Folks,

2022 was a rollercoaster of a year for EV ownership and the association in general. The headlines:

• We saw enormous growth in the sale of EVs across the year.
• The climate around EVs shifted, with price hikes on charging, general malaise around public infra, etc.
• We polled councils around the country to definitively say who charges for parking in an EV while charging.
• We launched /q to get better data on charging queues.
• I discussed the future of the association and how we should elevate our ambitions.
• We attended the Energy Saving Expo, EV Summit & more.
• We ran a home charging survey.
• Finally, IEVOA and our friends up north got together!
• ZEVI was formally launched.
• Our annual charging queue survey was released.
• The committee put together a lengthy and detailed response to DoT’s EV infrastructure strategy. This was before ZEVI was launched.
• Our friends at Tesla Owners Ireland ran humanitarian trips to bring Ukrainian refugees here.
• The committee rotated (per usual) after the AGM.
• I wrote a detailed response to the RTE Prime Time climate episode on EVs.

On top of that, we finally put some love and attention to social media, growing our Twitter page to almost 1,500 and Facebook to almost 15,000. If you’re following us but not a formal member, you’re missing out on invites to events, monthly newsletters and giving us membership numbers to bolster our activities! Consider being a formal member (free or with donation, that’s entirely up to you).

2023 will likely be no different. We want to host more events, webinars, share more and lobby more on your behalf. Our AGM is up-coming in April (dates, details pending). And if you’ve been around the association for a bit, you’ll know that there will be a bit of shuffling on the committee. Notably, myself (Kevin Dowling, chair) & Roland Krijnen (vice chair) & Paul Kelly (IT) will be vacating our roles. Pending election, new faces will come into the fray, as well as existing folks moving into new roles. You can see all roles & who occupies them here.

As we approach the AGM, I would strongly recommend EVangelists in the community to consider stepping up to work with a talented and dedicated bunch. You’ll learn a lot, too, as we’re very well organised and executing on various projects that normally wouldn’t be exposed to folks at this level. If you have questions and want to chat, pop me an email here.