Electric Car Charging Points Ireland

How many electric car charging points are there in Ireland?

While there isn’t an exact figure on the number of electric charging points in Ireland yet, we can piece together a pretty good understanding from the news reports made available. In February 2022 the Irish Times, reported that there are “1,900 public chargers at 800 sites in Ireland”. Since, there have been updates of additional installs across the country which will take us to just over the 2,100 mark in April 2022.

How many electric cars are there on the road in Ireland?

The estimated number of electric cars on Irish roads today is roughly 47,000, which is up by 15,000 in the last year. While this might seem like quite a lot, it is way behind the Government’s expected figures at this time. With a pledge for 1 million electric cars to be on the road in Ireland by 2030 the YoY figures are very out. on the current purchasing trends, Ireland is expected to see around 150,000 EV’s on the road in 2030, 85% lower than anticipated.

Why so few electric cars in Ireland?

It is anticipated that the slow growth of the electric car market in Ireland is due to the lack of public infrastructure.

While the uptake in buying personal home electric car chargers is growing year on year, the publicly available charging stations are way behind the curve.

Unless you’re in a built-up city, you could be travelling over 70 km to find a charging point.

In fact, 80% of electric car charging in Ireland comes from a combination of home charging, accounting for 50%, and workplace charging which accounts for 30%. 5% is made up of motorway charge points so the remainder is made up of 15% using public charging points, which is very low.

Where can I charge my car in Dublin?

We have picked out some major Irish cities to see how easy it is to charge your car publically compared to rural Ireland.

Is you’re looking to charge your electric car in Dublin you will be fortunate to find an electric charging point available. While according to the Zap Map, their appears to be a fair few scattered around, per capita, the city is around 4,000 chargers short.

If you are lucky enough to have a home car charger in Dublin and only work in the area you are likely to be able to run your car on your own power. However, those visiting the area or who live in areas without off-street parking will be reliant on the 200-ish charging points available, which is not suitable for the growing population.

Electric car charging point Cork

With a population of over 124,000 in Cork we were shocked to discover only around 60 chargers for the whole city and surrounding areas. Per driver in Cork, if everyone switched to electric this would mean nearly 850 people per charger.

How does the UK compare to Ireland?

If you’re looking for an electric charging point in the UK you have a much greater chance of finding one according to the installation figures of Zap Map. However, across the whole of the UK, London has the record number of charging points, which are still shared by over 800 people. Simply due to the high population and higher number of electric cars on the road.

In Northern Ireland, there is currently just 550 charging points for 1.8 million people and a huge 5,400 square mile space, you don’t want to be running low on charge out there!