Pilot EV charging hub project in Roscommon Town gets approval from councillors

A pilot electrical vehicle (EV) charging hub scheme in Roscommon Town catering for council staff, local businesses, residents and the public was approved by councillors at a meeting of Roscommon Municipal District.

The Part 8 development, which has gone through the various stages of the planning process, was signed off by councillors at a recent MD meeting.

A block of 16 standard car parking spaces was selected at Áras an Chontae in the county town as being the optimal location for this EV charging hub. The scheme will include a dual DC fast charging option catering for two vehicles at any one time and three dual AC standard chargers facilitating six vehicles at any given time.

Assistant engineer with Roscommon County Council, John Shaughnessy, made a detailed presentation on the pilot scheme at the MD meeting. He explained that the fast and slow charging options could cater for council staff and neighbouring facilities (businesses, schools, Gardaí etc) during the day, with a provision for off-peak charging for local residents and visitors travelling through the town. The charging hub will also cater for people with a disability or mobility issues.

The dual AC long/slow chargers will be offered at a reduced rate compared to the fast DC charge. The latter will have a premium attached for users.

Pointing out that the car park site was fully illuminated in darker hours, was monitored by CCTV and was near a Garda station, Mr Shaughnessy said users should feel safe using the night-time option.

He informed councillors that the Weev company won the tender for the project which cost just over €167,000, and pointed out that the pilot scheme was one hundred per cent funded. 

Mr Shaughnessy said the hope was that some of the council fleet of vans would at some stage “switch over to EVs”.

Approving the Part 8 project, councillors welcomed the development of the hub which could be in place this summer.

Fianna Fáil councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice said that people using the hub could be encouraged to do some shopping in the town while Fine Gael councillor Gareth Scahill, pointing to the cost neutral benefit of the scheme, said that a lot of GAA clubs were also developing EV charging points.