A groundbreaking pilot electric vehicle (EV ) charging hub was launched in Westside on Friday by the Mayor of the City of Galway, Cllr Mike Cubbard, and Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Seán Canney TD.
The hub is the first solar-powered with battery and grid back-up public EV charging hub in Ireland. As part of the pilot, city residents can avail of a reduced rate for AC car charging, where they have no driveways to charge at home.
Taxi drivers and public transport operators can also avail of the discounted rates. This scheme is supported by Galway City Council, the Department of Transport, Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI ), and delivered in partnership with Electric Skyline, ePower, ARBARR and the ROBUST mobility hub. To use the EV Charging Hubs, download the app from www.ePower.ie For more details contact Galway City Council at 091 536400 or email [email protected]
Mayor Mike Cubbard said he was delighted to see reduced cost electric car charging being introduced in Westside – particularly for people living in apartments or with no driveways who would like to switch to an EV, but are concerned about where they could charge their vehicle, or the cost of commercial charging.
"Taxi drivers will also be invited to avail of a reduced rate for fast charging their vehicles, to support a transition to EV vehicles in the city. The six spaces are fully accessible so will cater to all mobility users, with significantly cheaper rates available for up to one hour of charging.
"This project is a key action in Galway City Council’s Climate Action Plan and will play a significant role in facilitating the move to electric vehicles in the city”.
The new EV charging hub has 91 solar panels on the roof of Westside Community Centre, which feed into a 150kW/h battery. The battery uses an existing grid connection as back up, to ensure seamless operation of the EV chargers – with six EV charging stations available, split between Dual DC (‘fast charging’ ) and Dual AC (“medium charging” ) units.
The pilot is Galway City Council’s first step in providing much-needed car charging infrastructure for Galway City EV drivers and is located at the same site as the recently launched ROBUST project e-mobility hub, with ecars, ebikes and ecargo bikes available to book through the ESB EHubs E-Bike App. For more information on the app please see the ROBUST project webpage.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Sean Canney TD said this is a smart and forward-thinking project that makes use of the building’s existing electricity supply, along with solar panels and battery storage, to deliver fast and reliable charging for electric vehicle users.
"It allows people charge with minimal impact on the local electricity grid and it creates a convenient neighbourhood charging option for people living nearby or working in the area who may not be able to charge at home.
"This is the first of several EV charging pilots the Department and ZEVI are supporting with local authorities in 2025. The approach is designed to be scalable and easily replicated right across the country and support other national initiatives led by ZEVI, including the Shared Island Sports Club scheme and national roads/motorway Schemes “
Colm Shaughnessy, Engineer, Galway City Council said this is an entirely unique pilot, where we are trying to provide a green carbon neutral solution for much needed EV charging infrastructure. "The grid ‘back-up’ uses the existing connection in Westside Boxing Club to provide additional power to the battery in the event of over usage of the EV chargers or in winter months when the solar gain is low.
"This particular solution has never been tried before - Galway City Council is the first public body to provide EV infrastructure exploring solar and battery technology to power electric vehicles. Findings from this pilot will provide much need learnings to allow other local authorities and private EV suppliers provide much needed EV charging without the requirement for large on-grid connections.
"In particular this set-up could be the ideal solution for rural locations where the on-grid capacity is not available for high powered EV charging infrastructure. Other potential applications of this system include powering supermarket fridges, or leisure centre pools for example – so the learnings of this pilot could have significant impacts in the switch to more sustainable power options," he said.
Electric Skyline commercial director, Bryan Fox said this project marks a turning point in how we think about EV charging infrastructure in Ireland. By combining solar energy with smart battery storage, we’ve delivered a scalable, cost-effective system that works within existing grid limitations. It’s efficient, sustainable, and future-ready, and we’re proud to be part of the team that brought this innovation to Galway.”
