention to social media, growing our Twitter page to almost 1,500 and Facebook to almost 15,000. If you’re following us but not a formal member, you’re missing out on invites to events, monthly newsletters and giving us membership numbers to bolster our activities! Consider being a formal member (free or with donation, that’s entirely up to you). 2023 will likely be no different. We want to host more events, webinars, share more and lobby more on your behalf. Our AGM is up-coming in April (dates, details pending). And if you’ve been around the association for a bit, you’ll know that there will be a bit of shuffling on the committee. Notably, myself (Kevin Dowling, chair) & Roland Krijnen (vice chair) & Paul Kelly (IT) will be vacating our roles. Pending election, new faces will come into the fray, as well as existing folks moving into new roles. You can see all roles & who occupies them here. As we approach the AGM, I would strongly recommend EVangelists in the community to consider stepping up to work with a talented and dedicated bunch. You’ll learn a lot, too, as we’re very well organised and executing on various projects that normally wouldn’t be exposed to folks at this level. If you have questions and want to chat, pop me an email here.
As per our AGM, held Saturday 9th of April 2022, we have a new committee makeup to announce! As is typical, this is made up of some musical chairs on the committee with existing members, as well as the introduction of new members. For those unaware, we elect a committee of 11 members at each AGM. 4 of our members are official directors of our non-profit as a CLG, and 7 of the members have a portfolio of some sort. 1 committee space can be occupied by a ceremonial president role, but as-yet, we have not utilised that role to date. Before introducing the new committee, we wish to acknowledge the incredible foundational work put forth by some of our outgoing members: Simon Acton, who has been Chair for the last number of years and really brought in a new ethos and a slew of new committee members as the association grew up from car club to true advocate for EVs in Ireland. Michael Sherlock, who has been a member since the foundation of the association. Over the last number of years he has served as our treasurer, but has decided to move on as we became a CLG and have increased our revenues recently. Michael read out a brilliant statement to wish our incoming crew well at the AGM. Guillaume Seguin, who has been a cornerstone of the association, and the association for many years. Last year, he stepped aside from functional roles within the committee as he moved back to his native France. And from 2022 onwards, his presence will be missed. Bart Connolly, who has been a member for many years, and most recently has been involved in much of our lobbying efforts, will step aside from the committee, but stay on-board and accessible as a member of our lobbying sub-committee. We want to thank each of these gents for their service in the past, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours! And on to the current crop. Our new committee for this 2022 term looks like: Role Name Chair Kevin Dowling Vice Chair Roland Krijnen Secretary Thomas McGuire Treasurer Eamon Stack PR Officer Peter Bracken Events Co-ordinator Derek Reilly IT Officer Paul Kelly Without portfolio Matthew Sealy Without portfolio Annette Lynch Conway Without portfolio Blake Boland Without portfolio Inge Davidsen As part of the run-up to election, Kevin felt it necessary to set out his stall by providing a vision document for the role of Chair. This sets out the term’s goals in broad terms, both in terms of actual aims as well as culturally, as we enter the next phase of EV adoption in Ireland. Congratulations to everyone on the committee, particularly those newly elected. This will certainly be an exciting time!
The Irish EV Owners Association will hold our annual general meeting (“AGM”). This meeting will review the previous year, set out the agenda for the following year and hold any votes on motions posed by members as well as a committee election. Note that this year, unlike previous years, the association is a fully registered non-profit CLG, so 4 of the elected committee members will remain or become company directors. Also unlike previous years, we will be electing a new role of Vice Chair, as per an amendment voted on last year. As per 2021’s AGM, memberships run in the calendar year only, as set out in the members annex of the constitution. So for those seeking to vote in the AGM, you’ll need to be in good standing for 2022 beforehand. The membership annual fee is set at €20. To register, please fill in the form below, or do so via this link.