DUBLIN AND CORK are to receive €1.5m in funding from a pan-European fund aimed at developing fully-electric transport for cities.

The funding, which will be split between the two cities, is aimed at nurturing sustainable transport solutions and ultimately weaning each city off their reliance on ‘traditional’ fuels like oil.

The funds will be paid out of a European Commission initiative on green cars, which is funded to the tune of €41.8m.

The Dublin project – for which the brief was compiled by 42 partner bodies and companies, led by Siemens – will see Codema, a non-profit agency set up in 1997 which act as a sustainable energy adviser to local authorities, liaise with the Dublin’s city and county councils and with ESB in rolling out power-points for electric vehicles to recharge.

Codema spokeswoman Suzanne Fitzpatrick said the funding would fit in with Codema’s overall aim, “which is to make Dublin an energy-smart city”.

The body had recently published the Dublin City Sustainable Action Plan 2010-2020, which had analysed the potential to reduce carbon emissions.

In spite of new public transport options like the Luas or DublinBikes, “an awful lot of people are still reliant on their cars,” Fitzpatrick said. “People still like the luxury of travelling in and out to work in their cars.”

Codema’s role in that regard, Fitzpatrick said, would be to try and encourage public transport to become more sustainable, while also working towards making private transport less reliant on finite energy sources.

“Electric vehicles are still more expensive than traditional ones, but oil and petrol prices are going to continually rise and rise,” Fitzpatrick asserted. “We need to look at electric vehicles as a means of getting around.”

Ireland, as a relatively small island nation, was the “perfect road-map” to examine the feasibility of electric transport.

SiliconRepublic.com reports that a total of 2,000 electric vehicles and 3,500 charging stations will be rolled out across Ireland through the partnership, which will involve industries, universities and local authorities.