'We can’t go anywhere’: Gardai forced to queue up to charge electric patrol cars
Caller tells RTE's Liveline how an on-duty garda asked to jump the queue to access a public EV charger
Questions are being raised about Garda readiness after it emerged some patrol cars must rely on public EV chargers.
A Liveline caller told Kieran Cuddihy how two on-duty gardaí asked to skip the queue at a public EV charger in Killarney over the New Year because they did not have a charger at their station.
The caller, Jack, said the gardaí were driving a Kia electric vehicle and that when he suggested they "surely have a charger" at the station, one garda replied: "No, we don’t. We’ve been waiting months. We have no charger actually — we come here."
They also told him that their colleagues in Killorglin also have no charger.
When Jack asked what happens if the car needs to be charged at the start of a shift, the garda replied: "If we get a call, we can’t go anywhere. There are times when we may have to queue for one to two hours to charge the car."
Jack said how he found this to be "unbelievable" asking "what kind of Garda management would allow something to not have the infrastructure there for electric charging, and there are guards all over the country who have electric cars."
He further outlined how the gardai he spoke with were frustrated as they "have to get in a queue like anybody else" even while on active duty noting that this happened "everyday".
According to host Kieran the Garda Press Office said, "there is 205 An Garda Síochána locations with active EV [Electric Vehicle] chargers and there's about 300 electric vehicles on the An Garda Síochána fleet."
When asked specifically about these Kerry stations, a Garda spokesperson told Liveline, "Killorglin does not have an EV charger full stop. The installation of an EV charger in Killarney Garda Station is approved and it being progressed through the OPW [Office of Public Works]".
Kieran Cuddihy said he recently saw a garda car charging at a public service station near the N7 in Kilcullen, an image he described as "odd" at the time, adding that he had assumed patrol cars would be fully charged before leaving their stations.
He said he now realises they "probably don’t have one either".
It was also highlighted that when both host Kieran and caller Jack ordered their personal electric cars they had their home chargers installed within one to two weeks, with Kieran remarking he "doesn't know how there are guards driving around the South West having to use the SuperValu chargers.