Car giant Tesla is planning to build a host of new electric fast charging stations in Co Antrim.
The US firm, which is headed by Elon Musk, is planning to build ‘superchargers’ close to the B&Q car park at Sprucefield Shopping Centre, located outside Lisburn.
The chargers will be also to power electric vehicles at more than 150KW – some of the fastest rates at charging stations here in Northern Ireland.
There’s currently a Tesla superfast charging station at the Boucher Road, close to the car maker’s main dealership base here.
Plans show the new chargers will take the CCS2 connections, common in most electric cars sold across Europe and beyond.
Citing a climate change report published to Parliament last year, those submitting the plan said while it “confirms that the total sales of new electric cars have continued to grow, however, despite the growth in overall sales, electric cars’ market share failed to grow in 2023 and has fallen off track for the first time”.
“Until 2022, this indicator had been growing quickly. By contrast, 2023 has seen good progress in installation of charging infrastructure, with the public network expanding by more than a third, which is on track for what is required.”
And turning to charging infrastructure, the report says that the “roll-out of charging infrastructure will be crucial to enable EV sales to grow rapidly… 2023 saw strong growth, with around 17,000 new public charge points being added to the network.”
It says “this growth will need to continue, with annual installation rates needing to reach treble this number by the end of the decade to reach the Government’s goal of 300,000 by 2030”.
A number of companies are now expanding and growing the rapid charging network here in Northern Ireland.
That includes Weev, which now has locations across Northern Ireland, along with other companies, such as BP.
EV sales in Northern Ireland and the UK have been on the up, but still remain a small percentage of the total number cars sold here.
According to EVANI, there were almost 23,000 electric cars on the roads here at the end of 2023.
The UK Government is also planning to end the sale of new traditional petrol and diesel cars by 2035.
However, a consultation is currently underway which could bring that date forward to 2030.
New EV sales here remain under 20% but strict new government targets will see the percentage of the number of vehicles sold rising to 28% this year.