Northern Ireland infrastructure Minister, Nichola Mallon, has announced a new Electric Vehicle Infrastructure task-force, with electric vehicle consumer organisation, EVANI, to sit on the panel.
The Minister made the announcement while in Glasgow for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP26.
The role of the group will be to consider EV Infrastructure in the context of the overarching principles of prioritising active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) and public transport towards decarbonising the NI transport system.
The working group will be collaborative and will comprise key organisations who have a role to play in this area.
Minister Mallon said: “I am driving forward decarbonisation in Northern Ireland by establishing a new EV charging task-force, to help us deliver a modern, reliable public electric vehicle charging infrastructure to provide confidence to users of ultra low emission vehicles and improving connectivity across the North.
“The aim of the task-force, which will represent the views of drivers, energy-providers, consumers, councils and government, will be to inform a strategy for delivery of the necessary infrastructure to support those switching to EV use.
“Alongside the investment I have made, and the match funding I am providing to our councils to help deliver e-charging across Northern Ireland, this task-force will be the driving force for the transformative change we need across our communities to deliver the scale of e-charging infrastructure required to make progress in our battle with climate change.”
EVANI commented in a press release: “We are pleased to be invited to this new group and hope that it will be the Executive EV Taskforce that we have been campaigning for – a cross cutting, action orientated, solution focused group to accelerate our transition to electric vehicles. Northern Ireland needs swift action to turnaround its unenviable position as the worst region for EV infrastructure on these islands.”
Image: EVANI
