Fermanagh plugs into new charging points for cars

Julie Kenwell • Published 26 Jan 2012 12:30

FERMANAGH will be one of six district council areas across Northern Ireland plugging into new charging points for electric cars when they are installed in the coming weeks.

The Minister for the Department of Regional Development (DRD), Danny Kennedy told the Assembly on Tuesday that more than 40 public charging points would be distributed at various carparks in each of the participating council areas, with rapid charge points installed on the roadside of a number of main routes.

Mr Kennedy said there was scope to install further charging facilities in 2012.

He estimated that the first charging points should be installed by the end of March.

The council areas, Fermanagh District, Belfast, Derry City, Newry and Mourne, Armagh City and District and Larne Borough have all pledged their support to the ecar electric vehicle project.

But in the Assembly this week the Minister encouraged other councils to get on board.

The two year pilot scheme in Northern Ireland received up to £850,000 in funding in December 2010 as part of the Plugged in Places initiative run by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in London.

Jointly led by the DRD and the Department of Environment (DOE), the project has a focus on border and gateway areas in order to link with infrastructure being installed in the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. This may expand to cover more areas as the project continues.

A DRD Roads Service spokesperson said: "We are currently working with each local council to identify suitable locations for the charge posts. Final locations will be chosen based on a number of factors including accessibility and local network capacity."

For more information about the project and electric cars in general go to www.nidirect.gov.uk/ecar.

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