Ireland's electric vehicle charging infrastructure will not be sufficient to cater for likely future demand unless developments are made, new research has found.
The study by engineers at the Centre for Transport Research at Trinity College Dublin also found that in particular more fast-charging stations are needed if electric vehicle use is to increase.
The research, led by Professor of Civil Engineering at Trinity Margaret O'Mahony, saw the team extracting findings from 700 chargers around the country which had been used more than 40,000 times.
The researchers found that people prefer to charge their vehicles at home in the evening.
As a result, an increase in the number of electric vehicles on the roads could cause an unsustainable surge in demand for power at a time when demand is already at a peak.
The team says that in this eventuality, smart meters and other financial incentives would have to be used to encourage EV drivers to charge their cars later in the night.
The study also found that drivers seemed to favour fast-charging stations over standard rate chargers.
Fast chargers were used to boost range in urban and suburban areas and to facilitate longer journeys in rural places.
"In both instances it was clear that the fast-charging infrastructure is favoured by users with usage statistics approaching the lower range of what would be deemed commercially viable in some locations," said Dr Patrick Morrissey, a member of the project team, in a statement.
"Were this trend to continue with increased EV market penetration, the demand for fast charging would lead to the viability of the network.
"Given this apparently favourable attitude to fast chargers by EV users, concentrating on the rollout of this form of infrastructure may be one way to encourage the switch to EVs among motorists."
Those behind the work suggest it could be used by policy makers to help inform the strategic development of the charging network.
Adaptation will be needed, they say, if the network is to keep up with anticipated increased demand from those using it in the future.
The results of the research were published in Energy Policy.
Electric vehicle adoption in Ireland has been much slower than expected, due to a range of factors.
However, it does continue to grow, with 253 new EVs bought in 2015.
