Irelands First Electric Car Charge Points Operational

McSpud

Irish Times

The country’s first electric vehicle (EV) charging stations or “juice points” have gone live in Dublin.

The four on-street charging posts are the first of a nationwide programme that will see 1,500 installed across the country over the next two years.

Electric vehicle drivers have to register to acquire a personalised electric fob to allow them access the public charge points, but recharging will be free for the initial phase of the project. It takes up to two hours for an 80 per cent recharge on most EVs, and between six and eight hours for a full recharge.

At today’s launch, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan said just over a year ago, the Government announced its intention that 10 per cent of the Irish motoring fleet will be electric by 2020.

“We have seen great progress since then. Ireland will be among the first in the world with this kind of nationwide infrastructure. It’s bold, ambitious and will show Ireland as a global leader in the green economy,” he said.

Electric cars are significantly cheaper to operate than their fossil fuel counterparts, costing an estimated three cent a mile to operate compared to 15 cent for a conventional vehicle. The ESB have not yet settled on a recharging price, but it is expected to be markedly cheaper than petrol or diesel.

Will any one buy electric cars & how is it green if the vast majority of the electricity comes from fossil fuels.

pajo1981

McSpud wrote: »

Will any one buy electric cars & how is it green if the vast majority of the electricity comes from fossil fuels.

About 3 times as green!

Obviously when everyone's energy is coming from the same heat engine economies of scales come into play...:rolleyes:

Atlantic Dawn

They look like a vandals wet dream, they will not last plugged in for anything more than a couple of minutes in Dublin before the cables are ripped out of the car.

They should have had some connector that you drive over and it connects underneath the car, obviously some hippy from happyland designed the system.

Gumbo

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They look like a vandals wet dream, they will not last plugged in for anything more than a couple of minutes in Dublin before the cables are ripped out of the car.

They should have had some connector that you drive over and it connects underneath the car, obviously some hippy from happyland designed the system.

people said the same thing about the Dublin Bike Scheme, and thats a roaring success! Just maybe it might work

1948Wolseley

I'll be needing them as soon as this is launched over here
http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php
(and I find €60,000-odd from somewhere - how much are kidneys selling for these days? :P)

Graham_B18C

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They look like a vandals wet dream, they will not last plugged in for anything more than a couple of minutes in Dublin before the cables are ripped out of the car.

Dublin ain't all bad, I reckon this will work

Guy:Incognito

They were talking about this earlier on Newstalk.

Think it was Bill Cullen that was on sayign Renalt are going down the route of battery leaseing and instead of stopping to charge the battery when your out, you pull in to the garage and the battery is automatically swapped out from underneath with a fully charged one. In and out in 3 mins apparently.

The alternative is chargeing ont he street while you shop or an hour and a half in the garage i think.


I'd be up for the battery swapping idea alright but dont like the restriction of bign stuck somewhere for an hour and a half wating to charge batteries.

MagicSean

How long does a charge last?

triple-M

1948Wolseley wrote: »

I'll be needing them as soon as this is launched over here
http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php
(and I find €60,000-odd from somewhere - how much are kidneys selling for these days? :P)

actually quite nice looking for an electric car,usually electric cars are small and strange looking

_Kaiser_

k_mac wrote: »

How long does a charge last?

From Breaking News:

The service will be free until the end of next year. From then, it will cost around €2.50 to charge a car to travel around 160 kilometres.

hmm.. I reckon it cost me around €20 in diesel to do 300 km today, so I suppose on the face of it it seems a no-brainer.. but I just can't see myself driving one of those small odd-looking boxes on wheels like they had on the news today - not to mention the performance (or lack thereof) factor!

Eric Cartman

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

From Breaking News:



hmm.. I reckon it cost me around €20 in diesel to do 300 km today, so I suppose on the face of it it seems a no-brainer.. but I just can't see myself driving one of those small odd-looking boxes on wheels like they had on the news today - not to mention the performance (or lack thereof) factor!

free until next year, and just uses a standard plug, i predict a new form of low budget accomodation, 200 euro caravans from donedeal plugged in 24 hours with electirc heating considering it for after the pub myself,

Fishtits

If this can take off, and I hope it does, long term it would mean more of us would be able to afford a real car for the weekends

grafter12

not to mention the performance (or lack thereof) factor!

The performance of an Electric car is vastly better than an ICE car because the motors go from zero to max torque instantly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3THUk5_jEw).

The main issue at the moment is range and battery technology is improving all of the time. Electric cars are the future and it's good to see the government getting in on the act at this stage.

1948Wolseley

Fishtits wrote: »

If this can take off, and I hope it does, long term it would mean more of us would be able to afford a real car for the weekends

+1 The same would apply to a decent public transport system, but I reckon we'll be waiting a while for that...