| ESB ecars - together with with the
Mayor of Galway, Michael Crowe - has launched Galway's first
Electric Car charge point at Woodquay.
The launch is part of ESB's plan to build the charging infrastructure
nationwide to meet the Government target of 10% of all vehicles
to be electric by 2020.
Galway is the second city after Dublin to have public on-street
charge points installed and this will be followed by a rollout
of charge points in Cavan, Cork, Waterford and Portlaoise
in the coming weeks.
Also at the event was the newly launched electric car, the
Nissan LEAF, which is currently doing a roadshow tour around
Ireland.
The public charge points will be located throughout the Republic
and at least one will be built for every town with a population
of more than 1,500. The 30 fast chargers to be built by 2011
will be located along all major inter urban routes, 60km apart.
Domestic charge points are also being installed in the homes
of participants of ESB
ecars trial in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Ennis
and Sligo. Participants, including Conor Faughnan of AA Ireland,
now have the opportunity to charge at home and on-street and
are the first to test out the new electric motoring experience.
ESB's ecar trial is fundamental to supporting the planning/implementation
of the charging infrastructure in Ireland as well as analysing
customer behaviour and attitudes.
The Nissan LEAF is on tour around Ireland and potential customers
can take it for a test drive and reserve it in advance of
its arrival in February 2011. Other automotive companies such
as Mitsubishi will follow Nissan closely - with Mitsubishi's
iMiEV, available in 2011 and Renault’s Fluence later in the
year.
The government has set ambitious targets for the introduction
of Electric Vehicles in the coming years -
- 10% of all vehicles to be electric-run by 2020
- 2000 EVs by end of 2011
- 6,000 EVs by end of 2012.
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