Pádraig Hoare
German discounter Lidl has said it will install 40 electric car charging points at 20 of its shops in the next six months.
The retailer said it has already installed charging points at Rathfarnham and Swords, Co Dublin, and Drogheda, Co Louth shops and will retrofit the technology to a range of its stores, including Wilton in Cork.
New stores in the likes of Nenagh in Co Tipperary and Childers Road in Limerick will also be fitted with charge points, Lidl said.
Director of property and central services at Lidl Ireland, Alan Barry said the electric vehicle charging point at its Drogheda store provides 100km of driving range per charge and is currently charging over 4,000km a week.
Almost a third of motorists are open to purchasing an electric vehicle when they next change their car, according to research from AA Ireland.
However, the motoring consumer body found fewer than 2.5% of motorists were fully committed to buying an electric car when next changing vehicle.
The mileage range of electric cars and access to charging points have always been among the major concerns motorists have about making the switch, said AA Ireland.
There will be just 8,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2020, less than half of the Government’s repeatedly revised target, according to Fianna Fáil TD Aindrias Moynihan.
There are around 5,500 electric cars in Ireland.
