Electric cars: is it getting any better going green in Northern Ireland?

A year ago John Mulgrew looked at where Northern Ireland sat in the electric vehicle space. Now, a year on, he examines where we are in terms of vehicle numbers, infrastructure, and what’s still holding many of us back from going green and battery-powered

He’s often said he’s sceptical about where electric cars currently sit in the market, and still believes the traditional combustion engine remains king of the road.

But whether he’s correct or not, the video did highlight some of the issues which EV owners face. Even in England, where the infrastructure and proliferation of fast charging points is greater than in NI, he found reliability an issue – turning up to one spot along the way, finding it entirely out of order, driving out of his to way another and finding all the spots in use.

But regardless of these challenges, the electric vehicle is here to stay and each month we’re likely to see sales figures continuing to rise.

So, what does the landscape currently look like for EVs, their infrastructure, and why aren’t all of us driving them yet?

While they still make up a relatively small part of the landscape, battery and plug-in hybrid car numbers are on the up.

In the space of just three months, there were an extra 2,200 here. According to official figures, there are now 18,762 battery or plug-in hybrids on the road.

That’s more than three times the level just two years ago, and is a figure firmly on the up.

Separate figures also show that sales of EVs in May this year were double that of the same month a year earlier.

And UK-wide, demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) doubled in the last quarter, reaching a record market share as volumes rose by 99.9% to 34,021 cars.

For the average buyer, price remains the biggest barrier. While the higher end BMWs, Audis and Teslas, congregate at the top of the market, even an all-rounder like the MG4 starts at more than £26,000 and holds its value on the used market.

Used car prices in NI are outpacing those elsewhere in the UK, and we also have the lowest average wages and disposable income, so that can exacerbate that price differential.

Of course, you don’t have to drive a Tesla 3 so join the electric bandwagon. But the bottom end of the used electric market brings its own problems.

As a fairly recent driver, I examined the possibility of going electric for my own car. I looked at going down the higher-end finance route but sat somewhere on the more modest pricing end with a traditional diesel vehicle.

And that sub-£8,000 budget doesn’t get you much in the way of an EV. You’re essentially looking at one of the earlier Nissan Leaf models. It remains a stalwart of the early fleet of useable electric vehicles on the market.

It’s a tidy offering – a decent sized hatchback, reliable and roomy enough to accommodate a recent new addition to the household.

I’d looked at the cost of installing a home-charger and thought, I’ll need one some day soon, so why not now.

But digging deeper and you realise that this early stage of electric motoring produces a vehicle really only apt for short, sharp city runs.

Looking closer into the apparent 60 odd miles of range you soon discover that the on paper numbers when compared with real world are somewhat at odds.

Living in Belfast, you’d likely end up breaking a sweat if you planned to go any further than Lisburn and back during the colder months.

That range anxiety remains another issue for drivers. Even some of the pricier and more modern used electric Golfs have a real world range of just over 120 miles. That’s not going to get you to Derry and back from Belfast, for example.

The charging network is of course at the heart of all of this. And while some of the ESB existing charging points are being repaired and upgraded, it’s taking the private sector to really improve our infrastructure here.

Weev is installing fast-charging hubs right across Northern Ireland, and pairing up with hotels, shopping venues and other businesses to bring connections to popular points.

Weev recently received a commitment from London-based Octopus Investments of up to £50m to accelerate its plans to install thousands of charge points across Northern Ireland over the coming years.

It recently partnered with Killeavy Castle Estate to deliver its first fast charging hub in the Newry area.

With that work, and others, it means the number of rapid chargers have quadrupled here.

Although overall, Northern Ireland still remains the worst region in the UK and Ireland in terms of the wider availability of chargers.

“While we still remain the worst region of these islands, things are progressing,” Mark McCall of Electric Vehicle Association Northern Ireland (EVANI) says.

“The important rapid chargers (the ones that allow drivers to top up and get underway again quickly) have quadrupled, with 81 devices across NI now compared to a baseline of around 20 in 2022.

“If we add in all the AC destination chargers, the total number is around 450 devices.”

There’s also a change coming in which is aimed at organisations offering commercial EV charging infrastructure to address some of the challenges and barriers that EV drivers currently face.

Introduced as a response to the continuously evolving nature of the EV charging landscape, the introduction of these new legislations marks a bold approach.

Writing in this edition of the magazine, Andrew Wilson, owner and director of Wilson Power & Energy, said that a main concern for EV drivers has been the lack of price transparency and visibility when it comes to charging their vehicles.

“This is why the new packet of legislation coming into effect in November 2023 will require charge point operators to clearly display the price of charging in pence per kWh, either on the charge point or on a separate device which does not require a person to have entered a pre-existing contract with its operator.”

Of course, for motorists still worried about going fully electric, the hybrid remains another option for drivers looking to save on their fuel bills, while also going that bit greener.

The future ban on new petrol and diesel cars, which is now due to come in to force in 2035 after it was delayed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is an added incentive for people to start thinking about new ways of getting around.

Figures released recently showed Northern Ireland has seen the UK’s biggest percentage growth in hybrid electric car ownership since 2020. With increased fuel efficiency hybrids’ main selling point, this increase in popularity is to be expected.

There are different types of hybrid cars and the most common is self-charging. Mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are also available.

Hybrid cars are also more expensive than their standard diesel and petrol counterparts, but the savings in fuel over time could be worth the upfront cost.

The RAC said they can be up to 20% more expensive than petrol or diesel cars, but “thanks to higher resale values you might recoup a lot of this extra cost when you sell”.

Also, if you’re a city driver, using your car for shorter distances and more frequent journeys, then the hybrid technology could save money in the long-run.