Electric Vehicles are the future, and we need to invest in our charging infrastructure now…

By Rónán Davison-Kernan from EVANI. The group was formed in 2016 and earlier this year transitioned to become the Electric Vehicle Association Northern Ireland, a not-for-profit community interest company. Their two main aims are to represent the interests of electric vehicle users in Northern Ireland and to promote EV use here.

Electric vehicle sales in Northern Ireland tripled between 2019 and 2020, going from 579 units to 1,680 – despite the pandemic.

To put it another way, there were almost as many new EVs registered in Northern Ireland in 2020 as in the 7 year period from 2011 to 2017. There are now more than 4,000 EVs on NI roads.

There is an ever-growing number of models available as manufacturers transition away from petrol and diesel. These aren’t all Teslas, Audis and Porsches – there are more and more models available below £30,000, from the Renault Zoes to the MG ZS and the Volkswagen ID.3.

Prices are falling all the time as the market opens up – and the running costs of EVs are significantly lower than petrol and diesel. Charging at home overnight, my car adds 160 miles of range for less than £4 (less than 3p per mile).

According to the Department for the Economy, 49% of NI’s electricity came from renewable sources in 2020. Minister Dodds is aiming for a target of at least 70% by 2030. Even on a coal-fired grid such as Poland, EVs emit significantly less CO₂ than diesel and petrol across their lifespan. NI is a world leader in the integration of renewable electricity and EVs here are already much cleaner than petrol or diesel, a situation that will only improve. EVs also avoid the harmful tailpipe emissions particularly associated with diesels – emissions linked to the deaths of 10s of thousands of people in the UK every year, and strongly correlated with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers.

Aside from the “feel good” and economic benefits of driving an EV, they are usually a much nicer proposition to drive. EVs have no need of gears or clutches. A well-designed EV such as a Tesla Model 3 or VW ID.3 has a low centre of gravity and handles and accelerates well – and has lots of extra storage space.

The UK government has proposed banning the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2030, and hybrids from 2035. NIE Networks have estimated that there could be around 400,000 electric vehicles on the roads in Northern Ireland by 2030 However, our electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Northern Ireland is not fit for purpose for the 4,000 EVs here – never mind 100 times that.

The Current Charging Network

The charging network in NI was installed between 2011 and 2015 and is now owned and operated by ESB. It is free to use. At the time it was one of the best in Europe, however things are very different now and by any metric Northern Ireland is lagging so far behind the rest of the UK and Ireland that it is in danger of becoming an EV no-go area for citizens, tourists and businesses alike.

The network has been in such steep decline in recent years that some NI EV drivers are actively moving back to petrol and diesel vehicles rather than face the ongoing stress of trying to find a working charger. A recent survey conducted by EVANI showed 58% have considered returning to fossil fuel, directly due to the problems with the charging network here.

There are 3 main types of EV chargers:

Slow chargers
These are the type you would install at home or at hotels and where most people do most of their charging. They are up to 7 kW and will add approximately 25 miles of range in an hour – perfect for taking advantage of cheap overnight rates and starting the day with a full battery.

Fast chargers

These are usually 22 kW AC and can add up to 70 miles of range in an hour. Most of the ESB units in NI are of this type. These are perfect for locations with dwell times of 1 – 2 hours such as supermarkets, beauty points etc.

Rapid chargers

These are the equivalent of petrol pumps. They are DC and are specially designed units that range from 50 – 350 kW – adding 150 – 1000 (!) miles or range per hour. These are the type that will eventually replace pumps at motorway service stations and are useful for short stops and high turnover.

We have just 17 of the important ‘Rapid’ chargers to cover all of Northern Ireland. Latest figures show this equates to just 1.1 rapid chargers per 100k population. This compares to 10 per 100k population in Scotland. It is actually much worse than that as around 50% of these chargers are currently broken, so the comparison to Scotland is more like 20 to 1. Additionally, many of these are of an obsolete design.

The decade old equipment has reached the end of its useful life. ESB is not willing to turn on ‘Pay to Charge’ until new reliable, replacement equipment is installed and they say they need matched funding to do this. This decision in turn is creating issues with people hogging the ongoing free service as they are not able to be fined for overstays for example. The poor charging experience is also preventing more drivers from moving to an EV. We are locked in a vicious circle.

Additionally, independent operators are discouraged from entering the market here because of the perception of being unable to compete against the free ESB network. There are also issues around the cost of new connections here, partly due to the narrow remit of our Utility Regulator.

18 months ago ESB turned on ‘Pay to Charge’ in the Republic of Ireland and have invested heavily in their network there. The South now has a growing number of rapid chargers, and the introduction of a cost and overstay fees has eliminated misuse.

Lobbying for Change

The work of our group has been focused around lobbying for the urgent improvement required to our public charging network here. Over the past 4 years our group has engaged with many stakeholders (over 40 in 2021 alone) including councils, Stormont departments, MLAs, the UK government, NIE Networks, the Utility Regulator and Translink. On 19 May 2021 we presented evidence to the Committee for Infrastructure’s inquiry into decarbonisation of transport.

A Fair Future

We firmly agree that public transport and active travel in Northern Ireland need investment, but they won’t be enough to decarbonise our transport system. According to the Travel Survey for Northern Ireland 2017-2019 published by DfI, 71% of all journeys here are by car, covering 83% of distance travelled. The car is a lifeline for many. There is currently no means for those without off-street parking to charge an EV at home. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles have made £20m of funding available to councils to invest in residential charging – however no NI councils have applied to this fund as the remit for roads sits with the Department for Infrastructure here. DfI are now working with councils on this scheme but a lot of time has been lost. The transition away from fossil fuels must be just and it is important that reliable access to charging is not contingent on owning a driveway.

Moving Forward

The solutions to EV charging are well proven and implemented elsewhere. No more research is needed to get us to 2030 – just action.

The main thing lacking in NI is strong political direction. As both transport and energy, electric mobility falls between the Department for Infrastructure and the Department for the Economy. A joined-up approach is vital and we strongly support the creation of an EV taskforce at Stormont.

This year we published our 6 Step Plan to get Northern Ireland back on track. These actions include obtaining matched funding for ESB to upgrade the network here, accelerating the roll-out of rapid chargers, removing barriers to NIE Networks, changing the Utility Regulators remit to include decarbonisation, helping local councils apply for the on-street charging grants and finally, ensuring policy, plans and funding are in place for future growth.

EVs are not a panacea – but decarbonisation is not possible without them. We need to invest in our charging network, and we need to do it now.

______________________________________________________________________________

Check out their website to find out more about the work of EVANI

Photo by stux is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA