The ESB has announced that it’s adding more fast electric car chargers to its network.
The first new installations come at Junction 14 Mayfield services, just off the M7 motorway, near the town of Monasterevin in Co. Kildare. There have been ESB fast chargers at that location for several years now, but this latest expansion of two high-speed chargers with two connectors each will bring the total number of chargers on site to 12 individual connections.
200kW chargers
These 200kW chargers can charge two electric cars at the same time, and at maximum power (i.e: when only one car is being charged) they can add as much as 100km of extra range in as little as six minutes of charging, depending on the car.
Welcoming this announcement, Francis O’Donnell, Head of eMobility at ESB, said: “The upgrade to six High-Power EV chargers at Junction 14 represents our commitment to providing convenient, quick, and easy charging for EV owners and users. This milestone significantly enhances the availability and accessibility of public charging infrastructure in the Kildare region and beyond ; access to high-power charging facilities on key national routes is essential for EV drivers who need to cover longer distances.
“Earlier this year, ESB reduced EV charging prices and introduced contactless payments, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to continually finding new ways to enhance the public charging experience for our valued customers.”
Charging costs remain high
ESB earlier this year reduced the cost of using its high-speed chargers by by 13 per cent, its fast chargers (between 50kW and 150kW) by 12 per cent, and its slower kerbside chargers by eight per cent. Nonetheless, charging costs remain high in Ireland both on public chargers and at home, with a recent survey by switcher.ie finding that in Europe, only German EV drivers pay more for charging.
Even so, the addition of extra chargers at Mayfield will help to at least reduce queuing and waiting times at the chargers, and Liam Fitzpatrick, Joint owner of Junction 14 Mayfield also welcomed the increased capacity at the site saying: “Our business goal is to provide customers with a premium experience right across all aspects of the site’s facilities and we are delighted to partner with ESB ecars to provide Motorway users with this enhanced capacity to deliver highly efficient on-demand charging.”
Cork gets new chargers
Further to the south, ESB is also opening two new fast charging points located at Inver service stations. These stations are at Charleville and Inver Macroom, just off the N20 and N22 respectively. Inver Charleville has both a high-power charger and a fast charger, enabling three cars to charge simultaneously. Inver Macroom has two high-power chargers available, capable of charging four cars simultaneously.
Billy Massey, Head of Retail Fuels at Inver Energy, said: “The new EV charging hubs at Inver Charleville and Inver Macroom were strategically chosen with ESB. Inver is committed to helping our customers reduce their carbon emissions, and we continue to expand the offering of lower carbon solutions at our forecourts, with both EV hubs and HVO, to meet all our customers’ demands.