Derry tops broken EV chargers poll

There is good news and some bad news emerging for the owners of electric vehicles in Derry.

Recent analysis of the latest data recording the number of electric vehicle chargers in towns and cities across the North and Britain, found Derry topped the poll for the highest percentage of broken electric vehicle charging points.
30% or three of the city’s ten electric vehicle charging points are currently out of action.

Derry was ahead of Worcester (23.1%), Ipswich (22.7%), Newcastle Upon Tyne (21.4%) and York (21.2%) in terms of broken electric vehicle charging points.

According to the Solar Centre, which carried out the analysis, there are currently more than 37,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the North and Britain. However, approximately 480,000 public charging stations will be needed to meet the ‘Road to 2030’ target.

The ‘Road to 2030’ report tracks the progress of electric vehicle adoption as Britain and the North move closer to the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles sales.

The Solar Centre said: “One of the biggest problems plaguing the EV sector is accessibility to charging stations across the country, which puts pressure on councils to place chargers in the right areas and keep them working.

“The recent report, ‘Attitudes towards electric vehicles in Northern Ireland 2021 / 2022’ found that 44 percent of respondents felt discouraged about purchasing an electric vehicle due to the need to recharge it.

“However, the government recently announced its plans to invest £3.27 million into upgrading the electric vehicle network across Northern Ireland by replacing unreliable chargers and upgrading fast chargers to rapid ones.”

In addition, It also announced on Wednesday that the technology hub, Catalyst, has installed 30 electric vehicle charging points across its sites in Derry and Belfast.

The ChargePoint equipment has been installed, with six points located in Catalyst’s Derry site and 24 points at its Belfast campus, almost doubling the number of electric vehicle charging points available in Belfast, which currently sits at 36.

According to Catalyst, the introduction of the charging points will see it move further towards its goal of achieving Carbon Net Zero by 2040.

Mervyn Watley, Director of Property & Community at Catalyst said: “At Catalyst, we are committed to driving change to address environmental challenges. Climate change is an issue that we all need to take seriously and so we will do everything we can to achieve Net Zero.

“The installation of the EV car charging points on our sites is a great advancement in our journey to Net Zero. We understand that with the low number of EV charging points currently in Belfast, some people may have been reluctant to make the move to electric vehicles.

“We hope that by making electric car charging more accessible to the community, we will encourage people to make the switch to a cleaner alternative to gas or diesel vehicles.”