Irish EV owners to be charged €16.99 p/m to charge at public points

5 Nov 2015

EV charging point image via ESB

ESB has revealed its pricing structure for electric vehicle (EV) public charge points in Ireland for the first time, with those subscribed expected to pay €16.99 per month for access.

Until now, Irish EV owners have been availing of the public charging points dotted across the country for no charge due to the fact that the number of EV sales in Ireland has been relatively low.

So far in Ireland, the number of EVs on the road is only a small percentage of the total car numbers on Ireland’s roads, but according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 453 EVs had been registered in 2015 up until September, which marks a considerable rise in less than a year.

With this is mind, the ESB has for the first time publicly revealed its pricing structure for public charge points with a flat-rate subscription fee, which will come into effect from January 2016.

This charge will include access to the slower, more common, charging points, as well as the fast-charge points.

However, the latter will see an additional 30c per minute charge added on top of the €16.99 per month.

The ESB has said, however, that Existing ESB ecars customers will continue to have free access until April 2016.

Public backlash

“Ireland has now one of the largest and most advanced electric vehicle charge point networks in Europe, so it is now opportune to provide for a funding model that maintains and develops this cutting-edge technology,” said the head of ESB ecars, Gareth Davis.

“A comprehensive public charging system with supporting IT and communications is essential to enable EVs to be used in Ireland.”

However, EV owners in Ireland have taken to message boards and Facebook to voice their dissatisfaction over the announcement, fearing that it will drive many people away from owning an EV.

An online petition has now been established by Irish EV owners calling for ESB to re-think its subscription model.

“ESB ecar needs to re-think the announced charging plans, the €17 a month fee, along with 30c per one minute FCP usage will kill EV sales and push people away from EV,” the petition says.

At the time of writing, 267 people have added their signature.

Updated 05/11/2015 15:40

Speaking to Siliconrepublic.com, the head of ESB ecars, Gareth Davis, has said that the €16.99 per month will not be the only price plan available to EV owners.

ESB expects to roll-out a number of different price plans available to existing and future EV owners in the coming months, catering to both occasional and frequent users but they have yet to be finalised or made public.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com