British horseracing has signed up to a sustainability idea that could have major benefits for Irish sporting organisations.  The Jockey Club has unveiled plans for electric vehicle charge points to be installed at all of its 14, including Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom by the end of this year.
Only last week the Irish government revealed a target of 10% of the cars on Irish roads to be electric by 2020.  The infrastructure for charging points is different to petrol in that a large forecourt with tanks is not required and so the flexibility for charging points is much greater.
ESB eCars is already installing charge points at a network of what is hoped to become 100 hotels around the country but what is there to stop GAA clubs, of which there are 2,000 located at the heart of almost every Irish community from being involved as a network as well.
Existing signage and the obvious visual location clue of large goalposts means it would be easy from drivers to identify where a charging point is and the ongoing revenue generating potential could match that of the mobile phone masts which are installed on some clubhouses.
The benefits of use, sustainability and revenue must be appealing to clubs in the current climate and what better time to start an idea which in 20 years time could be a standard funding model?
Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis Energy and Airtricity have existing relationships within sport and at the very least a proposal from the GAA or other sporting bodies ought to be considered.
Britain expects to have a network of 4,000 charge points in place by the end of 2012, enabling a full charge to facilitate around €150 kilometres for a cost of less than €2.