Northern Ireland Doubles Rapid Chargers in Single Quarter

For years Northern Ireland had just 17 rapid chargers. These ESB devices are often broken, some are behind locked gates at night, while others have been Chademo only. In the latest official figures from the Department for Transport (October 2022, verified by EVANI) that number had grown slowly to 22.

But other charge point operators have been working in the background, watching the unresolved issues with the incumbent network and getting ready to enter the market here. Now, at last, things are starting to change and in the last few months Northern Ireland has seen an additional 21 new rapid chargers open.

Turned the Corner

We can now say with some confidence that we’ve finally turned the corner here. This is just the start too, and we look forward to seeing all the new infrastructure projects continue to roll out next year, particularly in areas outside of Belfast, like the North West, North Coast, Ards, Newry and Fermanagh etc.

This progress has been made in spite of Stormont, rather than because of it. Once the Executive is up and running it must find the ambition to get on with the job of creating the policies to help remove the hurdles that charge point operators face here and create the conditions to accelerate the pace of change.

^{*Awaiting commissioning **Tesla only. ***150 kW or 75 kW if both sides in use}
_{Also Weev installing 24kW DC chargers in locations with connections usually only used for AC charging}