4.1 Innovating for the future: EV

4.1 Innovating for the future: EV charging for local conditions and diverse user needs

In the near future, it is expected that new market offerings and solutions in all of these areas will emerge year on year. This will have knockon impacts for EV infrastructure investment decisions and deployment frameworks.

Widespread innovation is ongoing across the full spectrum of the EV ecosystem. This can be seen in areas such as vehicle development, charging technology development, and infrastructure planning. All these changes have a view to improving the EV owner and driver experience, and enabling the transition from fossil fuel to EVs.

Business model innovation is also being trialled, with a view to reducing the need for car ownership and moving towards more sustainable towns and cities. The provision of dedicated EV charging infrastructure for e-car clubs and at taxi ranks, as well as in strategic rural locations, is key. It will support the transition to electric and sustainable mobility in communities with low car ownership or population densities, and where demand for publicly-accessible charge points may be limited. In all instances, decisions about charge point locations and types require a strategic and data-driven approach. This should focus on understanding local conditions and user concerns as well as national network coverage and electricity grid requirements49. In practice, this will mean the monitoring and analysis of local and national data, continuous stakeholder engagement, flexible approaches to technologies and infrastructure, and a user-centred approach. These approaches will ensure that Irish EV charging infrastructure meets future needs.

In the light vehicle sector, charge point types are being developed to respond to accelerating research and development in vehicles. An example of this is the improvement in battery capacities and technologies, enabling faster charging. Different types of charge points are also being explored to consider even easier charging experiences such as wireless and battery swap technologies, and multifunctional charging platforms. Chargers and EV battery systems are also being developed to provide new controls and services such as mobile and automated EV charging systems. These will enable charging points to automatically respond to price signals or to availability of renewable energy. New technologies will allow vehicles to provide services to the home or electricity grid through Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) or Vehicle-to-House (V2H) systems.