‘Appalling’ electric cars provision

East Londonderry MLA Claire Sugden will meet with the Department of Infrastructure over the “appalling” provision of electric vehicle infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

It follows a series of questions from the independent MLA to the minister of the department, Nichola Mallon asking what was being done to boost the number, quality and reliability of charge points.

“I have had many constituents getting in touch saying they cannot feasibly use their electric vehicles because of the absence of charge points. Even those that do exist are often out of order, or so slow that they are useless for anything but long stays with multiple hours of charging,” said Ms Sugden.

“Transport is responsible for 23% of our carbon emissions in Northern Ireland. This is a 29% increase from 1990 and we have to make a concerted effort to reduce this.

“Many people are desperate to do their part and buy an electric or hybrid vehicle, but they are rightly concerned that if they do, they will not be able to properly use it.

“One of my constituents was forced to sell his electric vehicle for this very reason. This is not just a lack of progression, but a step backwards for us as a society.

“I have had approaches from private business and local government, both keen to roll out more electric vehicle infrastructure here.

“I would urge the minister to listen to all ideas about how we can tackle this issue, enable people to buy electric vehicles with confidence and take a straightforward, but significant, step towards lowering our carbon emissions.”