Lidl Drogheda rapid charger

quenching

Anyone know what the procedure is for using the rapid charger at Lidl in Drogheda? Does it need activation by the store or do you just drive up and connect?

unkel

Thanks for starting a thread on that, useful info for many of us to know.

goz83

The UK ones are installed by pod-point and seem to be accessed with an rfid signal and the Lidl app. Could be the same here

KCross

In the UK they have rapids and fast chargers in Lidl. And they mention "free to use for a limited time period".

Sorry to dash your freeloading hopes there @unkel!

https://pod-point.com/electric-car-news/pod-point-rapid-charge-units-to-be-installed-at-selected-lidl-stores-across-the-uk

I agree in general that an FCP is all that really makes sense at a Lidl because of the limited time you spend there.

Lets say you spent 45mins there (which would be a lot) and it was only a 7kW post, you would only get 4.5kWh's into your battery in that time which is only 20% and thats assuming you have a 6.6kW Leaf. It would only be 10% for a 3.3kW Leaf. It might get you out of a hole but its only supporting a fringe case.

Rapids are what you need in a Lidl but unfortunately one won't be enough but it would be a good start and if we had rapids in all Lidl's it would give more options which is a good thing.


Lets see what they implement in Ireland.

unkel

Limited time is probably to prevent people hogging the slow charger for the day. I doubt it will be a silly limit like 15 minutes on the fast charger (not enough for most people to do a shop - you'd hardly expect people to stop mid-shop and move their car? If there is a limit on the fast charger it's probably 30 minutes or so. Enough to do your shop and enough to (mostly) fill up your car.

thelikelylad

There's a new Lidl store going up in Wilton in Cork at the moment. In the planning application there are something like 9 EV ready parking spaces marked out with 1 labeled as "EV active" or something to that effect. Here's hoping they put a FCP in. It will definitely be my supermarket of choice then I believe it's due to open next month so I'll deffinitely head there for a nose.

KCross

unkel wrote: »

Limited time is probably to prevent people hogging the slow charger for the day. I doubt it will be a silly limit like 15 minutes on the fast charger (not enough for most people to do a shop - you'd hardly expect people to stop mid-shop and move their car? If there is a limit on the fast charger it's probably 30 minutes or so. Enough to do your shop and enough to (mostly) fill up your car.

I read it as free for a limited period as in they will eventually charge for it.

unkel

Ah, I see what you mean. We'll have to see. But I guess an average charge of say 15kWh per visitor (€2) on a €60 shop for the occasional EV owning customer is something they more than likely accept (so won't charge for)

jimmycrackcorm

KCross wrote: »

I read it as free for a limited period as in they will eventually charge for it.

I think they will tie it in to your shopping. You seem to have to use an app to activate those and I think a shopping receipt will give you a code for free leccy.

I foresee Unkel standing at the door of Lidl in Ballyowen on Saturdays asking people if he can have their receipts.:D

unkel

Haha, if I was that desperate / mean / poor / penny pinching, I would not have forked out 25 grand on a new car to suffer thousands of depreciation a year only to save a few shekels with free charging

Nah, my local FCP is super handy and free and I pass there several times a day. I would have no interest in charging there if there was any hassle, any car ahead of me or anything, even if the charge is free. I'm all for charging commercial rates at fast charge points.

Maybe LIDL are planning to use these new FCPs as a seed to the first commercial network in Ireland? Their shops tend to be in good traffic locations at outskirts of towns. Good to hear that only the pilot scheme is "free for all".

Have to go take a look at the Drogheda station next time I'm there.

quenching

Lidl Rathfarnham (opposite Marley Park) reopened yesterday after refurbishment and have a charging point installed in the car park. No idea what type or how they propose to make it available as I haven't had a chance to pop in. I'm waiting on Lidl Customer Service to call back with some information as it was news to them too. I did email the Lidl Drogheda contact email address, twice, but never received a reply.

Anyone ever find out how Lidl intend to operate them?

jprboy

This relates to the UK so not sure if the same applies in Ireland:

https://www.zap-map.com/pod-point-and-lidl-offer-free-ev-rapid-charging-at-stores/

cros13

quenching wrote: »

Lidl Rathfarnham (opposite Marley Park) reopened yesterday after refurbishment and have a charging point installed in the car park. No idea what type or how they propose to make it available as I haven't had a chance to pop in.

I'll be passing there in about 2 hours.... I'll pop in and see what the story is.
I have an RFID valid for POD Point if it comes to it.

isnottheword

Do plugshare not add these to their maps?

thelikelylad

cros13 wrote: »

I'll be passing there in about 2 hours.... I'll pop in and see what the story is.
I have an RFID valid for POD Point if it comes to it.

Found a pic on Twitter. 2x22kW unit possibly?

Link

The new store in Wilton in Cork opened a few weeks back. No charger Was really hoping they would put in a FCP there. It would be nice to have a 2nd CCS point down here

cros13

thelikelylad wrote: »

Found a pic on Twitter. 2x22kW unit possibly?

Link

The new store in Wilton in Cork opened a few weeks back. No charger Was really hoping they would put in a FCP there. It would be nice to have a 2nd CCS point down here

Yup that's an RFID-free Autocharge 7.2kW (http://assets.rolecserv.com/files/products_document/52917dddd807b522efc318469805b605/EVACD001%20-%20AutoCharge%20pedestal.pdf). So definitely free to use.
And not fast by any measure either.

jprboy

thelikelylad wrote: »

Found a pic on Twitter. 2x22kW unit possibly?

(

2 X 7kw according to ZapMap

cros13

It's nice to have and all but someone is hardly going to be hanging around Lidl for hours on end.

cros13

Yeah...

slicedpanman

cros13 wrote: »

Yeah...

had to zoom in to see the post-it

unkel

Why did they put in a useless slow charger?

While Lidl are setting the right example across Europe by installing free to use fast chargers (incl. the one in Drogheda). Maybe a local / regional management decision by a fairly clueless management team?

goz83

They recently opened a Lidl in Portmarnock. Surprised they didn't install an EVSE

ELM327

isnottheword wrote: »

Do plugshare not add these to their maps?

Plugshare is user initiated, you can add them if you visit the site.

n97 mini

cros13 wrote: »

Yeah...

Just to be clear this is not the Lidl Drogheda Rapid Charger, but at Rathfarnham.

Might not be clear for those who haven't read every post in the thread (like me).

quenching

cros13 wrote: »

It's nice to have and all but someone is hardly going to be hanging around Lidl for hours on end.

Indeed, this seems a bizarre decision. Our weekly Lidl shop which takes about 30 mins will add about 5% charge to our Leaf. It's hard to be ungrateful for something that's free but I really can't understand how this is in any way useful to anyone.

positron

There was a brand new (172) Tesla Model S charging up at Lidl Drogheda the other day. Looked sweet, and free miles!!

unkel

positron wrote: »

There was a brand new (172) Tesla Model S charging up at Lidl Drogheda the other day. Looked sweet, and free miles!!

Moral of the story: be frugal, do your shopping in Lidl, run your car for free and you will be able to afford a Tesla

thierry14

Looks like Tesla and Lidl are friends

quenching

Interesting all right, but they do say "fast" rather than "rapid" or "Supercharger" so is it the same speed as the one they've installed in Rathfarnham opposite Marley Park? This is also labelled as "fast" but in reality is of little use as you'd have to sit there all day to get a full charge, and the maximum stay is 2 hours - standard car park rules I was told by Lidl Customer Service.

BTW, Lidl Drogheda have ignored both emails I sent them.

ELM327

They do say fast, and fast means >43kW charging (usually referred to as FCP - fast charge points)
Standard charging is <=22kW AC charging, referred to as SCP - standard charge points (often also technically incorrectly but accurately referred to as slow charge points)

I'd hope that they made an honest mistake and will correct it in due course.
Where's the EVOA stance on this!

quenching

ELM327 wrote: »

They do say fast, and fast means >43kW charging (usually referred to as FCP - fast charge points)
Standard charging is <=22kW AC charging, referred to as SCP - standard charge points (often also technically incorrectly but accurately referred to as slow charge points)

I'd hope that they made an honest mistake and will correct it in due course.
Where's the EVOA stance on this!

The technicalities are lost on most people, a glazed look in their eyes appears quite quickly if you try to explain the difference in charger types. And I honestly don't blame them, it's not something most people should need to care about, and I think a small part of the reason for the slow uptake of EV's.

However, if a business is going to the expense of installing chargers they may as well do it properly. I spoke with Lidl Customer Service about the Marley Park "fast" charger. A very nice lady knew nothing about it but told me she'd find out and did indeed call back a few days later. She couldn't find out anything about any EV charge points that Lidl had installed so it seems to be a well kept secret within Lidl.

ELM327

I think you are right, I get the glazed look when explaining the difference between AC and DC at the fast charger (in some cases to fellow EV owners) so understandable that all the acronyms get confusing,.

Bottom line, an EV owner will be annoyed if they plug in to a "fast charger" and the car reports 5 hours to complete charge!

KCross

That charger looks like a standard Tesla wall mount domestic charger and just put on a pedestal. Its a really cheap "solution" and as pointed out already not much use considering the time you spend at Lidl. It might just cover the energy you use to get to the shop.... which I suppose is a fair deal in some respects... if they gave you free petrol to get to the shop you'd take that!
https://www.tesla.com/en_IE/support/home-charging-installation

On the fast/slow thing.... most manufacturers refer to "fast" charging as the 32A(7kW) charging. Slow charging is anything below that and rapid charging is anything above. Not saying its right but just how they seem to market it.

QuantumP

unkel wrote: »

Why did they put in a useless slow charger?

While Lidl are setting the right example across Europe by installing free to use fast chargers (incl. the one in Drogheda). Maybe a local / regional management decision by a fairly clueless management team?

Would you rather fast chargers that you have to pay to use? To be fair you can't really expect Lidl to bankroll expensive charging infrastructure and hand it out for free.

n97 mini

QuantumP wrote: »

Would you rather fast chargers that you have to pay to use? To be fair you can't really expect Lidl to bankroll expensive charging infrastructure and hand it out for free.

Costs can be absorbed. For example, Aldi paid €8 million for their site in Maynooth. A small fraction of that would buy a lot of fast chargers.

QuantumP

n97 mini wrote: »

Costs can be absorbed. For example, Aldi paid €8 million for their site in Maynooth. A small fraction of that would buy a lot of fast chargers.

But an 8 million euro investment in an Aldi store will then go on to generate XX million of turnover and provide a return. A 50k investment in a rapid charger to simply increase their electricity bill? I mean they're a commercial organisation, not a charity or a state body under any obligations. Its naive to expect Lidl to give us free rapid charging indefinitely but fairplay to them so far

n97 mini

QuantumP wrote: »

But an 8 million euro investment in an Aldi store will then go on to generate XX million of turnover and provide a return. A 50k investment in a rapid charger to simply increase their electricity bill? I mean they're a commercial organisation, not a charity or a state body under any obligations. Its naive to expect Lidl to give us free rapid charging indefinitely but fairplay to them so far

All true. But once the capex is out of the way (say 50k per charger, and 8 mill buys you a f*ck tonne of these) it's down to opex, and if you can entice EV owners away from Tesco in exchange for €1 of electricity on a €50 shopping bill, then you're winning.

quenching

QuantumP wrote: »

Would you rather fast chargers that you have to pay to use? To be fair you can't really expect Lidl to bankroll expensive charging infrastructure and hand it out for free.

I would indeed prefer a rapid charger that I could pay to use it but think the solution offered by another poster of giving a token or code to Lidl customers would be a better idea. These "fast" chargers as Lidl call them are useless.

QuantumP

n97 mini wrote: »

All true. But once the capex is out of the way (say 50k per charger, and 8 mill buys you a f*ck tonne of these) it's down to opex, and if you can entice EV owners away from Tesco in exchange for €1 of electricity on a €50 shopping bill, then you're winning.

Ha, fair point. Still not entirely convinced it makes business sense for them but I'm not complaining! Long may it continue

unkel

quenching wrote: »

These "fast" chargers as Lidl call them are useless.

+1

The only slow chargers that are useful are the ones on your driveway, at your work, at your park and ride and marginally so at tourist / shopping destinations where people park for at least 3-4 hours anyway

Thankfully all the public slow chargers will be gone soon. We need fast chargers and a lot of them. It is great to see that oil giants like Shell and BP are now installing fast chargers at their "petrol" stations (not so much in this country yet)

L1011

unkel wrote: »

. It is great to see that oil giants like Shell and BP are now installing fast chargers at their "petrol" stations (not so much in this country yet)

The near complete exit from Ireland by actual oil firms - bar Chevron (Texaco) - means you have a fuel market nearly controlled by retailers. They don't have the same reasons to be seen to be encouraging EVs as oil firms do.

unkel

Oh but yes they do!

There's a lot less margin on the typical punter spending €40 on petrol or diesel than on the average EV owner spending €0.00 on electricity charging their car, but buying a roll or a snack and a drink in the shop while they're killing time waiting 20 minutes until their vehicle is charged. Every EV owner in the country will tell you that free electricity actually means spending quite a bit on other things

KCross

unkel wrote: »

Thankfully all the public slow chargers will be gone soon.

What?

We all agree we need lots more rapids but where are you getting this from?

unkel

Most slow ESB chargers that break down are no longer fixed or replaced. Have a look at the ESB map and you'll see lots of them out of action.

Spotted that only 1 CCS charger out of action at the moment, which is the one that should never be out of action, the one in Donegal!

KCross

unkel wrote: »

Most slow ESB chargers that break down are no longer fixed or replaced. Have a look at the ESB map and you'll see lots of them out of action.

I see about 11 SCP's out of service. I believe they have about 900 of them, so only 1%!

Of late, I see upto 10% of the rapids down!


I can't see eCars pulling out 900 chargers so Im not sure where your "soon" comes from. Once they bring in their charging for charging scheme they will look to make money from them, not pull them out or let them die.


I guess eCars are waiting for the official signoff of the network to themselves before they spend any more money.

unkel

Making like €5 gross revenue per day for one that is 100% occupied?

That's not commercially viable. They will be shut down. The only public ones not used at work or at P&R that will remain are courtesy ones installed by business owners. And nobody will use them any more. You can quote me on that in 10 years time. They will be like telephone boots

KCross

In 10yrs time, lol... I'll give you that, now that I know your definition of "soon"

unkel

For me they're already useless. But there are some very old, very hard core, hard to convince slow charge fans out there or so it seems. People with ridiculously slow charging (and even slower fast charging) old skool EVs. People who take 4 hours to do their weekly shopping who don't mind the effort of getting their own cable out of the case, plugging it in at 2 sides, taking it out later (all wet and dirty), cleaning it all up once it's dry and then sticking it back into its case. All for the massive saving of about €1

KCross

unkel wrote: »

For me they're already useless. But there are some very old, very hard core, hard to convince slow charge fans out there or so it seems. People with ridiculously slow charging (and even slower fast charging) old skool EVs. People who take 4 hours to do their weekly shopping who don't mind the effort of getting their own cable out of the case, plugging it in at 2 sides, taking it out later (all wet and dirty), cleaning it all up once it's dry and then sticking it back into its case. All for the massive saving of about €1

There is a valid use case for them. As it happens I used one at the weekend and needed it more than a rapid as I wanted/needed 100% charge, not the 80-90% I'd get from a rapid.

Ultimately they are destination chargers, like your home charger, so they are required. It is debatable whether they have any commercial viability in the eCars network so I agree on that side but I wouldn't go as far as saying they are useless just maybe more suited to being owned/operated by local businesses and councils rather than a charge provider who would/should be more interested in rapids.

ELM327

unkel wrote: »

For me they're already useless. But there are some very old, very hard core, hard to convince slow charge fans out there or so it seems. People with ridiculously slow charging (and even slower fast charging) old skool EVs. People who take 4 hours to do their weekly shopping who don't mind the effort of getting their own cable out of the case, plugging it in at 2 sides, taking it out later (all wet and dirty), cleaning it all up once it's dry and then sticking it back into its case. All for the massive saving of about €1

As a fan of destination/standard charging, I am not:
- Old (not far from 40, not "old" in anyones book)
- Hard core (only had my EV for a year and a bit)
- hard to convince (I am -relatively - an early adapter, showing I am not hard to convince)
- ridiculously slow charging (6.6kW ac charging leaf, same as your Ioniq's 7kW)
- old skool EV (Ok so it's a gen 1.5 leaf but it's still the newest model of leaf that can be purchased in Ireland)