LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN Dublin and an Irish electric vehicle company have not set a fixed price for customers for the 200 new charging sites they intend to roll out around the capital at the beginning of next year.

Details of the project, the first of its kind in Ireland, have not been fully hammered out between local councils and the electric vehicle (EV) company ePower. This was despite a public contract being awarded and a photoshoot to promote the project taking place.

One electric vehicle advocacy group has said the prices for the use of these chargers should be set and advertised before the first units go live in the first quarter of next year.

ePower, which already runs an extensive network of charging points around the country, will work with local councils in Dublin to build a tranche of new chargers at 50 locations around the capital.

But the firm has since told The Journal that it cannot set a fixed price as “energy costs” may vary from now until the completion of the project and that market activity, such as the performance of it and its competitors, will dictate prices that customers will pay.

This is despite a spokesperson on behalf of all four local authorities in Dublin telling The Journal that ePower was awarded the contract under the Most Economically Advantageous Tender criteria, taking into account both price and quality.

Matthew Sealy, the chairperson of the Irish Electric Vehicle Association (IEVA), said that the price of any public EV chargers should be “as low as possible”, as many people — particularly in Dublin — cannot install home chargers.

He said that people who purchase EVs are either environmentally conscious or are attracted to the vehicles for the cheaper costs associated with powering the cars. 

Regardless of the type of customer, pricing is “important” and most owners want to be charged at an acceptable rate, Sealy added. He called for ePower and the local authorities to come to an agreement to set fixed pricing.

ePower said that given the impact that energy prices and competition could have on what it charges, and the fact that the project is at an “early stage”, it could not detail how much it will charge at first for the use of the infrastructure.

The project, a joint venture with local authorities in Dublin and ePower, was announced this month. Shane O'Neill Shane O'Neill

It said, however, that it wants to encourage the uptake of driving EVs and will “strive” to deliver “attractive pricing”, which will be published on its app once the sites go live.

A spokesperson for Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council has said that EV owners will be incentivised to charge during “off-peak hours” in the future for better prices.

Sealy reasoned that prices for this joint project must be set at a fixed rate as some EV owners in Dublin cannot install chargers at home and are therefore are reliant on publicly available chargers.

He said if ePower were seeking to compete it is the view of the IEVA that their prices would be “ideally” set at the same price, or cheaper, than the chargers offered by the firm’s main competitor, the ESB, which are installed by the State.

Pricing

The chair of the IEVA said that ePower is a well-known firm and charges acceptable rates but detailed that, often, the rates vary depending on agreements between the landowner, the use of the charging point and the demand in the area.

A spokesperson for ePower confirmed this, stating that it cannot control the price of chargers at different locations, as it is within the remit of its clients to do so.

According to Sealy, he has experienced that prices are different in locations such as Dublin city centre when compared to other locations, such as Cork. 

Using figures from the EV Database — an independent EV data collection website — the average battery size of vehicles currently on the market is 71.9 kwhs and the average range is 379km.

This means ePower’s price to fully charge an EV’s battery in Dublin could be up to €46.75 and could be up to €30.92 in Cork.

Meanwhile, the ESB offers 1,600 charging points around the country at a fixed rate. Membership plans for the State-owned electricity company’s charging network are also available, making prices cheaper.

Using the same averages, the price for using an ESB fast charger could be up to €37.38. The State-owned chargers’ prices are the same nationwide.

These figures vary depending on the size of the car’s battery, the type of charger and whether or not an owner is signed up to the ESB’s membership plan.

Asked what is the differential between both companies’ prices, a spokesperson for the council reasoned that pricing would reflect current market rates and that customers had the option to review all prices before choosing to charge.

Aim to deliver attractive prices

Brendan Crowley, Director of Public Charging at ePower, told The Journal that “the aim of the roll out is to facilitate the public in their (local authorities’) EV charging”.

He added: “That charging will be attractively priced, as the scheme was designed with the best interests of the EV driving public in mind”.

He said that the charging points will be available every day and the company will also be available to maintain the infrastructure to “support an accessible, reliable charging option for EV drivers” all year round.

Asked what ePower’s share of the market in Dublin will be following this project, as estimates suggest the firm will control over 50% of EV chargers, a spokesperson said: “ePower will certainly be one of the largest providers of charging across Dublin.”

A spokesperson for the local authorities said councils in Dublin do not collect or keep data on the number of chargers in the county.

While it’s expected there will be a pick up in interest in EVs in coming years due to plans to begin phasing out combustion engines, the most recent figures show registrations have fallen dramatically in recent months.

The Government plans to install charging points at every 60km of motorway in the country and include reliefs such as tax exemptions for home and apartment chargers, though plans have been slow to get off the ground.

This month Transport Minister Eamon Ryan announced the second National Road Grant Scheme to support the development of high-powered EV recharging on Ireland’s roads.

The IEVA keeps track of the status of this infrastructure on its website.