The ESB has admitted that its EV charging network is struggling to cope with demand, as the number of drivers switching to electric vehicles continues to rise. 

The State owned energy company currently owns around 1,600 public chargers but has admitted that the network can support only “1,400 EVs charging at the same time”.

On Newstalk Breakfast, motoring expert Ger Herbert said old technology is to blame. 

“Essentially the hardware isn't designed for today's volume of EVs or the kind of multiple cars fast charging side by side,” she explained. 

“That's what the issue is now; the ESB has invested heavily in the network.

“These old legacy chargers are being replaced, but I mean, it's little consolation at the moment for drivers if they're faced with one of these units that isn't working and they're even more money now for charging than they were.” 

Ms Herbert added that while “an awful lot” of old, inefficient chargers have been replaced with modern, high speed EV chargers, plenty of the old ones still remain. 

“The problem with these legacy units is they tend to be the only ones in a small town,”  she said. 

“So if they're the ones that go down, it's not like one of these Ionity fast chargers where you might have six or seven units or up to eight. 

“There usually is only one or two and it can cause major issues.”

Ms Herbert noted as an example that in the Kildare town of Naas, there is only a single 50 kilowatt ESB charger. 

“Now, a 50 kilowatt charger will charge a car up to 80% in about 30 to 40 minutes,” she said. 

“So it's pretty essential that it works and it's constantly going down - that is just not good enough.” 

While a large number of EV owners are able to charge their car via a charging point on their driveway, for those without a driveway, access to a reliable public charging network is essential. 

“We're now dealing with 30% of households that do not have access to a driveway, apartment dwellers, all of those,” Ms Herbert said. 

“If you're dependent on the public charging network, then you're really closely looking at the cost.

“Because one of the big advantages to having an EV is that it's very economical to run; it's not very economical to run if you're running it on the public charging network.”

Main image: An EV charging. Picture by: Alamy.com.