TOURISTS coming into East Clare could be at a serious disadvantage if they are driving an Electric Vehicle (EV), due to a lack of rapid chargers.
That was the view expressed by Councillor Pat Hayes who made an appeal, at the July meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District committee, for better infrastructure to support EVs.
“I’m being asked every day about this and I’d like a progress report,” he said. “I’m wondering about the rapid charging points in particular. If someone comes off the motorway and wants to charge their EV in Killaloe or Scariff, we don’t have a plan for that yet.”
The Caher man pointed out that as more motorists make the switch to EVs, charging infrastructure needs to keep pace. “There’s a huge amount of people moving to electric cars and asking where the fast-charging points are,” he said. “The fact is, we don’t have any. There is urgency around this now. We need at least one in each town.”
Responding to Councillor Hayes, Senior Executive Officer, Morgan Lahiffe said progress is being made. “I have been speaking to Anne O’Sullivan, who is leading the strategy for the County Council, for the county in general on EV charging,” he said.
“It is important that we don’t do something in isolation and we need a collective plan for the county. A number of towns in East Clare have been pinpointed. It is holiday season now and in August, the technical team in Killaloe will meet with Anne to pinpoint specific locations in the towns and villages. She will move on it at that stage.”
Councillor Hayes expressed concern that Scariff might not be on the list. “When we were doing paths across from bank in Scariff, there was an area left and cables put in,” he said. “I would hate to think that Scariff would be left out of this plan. People are coming out here to visit Inis Cealtra and need EV chargers. No disrespect to the of the county, but we’re the only area without EV chargers.”
Mr Lahiffe said everyone is aware of the situation in Scariff and that it will not be left out of the charger plan.