Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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197. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of grants for electric vehicles provided in 2021, by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63160/21]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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198. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of electric vehicle home charging grants provided in 2021, by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63161/21]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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245. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of electric vehicle grants provided in 2021 by car make and model in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1341/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 197, 198 and 245 together.

Providing a sustainable, low-carbon transport system is a key priority of my Department. The Programme for Government commits to a 7% average annual emissions reduction to 2030; ultimately, the goal is for a zero-emission mobility system by 2050. The national car and van fleet accounts for almost 60% of all land transport emissions, and so a transition to low emissions vehicles, including

EVs, is a necessary step-change to effect a substantial reduction in transport emissions.

An overview of the number of EV purchase grants and home charger grants by county in 2021 and the number of electric vehicle grants provided in 2021 by car make and model is set out in the following tables:

Figure 1. Number of vehicle grants paid per county address

Fig 2. Number of home charger grants paid per county  

Fig 3. electric vehicle grants provided in 2021 by car make and model

The SEAI grant scheme aims to encourage behavioural change and support the Government’s commitment to achieving a 51% reduction in transport emissions by 2030. The grant schemes are kept under continuous review to ensure that they are as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort.

Further funding of over €70m has been allocated to the EV purchase grant scheme and home charger grant scheme in 2022.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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199. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of electric vehicle charging points constructed under the public charge point scheme in 2020 and 2021, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63162/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the electric vehicle charging network over the coming years. A national charging infrastucture strategy is due to be published for public consultation early this year which will set out a pathway to stay ahead of demand over the critical period out to 2030.

Preparations are underway to establish an Office of Low Emission Vehicles. This Office will play an important role in our transition to zero emission vehicles. It will co-ordinate measures to support the uptake of EVs and the rollout of charge point  infrastructure.

In terms of existing supports for public charging, the Public Charge Point Scheme, which is administered by the SEAI, continues to be available during 2022 to provide local authorities with a grant of up to €5,000 to support the development of on-street public chargers. The primary focus of the scheme is to provide support for the installation of infrastructure which will facilitate owners of electric vehicles, who do not have access to a private parking space, but instead rely on parking their vehicles in public places near their homes to charge their EVs. It should be noted that this scheme facilitates the installation of standard charge points.

Thirteen local authorities have been in touch with SEAI in relation to the scheme.  To date, letters of offer have issued to Louth County Council and Dublin City Council in 2021, to install a total of 29 charge points within their administrative areas.

*A charging station can be dual which results in two charge points being available for cars to use.

There were no charge points constructed under this scheme in 2020 or 2021 respectively. My Department is currently reviewing the Scheme to ensure that it is as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort.

There is also a need for a seamless public charging network that will provide for situations or instances where home charging is not possible such as on-street and residential charging, destination charging, and workplace charging. 

€10 million was committed from the Climate Action Fund to support ESB investment in the charging network and this has leveraged a further €10 million investment from ESB, with the infrastructure to be in place by the end of 2022. This intervention alone will result in:

- 90 additional high power chargers, each capable of charging two vehicles

- 52 additional fast chargers, which may replace existing standard chargers

- 264 replacement standard chargers with more modern technology and with each consisting of two charge points

Further details on the progression of this project can be found at esb.ie/ecars/our-network/network-upgrades.

My Department is also developing a new scheme which will support the installation of destination charge points in locations such as hotels, visitor centres and parks. This new initiative will help provide another critical link in the overall network for public charging.