Ireland has set ambitious goals to be on a more sustainable path and the Climate Action Plan, already running since 2021, commits the country to a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050, and a reduction of 51% by 2030.
According to the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) there were close to 17,000 residential rooftops installed in the first 11 months of 2022, which is more than double the number installed in 2021 and accounts for 36 percent of all registered installations.
These numbers put Ireland’s progress on par with other countries leading the sustainable transition like Sweden, Norway and the UK.
What this tells us is that the Irish solar market is maturing at a rapid rate, faster than most countries globally. Given their natural synergies, this is providing a huge opportunity for the EV charging market.
As 80 percent of charging takes place at home, as specified by Wallbox, Irish buyers can now apply for the €600 grant to cover part of the cost of installing a home charger and facilitate the goal of 845,000 EV passengers on the roads by 2030.
It is essential that EVs fit seamlessly into people’s everyday lives and offer direct benefits to the user. What will ultimately democratise and drive EV adoption long-term are smart EV chargers capable of supporting sophisticated energy management systems, particularly those that can integrate EV charging with renewable energy systems like Wallbox’s Eco-Smart.
Wallbox chargers are all built with advanced energy intelligence software which includes their solar charging functionality, Eco-Smart. This feature lets drivers with home PV installations charge their car either entirely with solar power or with excess solar production making their charge more sustainable and significantly cheaper.
The next step, and what Wallbox sees as the future of the electrical vehicles is bidirectional charging, allowing to charge the EV when there is an excess in solar or when the energy is the cheapest, and then discharging this excess power back to the home during hours of peak energy use, or when there is no sun generating free energy.
A family with an EV charger and a bidirectional charger, like Quasar can easily save ~50% on their home energy bill at average 2022 prices, by charging the EV battery when energy is cheaper and using the energy in the home when prices are higher.
As Ireland’s EV adoption increases so too will its need for sophisticated smart EV chargers. Smart charging hardware combined with sophisticated software like Eco-Smart, enables customers to be in control of their energy consumption, live more sustainably and make better use of their rapidly growing investment in solar.
