Dr. Aoife O'Grady:

We are doing work to try to establish that through, for example, the local authority side. There are so many variables feeding into it. Let us assume that between 70% to 75% of homes could have access to home charging. If all of those homeowners use overnight home charging, they would always leave their home with a battery that is charged to 80%. In new vehicles, that would provide a 300 km to 400 km journey. For most trips in Ireland, that would mean they would not need to top up unless it is a very long distance.

We want to put in charging points at places that are convenient for people to use. We heard that a 50 kW charging point takes between 45 and 50 minutes to provide an 80% top-up. People are not going to stop and charge somewhere and sit for 45 to 50 minutes. Our plan is to put that type of charging unit in or around trip destinations, where people are going anyway for a purpose. It is either a supermarket, library, sports club, or swimming pool. While they are there, they can charge their vehicle and it is ready to go when they come out. There is also the en route charging, which is done for very long distance journeys.

What we have is a system whereby we know how much power the cars that we want to have on the roads in 2030 will require. The challenges and difficulties are in analysing how that will be divided between the different types of charging and the different kilowatts. The alternative fuel infrastructure regulation, AFIR, proposal is coming through the EU at present, which will set a mandatory regulation for the provision of high-powered charging along the trans-European transport network, TEN-T, core and additional motorway network. That has to be done regardless of what we think our modelling needs. That will be an EU regulation.

Over the coming six to 12 months, we plan to work with local authorities to identify what they have within their power to do, both in the context of neighbourhood charging and destination charging. We will also launch destination charging schemes by the end of this year for sporting organisations so that people can have them in sports clubs.

We expect that through this process, we will get a sense over time of where the charging will go, the power that will be attached to it and then we will see where the gaps are. It is an incremental process.

The other factor that is changing is that the battery lives of the vehicles are improving all the time. Ten years ago, when we were starting out, one got 200 km to 250 km on a charged battery. This year, most of the vehicles that are new to the market are giving 400 km to 500 km, with some coming in at 700 km. In five years time, a 700 km range on the battery may be standard for a vehicle in Ireland, which will cover almost any single journey a driver might want to make. This means that if drivers have access to a home charger, they will not need to top up elsewhere.

The issue is very complicated, with a lot of variables and assumptions. It is impossible to say at this point what we will need by 2030.