Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1582: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will list the location of the on-street electric car chargers; when they were installed; and the number of times they have been used since installation. [33218/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Electric vehicles will play an increasingly important role in reducing the transport sector's Greenhouse Gas Emissions and in reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels. There is now very significant global investment under way in research and development in the electrification of transport. The technology is maturing to a point where large scale commercial deployment of electric vehicles appears feasible in the short to medium term. There is keen interest internationally in Ireland's decision to be an early mover in this field. Ireland is seen as an excellent test-bed particularly in relation to network infrastructure development.

The ESB will roll out 1,500 charge points on a nationwide basis by December 2011. The rollout has already begun with 12 on street charge points installed as follows:

Also, 15 domestic charge points and 13 industrial chargers have also been installed, as part of the eCar trial being undertaken by ESB. There is no data currently available on the level of usage of the charge points. The roll out of these charge points will accelerate towards year end, in anticipation of the first production EVs from major manufacturers coming to market in early 2011. It is anticipated that approximately 200 public charge points will be in place by year end. ESB also plans to install up to 30 fast charge points across Ireland by the end of 2011, with nine expected to be set up by the end of this year.