First hub in new €35m EV charging network to be in Westmeath town

The first hub in a new €35m EV charging network will open at Lough Sheever Corporate Park in Mullingar next year.

SSE Airtricity announced plans to develop the nationwide network this morning. They will invest €35m in 30 ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs across the country over the next four years.

The have said all of the hubs will be powered by 100% green electricity from SSE Airtricity.

The Lough Sheever Corporate site will be publicly accessible and designed to accommodate long-wheelbase vehicles and buses, as well as cars and fleet vehicles.

As part of phase one of the project in 2023, and subject to planning permission, additional hubs with 10 charging bays will be installed in Blanchardstown Corporate Park and Greenogue Business Park in Dublin.

It is expected that a total of six sites will be operational by the end of 2023, and a further 10 will come online in 2024.

Each ultra-rapid bay will have charging capabilities of up to 150 kilowatts (kW), sufficient to deliver 12.5km of range per minute of charging [source].

The announcement follows the Electric Vehicle Summit 2022 at the RDS in Dublin this week, where SSE Airtricity was a headline sponsor.

Kevin Welstead, EV director at SSE, said: “From our network in the UK, we understand that when it comes to charging, people just want to be back on the move in the shortest time possible.

“We’re delighted to launch our first EV charging hubs in Ireland. In building this infrastructure, we want to ensure peace of mind for EV drivers – domestic, car fleet, commercial – that when they show up at one of our facilities, they can plug in to a working, high power charger as soon as they arrive, and that they can be back on the move as soon as possible.”

His SSE Airtricity colleague, Klair Neenan, MDirector, said: “SSE Airtricity has a long-standing commitment of delivering green energy and green energy solutions to our customers, and we’re delighted to take that a step further with the announcement of the SSE Airtricity EV charging hubs.

“With COP27 under way in Egypt, today’s announcement is fitting as we renew our commitment to supporting Ireland’s climate change targets and support Government’s Climate Action Plan and EV transport targets.”

SSE has committed to installing 300 ultra-rapid charging hubs powered by traceable, renewable energy across Ireland and the UK over the next five years. The first hub, on Castlebank Street in Glasgow, went live at the end of September.

A 2021 study by the UK’s Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology found that Ireland ranked joint last in terms of implementing charging infrastructure. The government’s 2021 Climate Action Plan has set a target of one million EVs on the roads by 2030, including private cars, heavy goods vehicles, small public service vehicles, and larger public transport vehicles.

Figures released last month by the UK’s Department for Transport revealed that Northern Ireland has the lowest level of charging device provision in the UK (18 devices per 100,000).

In addition to announcing the nationwide infrastructure across Ireland, SSE have also just completed a deal with pan-European portfolio company, M7 Real Estate, to install charging hubs at the 20 locations the company manages in the UK.