NIE managing director Derek Hynes has suggested commercial operators will not build more public charge points in Derry until more electrical cars are on the road.
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00:00in my constituency here up in Derry, there's a feeling or a perception that there's an urban
00:06urban divide where I think in terms of the infrastructure, publicly accessible infrastructure
00:12that we have for EVs is nowhere near that that other cities and one larger city in particular
00:21has even proportionally. And I was wondering is the lack of infrastructure in Derry, that's nothing
00:27to do with a lack of capacity at the NIEC? I'm sure it's not. No, no. So we just haven't seen
00:36the level of interest from public charge point operators to build the charging infrastructure
00:45up there. And I think it was a bit like what Stephen had said, it's a chicken and egg here.
00:51They would argue that until there is enough volume of cars up there and there is an inherent local
00:57demand, there is no commercial incentive for them to try and build it. It's only at that point do
01:03we get to challenge and see whether the capacity is there and how much is it going to cost and
01:08the timeline. So we try to forecast it, but we won't know until they see enough vehicles to make
01:13them want to go and install them. I was up in McGee campus a couple of weeks ago queuing for the one
01:18charger on site. So we've all had personal experience of it. I think it's important to note
01:25that other jurisdictions, for example, Scotland, rather than taking a market driven approach,
01:31they're taking a government led approach. And that's really helping shape the direction of
01:36where these charge points are going. And I think there's 30,000 more that are going to go in quite
01:43soon. So I think it's just to add to that point, Mark, it's maybe something to consider.
01:47Oh, no, no, no, it's something I have considered. I just wanted to get the clarity that it wasn't,
01:52there was no obstacle at your end, if you like.