Electric car sales are rising but they still accounted for only a quarter of new cars sold in February.
Buyers are concerned about range, price and charging infrastructure. Range shouldn’t really be an issue anymore with most models able to do 150 miles and much more on a single charge. Prices too are coming down as manufacturers realise economies of scale. Charging infrastructure though remains the biggest impediment to faster sales and especially so in Northern Ireland.
Still, there are some encouraging developments. Dutch company Fastned has recently opened two new ultra-rapid charging hubs in Northern Ireland, on the A1 outside Banbridge and at the Junction One retail park in Antrim. The significance of these is that both feature 400kW rapid chargers, which means that if your is capable of it, it’s possible to add up to 100 miles of range in around 10 minutes. Fastned’s own figures show there around 700 electric charging stations in Northern Ireland and of these, fewer than 5% are ultra-rapid chargers. The convenience offered by ultra-rapid chargers is obvious.
It’s the difference between taking a few hours to charge your car or a few minutes. Fastned operates 31 charging hubs across its UK network, and 347 across six European countries. So far, it has invested some £3million in Northern Ireland and is keen to do more but has warned that the length of time getting high-capacity grid connections is hampering progress. For its part, NIE Networks says it is keen to work with industry to make the process “as efficient as possible”.