We can’t believe that 2012 is nearly over, it’s been a fantastic year for electric vehicles (EV) and ESB ecars. See the links below for just some of the major EV news items of the year.
1,000+ charge points installed in public locations, workplaces and homes.
ESB and IBM to develop ecar IT platform for Ireland
‘ecar connect’ mobile smart phone app launched
Charge Points at Luas and Irish Rail Stops
We hope 2013 will be even more eventful!
Our first phase of ambassadors have handed back their ecars and even though it was emotional, they were all glad of the experience and opportunity to drive electric. We’d like to thank them for contributing to this blog over the past few months and hope that they will be able to provide us with e-driving tips and hints for 2013!
So far the ambassadors have covered over 23,000 km in their ecars. The next group of ambassadors, Martha from Cork, Daniel from Limerick, David from Wicklow, and Thomas from Wexford will be joining Eoghan, Sandra, Beatrice and Glenisk as ambassadors for the next 3 months and we hope they also enjoy many more safe and fun trips in their ecars.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a happy and peaceful Christmas and and wonderful 2013. View our Christmas Card at www.esb.ie/christmascard and see if you can spot something familiar!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
An item that might be taken on board – there are many ecar charging points installed in Council public car parking places. No one knows if one has to pay while charging their ecar or not. For example New Ross say one does not have to pay. Limerick City say one has to pay. This is totally confusing – when one arrives to charge there is no sign up stating their policy.
Any survey done on this?
Thanks for a great 2012 blog – best wishes for 2013.
Hi Paddy, We can understand your confusion regarding payment. Currently, the law does not allow for on-street public car parking spaces to be designated for electric cars only (that said some counties e.g. Waterford have already moved to designate spaces). This means that we are unable to erect signage as to whether the parking is free or not.
However, according to the statement released on the 11th of December, the Road Traffic Bill 2012 includes legislation to allow local authorities to provide parking bays for electric vehicles. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, hopes to bring the Bill before the Oireachtas early in 2013. So this will be good news for EV drivers and it will also mean that councils will be able to mark out the spaces. However, it will be up to each individual council to do the signage and ground markings, and they will also decide if ecar drivers will have to pay for parking. For more details, please see The Road Traffic Bill 2012 (http://www.dttas.ie./pressRelease.aspx?Id=690).
Ennis County Council has also proposed a draft bill which will allow free parking for ecars while driving, see here: http://www.ennistowncouncil.ie/roads-and-transport/publications/draft-ennis-town-council-car-park-bye-laws-2012-17015.pdf