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NEWS
June/July 2012 www.esb.ie/em
General public invited to take part in the Great Electric Drive
ESB ECARS IS recruiting members of the general public to become ecar ambassadors and trial electric cars in an initiative called The Great Electric Drive. We are looking for people with a range of different lifestyles to get plugged in and share their electric driving experience with us. The trial, run by ESB ecars in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin, has been running since May 2010 with over 45 people having taken part. The majority of the trial participants were from ESB and other organisations such as County Councils, Vodafone Ireland, IT Sligo, IBM and AIB also took part.
The research results to date have provided us with important information about driving trends, charging patterns and consumer attitudes to electric motoring. The trials have also been extremely important to test the infrastructure at the early stages of the roll out and to better understand the characteristics of the electric cars.
The trials have been extremely important to test the infrastructure at the early stages of the roll out and to better understand the characteristics of the electric cars. Some of the findings included:
- The majority of charging took place overnight at home
- Participants noticed the considerable cost difference of running an ecar compared to a conventional car, roughly 1/5th the cost
- The ecar could manage the majority of journeys with an average of just two journeys per month that exceeded the range of the electric vehicle
- The car was a lot faster and more impressive to drive than first anticipated
ESB ecars is delighted to offer members of the general public a fantastic opportunity to become an ecar ambassador (ESB staff and family are not eligible to enter). The selected ambassadors will trial one of the following electric car models; Nissan LEAF, Mitsubishi iMiEV and a Renault Kangoo Z.E. commercial electric van. Twenty people in total will participate in the year-long trial, four of which will trial an ecar for a year and sixteen people will trial the ecars for a period of three months each.
An advertising campaign will run in June 2012 to promote The Great Electric Drive and encourage people with all types of lifestyles from all parts of Ireland to sign up. Over the course of the year we will be following up with the trial participants to see how the electric car suits their everyday life and their experiences will be conveyed and highlighted on radio/TV and online channels.
If you know someone who would like the chance to join our team of ecar ambassadors and experience the thrill of electric driving, then let them know how to sign up! The entry form will be online from the 4th June on www.esb.ie/ecars and also on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/ESBecars The closing date for applications is Midnight on Monday 16th July. The chosen ambassadors will be announced in August. If you have any questions or queries, please email ecars@esb.ie
Launching the all new WasteWatchers Logo
The competition to select a new logo for WasteWatchers proved very successful with a large number of entries. The judging panel were very impressed with the entries and the effort undertaken by entrants.
Winners were:
iPad: Carmel Barker, Ardacrusha.
Irish Times subscription for 1 year: Pat Colman, Head Office.
Kindle: John McManus, Head Office.
Voucher for the ESB On-Line Store: Conor Monks, Head Office.
Watch this space and the bins, because our eye will be watching you, watching us.
Electric cars get plugged in
THE E-CARS project, promoting the use of electric vehicles, was launched at the City Hall in Belfast recently.
NIE is installing the network which will allow electric cars to plug in and charge up. Over 40 charging points have now been installed in Belfast, Londonderry, Newry, Armagh, Enniskillen and Larne. Over the next year this number will increase to around 140. We are currently rolling out our second phase of the project which intends to install a further 150 charge points over the next 12 months.
Omagh Grid gets powerful
A £20 MILLION investment project has been completed in the Omagh area with a 38 kilometre overhead electricity line which has just been energised.
The line connects a new substation near Killeter with an expanded substation in Omagh and will be able to carry renewable energy to power homes and businesses in the west of Northern Ireland.
Around 200 local NIE employees and contractor staff have been involved in building the line and substations for the last 15-months.
Nigel Crawford, NIE Project Manager said: “This has been a very important and successful project which helps Northern Ireland meet its challenging renewable energy targets and has created a significant number of jobs locally during its construction”.
Facts on Omagh
- Omagh the county town of Tyrone
- According to the 2001 census around 48,000 people live in Omagh
- Omagh is about 70 miles from Belfast
- The new line supplies a newly built substation at Magherakeel just outside Killeter
CRUSH METAL THEFT
OVER THE LAST year, NIE has experienced one incident per week where metal thieves or vandals have damaged electricity equipment.
To combat this growing issue NIE has teamed up with Crimestoppers and other utility companies to raise awareness in local communities of the safety risk and community impact of this crime.
Speaking at the launch, Roy Coulter, Director of Health, Safety and Risk at NIE, said, “In the last twelve months we have seen increasing incidents of metal theft in our electricity substations and depots across Northern Ireland. These have had direct impacts on local communities when vandals have caused power cuts and left equipment in dangerous states. We hope that this campaign will make people more aware of the crime and encourage anyone who sees thieves or vandals tampering with electricity equipment to report it to NIE or to Crimestoppers.”
