NIE managing director Derek Hynes has suggested commercial operators will not build more public charge points in Derry until more electrical cars are on the road. - video Dailymotion

Derry Journal

NIE managing director Derek Hynes has suggested commercial operators will not build more public charge points in Derry until more electrical cars are on the road.

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00:00in my constituency here up in Derry, there's a feeling or a perception that there's an urban

00:06urban divide where I think in terms of the infrastructure, publicly accessible infrastructure

00:12that we have for EVs is nowhere near that that other cities and one larger city in particular

00:21has even proportionally. And I was wondering is the lack of infrastructure in Derry, that's nothing

00:27to do with a lack of capacity at the NIEC? I'm sure it's not. No, no. So we just haven't seen

00:36the level of interest from public charge point operators to build the charging infrastructure

00:45up there. And I think it was a bit like what Stephen had said, it's a chicken and egg here.

00:51They would argue that until there is enough volume of cars up there and there is an inherent local

00:57demand, there is no commercial incentive for them to try and build it. It's only at that point do

01:03we get to challenge and see whether the capacity is there and how much is it going to cost and

01:08the timeline. So we try to forecast it, but we won't know until they see enough vehicles to make

01:13them want to go and install them. I was up in McGee campus a couple of weeks ago queuing for the one

01:18charger on site. So we've all had personal experience of it. I think it's important to note

01:25that other jurisdictions, for example, Scotland, rather than taking a market driven approach,

01:31they're taking a government led approach. And that's really helping shape the direction of

01:36where these charge points are going. And I think there's 30,000 more that are going to go in quite

01:43soon. So I think it's just to add to that point, Mark, it's maybe something to consider.

01:47Oh, no, no, no, it's something I have considered. I just wanted to get the clarity that it wasn't,

01:52there was no obstacle at your end, if you like.

NIE managing director Derek Hynes has suggested commercial operators will not build more public charge points in Derry until more electrical cars are on the road.

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