'More charging points for electric vehicles are needed in Tipperary'

Concern about the lack of progress in the rollout of charging points for electric vehicles has been expressed by a local politician.

Cllr Michael Murphy told a meeting of Clonmel Borough District that the lack of these charging points was the biggest obstacle to the purchase of electric vehicles.

He said there was somewhere in the region of 55 in the county at the last count, and he knew there were proposals to provide another 13.

He appealed to the environment section of Tipperary County Council to drive the rollout of this infrastructure, as an organisation and as a local authority.

Cllr Murphy wasn’t sure if they had any charging points in the car park of County Hall in Clonmel. If not, that sent out the wrong message to encourage the staff to purchase electric vehicles.

“We’re an employer of 800 people across the local authority,” he said.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose welcomed the fact that two fast chargers would be provided this year at Mick Delahunty Square in Clonmel.

The infrastructure was also in place for chargers at the Davis Road car park.

It could take up to forty minutes to charge a car. If there was a queue you could be waiting for hours, so that was why it was important to provide the fast chargers.

Cllr Ambrose said that more people were opting to buy electric vehicles but the fact that there weren’t too many second hand models available at present was an inhibitor.

District Mayor Pat English said that the council should be to the forefront in providing charging points. More people were buying electric vehicles and they had to be charged somewhere.

Council official Michael Moroney said the council was very pro-active in the take-up of grants to provide charging points.

They were also provided by the private sector, and he said that the rollout of public charging facilities was a challenge.
The local authority was guided by national policy in this regard.

Charging points were planned for Mick Delahunty Square and Suir Island in Clonmel and he said the amount of charging points would build incrementally.