The Cullen family do a spot of shopping in Dublin's city centre while their electric car charges for free at an ESB ecar charge point located in Q-Park Clerys, Dublin
The world’s oldest department store (Clerys) in Dublin City has today yet again reinvented itself to embrace a new electric car era. ESB ecars, a division of ESB Electric Ireland, has just installed e-car charging points in the shopping emporium’s car park, Q-Park. Best of all, electric car drivers, who opt to charge their cars while out shopping, won’t have to pay for the service.
ESB ecars, as part of its greening of the country with electric charge points, has installed the electric charge stations in the Clerys car park – Q-Park.
Today, ESB ecars said Clerys multi-storey car park (Q-Park) had set a new standard for car parking in Ireland with the launch of electric car charge points.
The green points will enable motorists to charge their car while they are shopping, dining or carrying out business in the city centre.
The charge points are part of the ESB charging infrastructure network which is being rolled out in retail parks, service stations as well as on-street and off street car parks and in the homes of electric car motorists.
Drivers can pre-book a designated electric car (ecar) parking space online.
Electricity will be free for consumers: Q-Park
Q-Park will not be charging for for the electricity and if customers book online they can avail of the discounted parking charges as well as reserving the dedicated ecar parking space.
Charge points are accessed by using an electronic card that electric car motorists receive from ESB ecars when they purchase an electric car and register for charging online.
Q-Park Clerys already offers a range of parking services such as on-loan baby buggies, baby changing facilities, complimentary umbrellas on rainy days, flat-tyre changes, jump starts and hosts to assist with shopping bags.
With the new ecar charging service, ESB Electric Ireland says Q-Park Clerys is now the most advanced car parking facility in the country.
“The availability of ecar charging in car parks offers customers a convenient place to charge and helps to further promote the adoption of electric cars in Ireland. We are delighted to partner with Q-Park who is committed to promoting and supporting the principles of sustainable development in its business,” said Paul Mulvaney, managing director, ESB ecars, today.
Ray Peers, CEO, Q-Park Ireland, added: “We are delighted to partner with ESB ecars and to be the first multi-storey car park in Ireland to offer this service. We are continuously looking at new and convenient services which help to make everyday life easier for our customers. Our pre-booking service is also a first, guaranteeing customers a space.”
Q-Park Clerys is just over one minutes’ walk from Clerys and O’Connell Street and is in close proximity to Henry Street, the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theate and the Peacock Theatre, the Hugh Lane Gallery and Writers Museum, the Savoy and Cineplex cinemas, as well as top eateries such as Chapter One and 101 Talbot Street.
The Clerys vision
Clerys stretches out over Dublin City’s main street – O’Connell Street. The store has a rich architectural heritage. It opened its doors to the public in 1854
Poised in the heart of Dublin City on the fair city’s eponymous O’Connell Street, Clerys has been a real symbol of Dublin City since the department store was first set up in 1854. Even back then, Clerys led the example for where consumers could have a type of one-stop-shop, all under one roof.
Clerys is renowned for having changed the future of shopping. Then it was the entrepreneurial vision in 1941 of local draper Denis Guiney and his wife Mary Guiney (they had a retail emporium called Guineys on nearby Talbot Street – the store still exists) who purchased Clerys, saving it from going into liquidation and bringing a new discount philosophy (high volumes, lower prices) to the store, helping to keep people in jobs at the time.
A complete refurbishment of Clerys was completed in 2004 at a cost of €22m.
Over the years the store has become symbolic of shopping in Dublin City, with many people still choosing to meet under the beautiful Clerys Clock that keeps watch on O’Connell Street over the store, which has many architectural significance.
O’Connell Street itself was formerly known as Sackville Street, but it was renamed in 1924 in honour of the Irish nationalist Daniel O’Connell. Coincidentally, O’Connell Street hosts O’Connell’s statue, which itself is towered over by the modern-day Spire that reflects Dublin’s new 21-century multicultural and economic vision.
