The Department for Transport has published data for electric vehicle charging devices by local authority.
We’ve looked at the data for Northern Ireland and sorted by the fairest metric (charging points per 100,000 population). Here are the details for NI’s 11 super councils ranked in order…
#1 – Fermanagh and Omagh District Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 33
- Total public charging devices = 38
- Total public rapid charging devices = 2
- Tweet your council about this
#2 – Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 23
- Total public charging devices = 33
- Total public rapid charging devices = 2
- Tweet your council about this
#3 – Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 19
- Total public charging devices = 24
- Total public rapid charging devices = 2
- Tweet your council about this
=#4 – Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 17
- Total public charging devices = 23
- Total public rapid charging devices = 1
- Tweet your council about this
=#4 – Derry City and Strabane District Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 17
- Total public charging devices = 23
- Total public rapid charging devices = 1
- Tweet your council about this
=#4 – Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 17
- Total public charging devices = 31
- Total public rapid charging devices = 2
- Tweet your council about this
#7 – Mid Ulster District Council – Dungannon
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 15
- Total public charging devices = 23
- Total public rapid charging devices = 2
- Tweet your council about this
#8 – Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 14
- Total public charging devices = 30
- Total public rapid charging devices = 1
- Tweet your council about this
#9 – Belfast City Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 12
- Total public charging devices = 42
- Total public rapid charging devices = 5
- Tweet your council about this
#10 – Ards and North Down Borough Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 11
- Total public charging devices = 17
- Total public rapid charging devices = 0
- Tweet your council about this
#11 – Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council
- Charging devices per 100,000 population = 8
- Total public charging devices = 11
- Total public rapid charging devices = 1
- Tweet your council about this
Ranked by Total Public Charging Devices
01. Belfast – 42
02. Fermanagh and Omagh – 38
03. Antrim and Newtownabbey – 33
04. Newry, Mourne and Down – 31
05. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon – 30
06. Mid and East Antrim – 24
=07. Causeway Coast and Glens – 23
=07. Derry City and Strabane – 23
=07. Mid Ulster -23
10. Ards and North Down – 17
11. Lisburn and Castlereagh – 11
NIEVO’s Take
Lisburn and Castlereagh Council in particular stand out as being bottom of the league in both these rankings. Ards and North Down are 2nd from bottom in both tables, as well as being the only area without a single rapid charging point.
But how does Northern Ireland look when compared to rest of UK? Here are some notable points from the Gov.uk article…
The UK has a total of 15,116* council-owned public charging devices – of which 2,495* are rapid charging points – equating to around 23 per 100,000 people. Of the 15,116 total, 12,549 (2,008 rapid) are located in England; of these, 4,360 (323 rapid) are in London.
In stark contrast, Wales has just 529 council-owned charging points in total, of which 58 are rapid – equivalent to 17 per 100,000 people. Scotland and Northern Ireland have also been left behind, with 1,743 (410 rapid) and 295 (19 rapid) council-owned charging points respectively.
And this is also noted…
According to the figures, Scotland was the Home Nation had the most charging points per capita with 32 per 100,000 people, followed by England on 22, Wales on 17 and Northern Ireland with 16.
Total Charging Points per 100k Population by Region
- #1 – Scotland – 32
- #2 – England – 22
- #3 – Wales – 17
- #4 – Northern Ireland – 16
While Northern Ireland is last in total charging units per 100,000 population, at first it appears as if we’re not too far away from other regions, Scotland aside. Obviously this does not take into consideration ICED points or Faulty points, which would paint a bleaker picture in Northern Ireland.
However, things start to appear very different when you look at the Rapid infrastructure on its own. This is arguably the most important core infrastructure, required to allow longer EV journeys. The figures show Northern Ireland is very much behind.
Rapid Charging Points by Region
- #1 – England – 2008
- #2 – Scotland – 410
- #3 – Wales – 58
- #4 – Northern Ireland – 19
Pretty poor right. And even when we factor in for population, Northern Ireland is still lagging far behind in Rapid Charging capabilities…
Rapid Charging Points per 100K Population by Region:
- #1 – Scotland – 7.5
- #2 – England – 3.5
- #3 – Wales – 1.8
- #4 – Northern Ireland – 1.0
So What Help is Available ?
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
Your postcode should play no part in how easy it is to use an electric car, and I’m determined electric vehicles become the new normal for drivers.
It’s good news there are now more charging locations than petrol stations, but the clear gaps in provision are disappointing. I urge local councils to take advantage of all the government support on offer to help ensure drivers in their area don’t miss out.
To help increase the provision of charging locations, the government is offering grants for the installation of chargepoints on the street, in work and at home. We are also offering grants to lower the upfront cost of these cars so everyone is able to experience the benefits.
Minister for the Future of Transport George Freeman said:
To help level up the country, we’ve recently doubled the funding available for councils to build chargepoints on residential streets.
The government has also recently announced a £400 million charging infrastructure investment fund, which aims to catalyse private investment in charging infrastructure, and is consulting on requiring chargepoints be built into all new homes with a parking space, although it is not clear if this will be available to NI, with the private investment the MRP issue may be a blocker currently.
Other funding for electric vehicle chargepoints remains available in 2019/20 through schemes including the:
- on-street residential chargepoint scheme (£5 million)
- workplace charging scheme (£500 per chargepoint socket and £10,000 per business)
- electric vehicle homecharge scheme (£500 per chargepoint socket)
What Can We Do? – Tell Your Council
Please share this information and use the links above to tweet your councils asking for more charging points. You can refer to the funding schemes above and check out the map and data table on the link below.
http://maps.dft.gov.uk/ev-charging-map/
*A charging device may have more than one charging connector and be able to charge more than one vehicle at a time, therefore these figures do not reflect overall charging capability.
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