Lack of chargers sees electric buses worth almost €40m sit idle for over 500 days

Almost €40 million worth of electric buses are sitting idle due to a lack of charging infrastructure, according to a new report from the Irish Independent.

It said that 76 double decker battery electric buses, at a cost of around €500,000 each and destined for Dublin, Galway and Limerick, have been unused for more than 500 days.

It also said that 14 of those have been parked for 860 days, or around two-and-a-half years.

In total, 110 electric buses are currently not in use on public services due to delays installing charging points in depots.

The Public Accounts Committee has called on Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien to act urgently.

Energy equipment and solutions provider Schneider Electric, said Ireland lacks the underlying infrastructure and grid capacity needed to support EV charging.

“While the appetite for EVs is now growing, today’s electricity infrastructure was never designed for mass, high-powered charging at scale,” Darren Kinsella, business development manager at Schneider Electric Ireland, told CVWorkshop.ie.

“Superfast public chargers, fleet depots and logistics hubs place concentrated demand on local distribution networks already under pressure. Without action, grid constraints and long connection timelines will continue to slow EV rollout and put Ireland’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) targets at risk.”

Kinsella added that decarbonisation can be achieved through grid upgrades and investment in distribution networks, local substations, battery storage systems, and a smarter digital layer to support a scalable, reliable EV charging network.