ESB Introduces Fees For Public Electric Vehicle Charging

The ESB is to phase in charges for electric vehicle owners using the public charging network from 18th November 2019.

According to the company, these fees are to support the current upgrade programme of ESB ecars’ national infrastructure, with plans to roll out the first High Power chargers in 2020.

Pricing is to be introduced for existing Fast Public Chargers (50kW DC) in Ireland from 18^th November.

This will be followed by the introduction of pricing for High Power Chargers (150kW DC) once the first high power hubs are installed in early 2020.

The standard (22kW AC) network will continue to be free to use while it is upgraded over the coming months.

Two price plans introduced

Under the new pricing scheme, there will be two price plans available for the fast chargers – Pay As You Go or Membership, the latter designed for drivers who typically use the network over five times per month:

• Pay As You Go is charged at 33c per kWh
• Membership is a €5 monthly subscription fee and a reduced charge of 29c per kWh

Electric vehicle drivers can avail of an Introductory Offer for a limited time (from 29th October until the end of November) that provides the Membership rate with no monthly subscription for 12 months.

Niall Hogan, Head of ESB ecars, said:

“For Ireland to meet the growing number of electric vehicles s on our roads, we need to ensure we have a reliable, accessible, country-wide public charging network. The introduction of pricing to fast public chargers is a natural step in ensuring we improve the network and maintain high standards into the future for electric vehicles. Today’s announcement of investment in the public EV charging network is another milestone in ESB leading Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy.”

ESB is assessing suitable sites on motorways and the national road network, to deliver over 50 High Power Charging Hubs on motorway and national road sites. These hubs will be able to charge between two and eight vehicles simultaneously and can provide up to 100km of electric driving range in as little as six minutes. Final sites will be based on a range of factors including current charge point usage, traffic volume, accessibility, amenities and grid capacity.

The €20m investment is 50% financed by the Government’s Climate Action Fund with the remainder funded by ESB.

ESB has provided some sample calculations that show that electric vehicle owners who use the public charging network frequently will still make savings when compared to diesel cars, for example to drive 100km, it will typically cost:

*Most electric vehicle drivers charge their car at home or in work and use the public network to top up for 15% of their charges. Taking a 100km drive (85% night rate home charge and 15% public fast charge) the Introductory Offer will typically cost:

Assumptions for Calculations from ESB:

• 2019 Ford Focus Diesel consumption is 4.90L per 100km
• Diesel price: €1.36 – adding 2c onto the AA Roadwatch September 2019 price average because of the budget price increase in diesel.
• 40kWh Nissan Leaf range: up to 270 kms (WLTP 2019)
• Introductory Offer price: €0.29 PAYG price: €0.33
• Electric Ireland night rate €0.1040 (August 2019) Inc. VAT
• Rounded to the nearest %