Dublin Fully Charged with EV summit

The Renault Fluence ZE was one of the electric vehicles on show at the Fully Charged exhibition

There are ‘exciting new challenges and new opportunities’ ahead in the bid to ensure Ireland meets its electric vehicle target of 10 per cent of passenger cars by 2020, ESB boss Pat O’Doherty told delegates at the Fully Charged International Electric Vehicle Summit.

The event, which was held in Dublin, attracted more than 260 attendees from 19 countries.

ESB ecars, which organised the summit on behalf of the Green eMotion EU project, has been tasked with the roll-out of electric vehicle infrastructure in Ireland and its supporting IT/communications systems.

The Opel Ampera is the first ever Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV). It uses electricity alone to drive for up to 80km and uses a petrol-powered generator to provide the electricity that allows you to drive a further 500km.

One of the key aims of the Green eMotion project is to encourage as many people as possible into electric vehicles by making it simple to drive throughout Europe without having to worry about different charging and payment systems in different countries.

The first steps in this are already underway with the announcement by Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte at the summit that Ireland has been chosen to trial a Europe-wide IT platform.

This will allow drivers with German or Italian electricity suppliers to use Irish charge points and to pay for it in their home country, like mobile phone payments currently work.

Work has been underway on the system for the past 15 months and it is now ‘almost ready’ for field testing.

Ireland is one of ten demonstration regions within Green eMotion and was chosen to become the first test region because of its advanced charge point network, which covers 82 per cent of the main cities and towns in the country.

Tesla was also at the exhibition, with its Roadster

Pointing towards the development of standards, interoperable systems and policies as challenges, Mr O’Doherty said it was also important to get the business model right in making such vehicles affordable.

He added: ‘As one of the leading countries in the rollout of a smart charge point infrastructure we are particularly pleased to be at the forefront of the development of the electric vehicle IT systems for Europe as well.’

The summit was attended by all of the major electric car manufacturers, including Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.

Renault is the market leader in Europe in the electric vehicle market. Speaking to ATL, marketing director of its Zero Emissions range, Emmanuel Bouvier said that while sales of pure electric vehicles are growing – from 3,000 in Europe in 2011 to 14,000 in the first five months of 2012 – ‘the potential for further growth is still there’.

He added that this is affected by the different stages of infrastructural development and government support in each country. He said: ‘Fundamentally I think the potential is there, the interest is there but not all the conditions [are there yet].’

The engine in the Renault Fluence ZE

Mr Bouvier said moving to an EV is a big change in driving habits and this would grow, based on the positive experiences of the early adopters.

He said that age was not a discriminating factor when it came to early adopters to the Renault EV range but that most were quite well educated and tech savvy.

He added: ‘We have people who are retired and just fascinated about cars and technology as well as young active people who are a little bit tired of the traditional way of motoring.’

He said that the two-seater Twizy, which was on show at the Fully Charged EV exhibition, was attracting people who were finding it cleaner and more attractive than public transport in the city.

Other EVs on show included the Opel Ampera, which is due in Ireland in September; the Volkswagen Golf Blue-e-Motion, which is due early next year; the Volvo C30; the Renault Fluence ZE, Zoe and Kangoo, the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid and the Nissan Leaf.

China is expected to become the largest market for EV/plug-in hybrids by 2020, with requirements for 13million units.

Europe is next, with estimated volumes of 9.6million units, followed by the United States with 4.1million.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency wants electric and plug-in hybrids to total 50 per cent of global sales by 2040.

ESB ecars is looking for drivers to take part in its Great Electric Drive initiative, which sees members of the public trialling an ecar for up to a year.

More images from the event are available in our Google+ and Facebook albums.