Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I mentioned the problem of the distribution grid. When we are using heat pumps as well as electric vehicles, probably the biggest engineering and technical challenge is how do we do that in an urban area. We will not have that problem in one-off houses in rural Ireland because cars can be charged right outside the door of the house. That vehicle and a heat pump can be managed. There will be new home energy management systems coming in which will turn the vehicle or the pump on or off and get power going backwards and forwards. The range of these vehicles is improving. We have access to renewable wind power in many rural parts of the country. This is probably going to be a rural solution first. It will probably be more difficult in some of the urban areas because of the charging difficulties we would have in apartment blocks, terraced housing and semi-detached houses. It will not be easy. One-off rural housing is a perfect target market for electric vehicles as their range comes up and costs come down. The quality is there, as I said. The maintenance costs are lower and the fuel costs are a fraction of other types of car. I see this, first and foremost, as a rural solution.

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