Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1286. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated cost of extending the SEAI electric vehicle grant in each of the years 2020 to 2022. [1145/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1287. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the annual expenditure on the SEAI grant scheme for PEV and HBEV vehicles in each year since its introduction; the amount that was spent each year on BEVs and PHEVs, respectively; and the average grant amount for each of PHEVs and BEVs. [1146/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1306. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount his Department has earmarked for the installation of home charge points for electric vehicles in 2018; the amount spent on same in 2017, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1619/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1307. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount his Department has earmarked for public awareness campaigns on electric vehicles in 2018, the amount his Department spent on same in 2017, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1621/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1308. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount his Department has earmarked for the expansion of the public electric vehicle charger network; the amount his Department has spent on same in each of the years from 2011 to 2017 and to date in 2018, by year and expenditure on regular versus rapid chargers, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1622/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1309. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his department is considering initiatives or measures to make it more convenient for residents in apartment blocks to install electric vehicle chargers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1623/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1310. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the ownership status of the State’s electric vehicle infrastructure. [1624/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1337. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether the recent decision by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (details supplied) to prevent ESB networks from using DUoS charges to fund electric vehicle charging infrastructure will result in user charges for electric vehicle users; and, if so, his plans to introduce financial supports to minimise or eliminate user charges. [1999/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1338. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on the future ownership of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and his plans to expand or upgrade the infrastructure, with particular regard to fast chargers. [2000/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1286, 1287, 1306 to 1310, inclusive, 1337 and 1338 together.

The Electric Vehicle Purchase Grant, introduced in April 2011, provides grant aid of up to €5,000 towards the purchase of a new Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) or new Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV).  From the introduction of the scheme to the end of 2017, grant support has been provided for the purchase of a total of 2,636 new vehicles at a cost of €12.36 million in grant support.  Almost €4.3 million was provided in 2017 to support the purchase of 908 new electric vehicles. The table shows details of the number of electric vehicles supported each year, the cost in that year, the breakdown between BEVs and PHEVs, and the average grant amount per vehicle.

The grant scheme will continue with €6 million allocated in my Department’s budget this year.  This provides a 40% increase on the level of expenditure in 2017. The scheme will be kept under review in relation to funding and grant amounts for future years.  As the purchase grant scheme is demand-led it is not possibly to accurately predict how many vehicles will be supported in future years.  

Budget 2018 also contained a number of new measures to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles. 

The new Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant scheme , which came into operation on 1 January 2018, supports the cost of installing a home charger up to a maximum of €600.  Up to the end of 2017, the ESB, through its eCars programme, had provided home charge points to purchasers of new electric vehicles. The new grant scheme applies to both new and second hand BEVs and PHEVs.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland are currently developing an Electric Vehicle Public Engagement Programme which will include an awareness campaign; a driver experience roadshow which will give people the opportunity to drive an electric vehicle and experience the benefits for themselves; and public sector and commercial fleet trials. This programme will be rolled out throughout 2018.

Funding has also been allocated to support the provision of public charging, with a particular focus on increasing the number of rapid chargers.

The allocations provided for these three measures in 2018 are listed in the table.  As these measures are new initiatives, no budget allocations were provided in previous years.

The ESB, through its eCars programme, has rolled out both publicly accessible charging infrastructure and domestic charge points for electric vehicles. There are approximately 900 EV charge points in Ireland of which circa 70 are rapid chargers. 

In March 2014, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities approved an application from ESB Networks to recover the costs of a pilot project to a maximum of €25 million from use of system charges to cover the rollout of this infrastructure. Following a public consultation process, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities published its independent regulatory decision in relation to the ownership of this infrastructure in October 2017. A key outcome of the decision is that the charging network should not form part of the regulated asset base and therefore expansions of the network should not be funded from network charges. This is in keeping with the proposals set out by the European Commission in the Clean Energy for All Europeans package which was published in 2016.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities also envisages the future sale of the infrastructure by ESB Networks. However, the continued ownership of the charging network by ESB Networks for a transitional period of up to ten years is provided for. This ensures no short to medium term impact on the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and allows the ESB to continue to provide electric vehicle charging across Ireland.

The decision also set out the need for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure to operate on a commercial basis. Currently, recharging electric vehicles at public charge points is free and unlimited.  The Deputy will appreciate, however, that free fuel for electric vehicles, funded by electricity consumers, is not sustainable in the longer term as the number of EVs increases. At the same time, it is important that if payments for use of public charge points are introduced in the future, they are at a level which does not disincentivise the uptake of electric vehicles.

The Low Emissions Vehicle Taskforce, which is co-chaired by my Department and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, is considering a range of measures and options available to Government to accelerate the deployment of electric vehicles.  A key focus of the work of the Taskforce is examining options for infrastructure, regulation and pricing in order to devise a sustainable policy framework for effective and efficient electric vehicle charging.  This includes examining options for providing convenient charging for apartment dwellers and other homeowners who do not have access to off street parking.