'Free tolls' for electric vehicles?

Silent Running

liamog wrote: »

I did that already, yer man spoke about some weird automated process that was less than convincing.

If I ring a place and get a dud on the other end, I ring back until I get a competent person.

DM1983

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Dmangan wrote: »

Its all well and good to point to this technicality in the wording but has anyone actually successfully done this? As in, explicitly ignored revenue's guidance which says that i3 Rex does not qualify? Would be very interested to hear if there are people driving around in an i3 rex and paying 0% BIK. I know a few who would jump on this if possible.

Have you a link to this guidance please?

Not available online. I spoke to them over the phone and received that response. Pure BEV only. I believe someone else on here did the same and got same answer.

Gumbo

Currently have a video account. No monthly charges.
They want me to upgrade to a tag to avail of the cheaper toll with a charge of €1.27 per tag. I have 2 cars on the account, 1 EV and 1 ICE.

Would only use the M50 once return a month on average

goz83

kceire wrote: »

Currently have a video account. No monthly charges.
They want me to upgrade to a tag to avail of the cheaper toll with a charge of €1.27 per tag. I have 2 cars on the account, 1 EV and 1 ICE.

Would only use the M50 once return a month on average

This is ridiculous. You should not have to upgrade to any sort of account. The discount is for EVs, not tag accounts. The inlaws are in the same boat and very rarely use toll roads. The video account is set up on their car.

I have tags on both EVs. Also rarely use toll, but it's a convenience thing.

samih

Tolltag.ie allows you to "buy" a toll tag for 20 yoyo refundable deposit and minimum 20 yoyo on the account with auto topup. They add 10 percent usage charge on top of the toll.

This might be cheaper in the long run for users that only infrequently use tolls. We have had one of these for the past 5 years. When you don't use the tag there are no fixed charges at all.

creedp

kceire wrote: »

Currently have a video account. No monthly charges.
They want me to upgrade to a tag to avail of the cheaper toll with a charge of €1.27 per tag. I have 2 cars on the account, 1 EV and 1 ICE.

Would only use the M50 once return a month on average

Im in the same boat. 2 cars registered with eflow - 1 EV and ICE. Previously had a video account with no charges. I swapped to a video account to take advantage of reduced EV toll but now have 2 tags with a €1.23 monthly fee. Both cars will rarely use the M50 and the ICE will rarely use any toll. So now Im paying a standing charge of €2.46 and getting little in return. Think I will deactivate the ICE and register it on a video account under my wife's name. Little point paying nearly a €15 annual tag admin charge for a car that rarely uses a toll. Not a bad system for eflow .. Govt coughs up for reduced EV toll incentive and eflow make a few bob on increased admin charges.

unkel

Why would you pay a monthly fee if you don't use tolls much? Makes no sense to me. You can get a toll tag and only pay if you go through the tolls (no monthly fixed fee at all)

creedp

unkel wrote: »

Why would you pay a monthly fee if you don't use tolls much? Makes no sense to me. You can get a toll tag and only pay if you go through the tolls (no monthly fixed fee at all)

Agree with you! When looking to change to a tag account for the Leaf I didn't realise I would be issued with 2 tags attracting 2 monthly admin charges. E-Flow are very inflexible in not allowing a mix of tag and video accounts for different vehicles under the one overall account. Then again maybe that's why they are a profitable company.

Presumably the option you are referring to is Tolltag.ie as mentioned above by Samih. Am I correct in understanding this options requires a €40 up front payment - €20 refundable tag deposit and €20 top up payment upfront. Still think the video account works fine for cars that rarely use tolls as it involves no up front payment or admin charges. Was using it for a number of years and never had a problem with it.

In any case I will be deactivating the ICE from my eflow tag account and returning the tag.

unkel

Aye, it's Parkmagic / tolltag.ie

Herself set it up years ago but she recently changed payment so it is hitting my card now

Just looking at it now (for the first time) and it charges €2.10 toll charge plus €0.21 usage charge every time I go through the M50 toll, so €2.31

My car is recognised as a full EV on their website (I changed it online, but the status hadn't changed 2 days later, so I emailed them, they got back to me that they changed it and it now looks right)

I'll report back what my "refund" will be. I'm expecting it to be 75% of €2.31, so leaving me with a net payment of €0.58 in total including the usage charge for off peak M50 toll bridge use

Still ridiculous of course. Orbital motorways around big cities should never be tolled.

ELM327

unkel wrote: »

Aye, it's Parkmagic / tolltag.ie

Herself set it up years ago but she recently changed payment so it is hitting my card now

Just looking at it now (for the first time) and it charges €2.10 toll charge plus €0.21 usage charge every time I go through the M50 toll, so €2.31

My car is recognised as a full EV on their website (I changed it online, but the status hadn't changed 2 days later, so I emailed them, they got back to me that they changed it and it now looks right)

I'll report back what my "refund" will be. I'm expecting it to be 75% of €2.31, so leaving me with a net payment of €0.58 in total including the usage charge for off peak M50 toll bridge use

Still ridiculous of course. Orbital motorways around big cities should never be tolled.

The budget for this is coming from the SEAI, and that's the reason for the "charge and refund" model.
You will not be refunded the toll tag use charge under this IMO

slave1

Easytrip have a Pay As You Go tag, no monthly fees, something like 38c charge for every top up, you yourself nominate top up amount and minimum balance. Ordered Tuesday so will see how I get on...infrequent toll user

liamog

We're only 14 cars away from 2018 being a record year for Irish EVs.
I suspect the 182 Leafs will bring us over the line.

unkel

ELM327 wrote: »

The budget for this is coming from the SEAI, and that's the reason for the "charge and refund" model.
You will not be refunded the toll tag use charge under this IMO

Yep you were right there. With my increased toll use, I think I will be cheaper off going for the monthly €1.21 fee (and not have to pay the €0.21 toll tag use each way)

tolltag.ie in fairness are handling the refunds perfectly. My toll charge hits my account and almost immediately (1 second later) I get refunded my discount.

I've gone through the M50 toll 4 times, and already saved €5.79. I guess I will save about €100-€150 a year. A daily commuter will save the full €500 a year

Better than a kick in the eye :cool:

There's nothing on my easytrip account to suggest I got a refund for my trip to the smoke the other day. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

slave1

Deleted User wrote: »

There's nothing on my easytrip account to suggest I got a refund for my trip to the smoke the other day. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

AFAIK they do a refund at the end of the month

unkel

slave1 wrote: »

AFAIK they do a refund at the end of the month

That's a brutal IT implementation in this day and age. It should either be an instant discount (pay just 25% of the normal toll) or a near instant refund (pay 100% of the toll and get an immediate 75% refund)

liamog

unkel wrote: »

That's a brutal IT implementation in this day and age. It should either be an instant discount (pay just 25% of the normal toll) or a near instant refund (pay 100% of the toll and get an immediate 75% refund)

I can understand why, the Toll Operator is getting 100%, the Tag Operator is getting 100%, the SEAI is paying 25%/50%/75% to the Tag Operator for the EV driver.


It's a business decision on how you want to show that to your customer.

unkel

liamog wrote: »

It's a business decision on how you want to show that to your customer.

That's not a very customer focused approach now, is it?

The customer does not want to get a monthly refund. They want to get a discounted price or (second best) pay the full price and get an immediate refund.

liamog

You can always vote with your money.
At the end of the month I pay in one go so don't really mind how each individual charge appears.

I do think it would have made more sense to reduce the tolls instead of a capped discount. That way every toll booth could have a giant advert for the reduced fee on the price list.
The current system seems designed by someone who uses the M50 off peak regularly and occasionally does trips down the country.
They don't really want it to catch on so the chargers aren't occupied. Maybe I'm too cynical.

slave1

So I went through 3 tolls earlier today and checked my (new to me) Easytrip account.

I got charged 10% extra on top of the toll fee, I phoned them and they said there's a 10% surcharge on tolls on the PAYG account, never mentioned to me when I opened the account and neither I nor the staff member I was talking to could find any mention of this anywhere on their website and I had a big search through it, not in their terms not on their list of fees etc.

So watch out guys, sneaky stuff and I await a call back on the matter...Transaction Surcharges?

I think I get charged 2.10 per toll, what are you being charged ?

unkel

The charge is €2.10 if you have a toll tag and you pay the monthly "subscription" (if you have no toll tag, but you have a video account it's €2.60 and if you have none of the above it is €3.10)

There is a surcharge if you have a toll tag but you do not pay a monthly subscription, in my case (park magic / tolltag.ie) it is €0.21

Oh yeah I know about the tag charge, still it's very convenient having the tag.

ELM327

Still no updates on my online account.
Have email confirming the car is eligible (Ioniq BEV)
All tolls - m50 and m3 mostly - still show at full price
Eflow

cros13

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh yeah I know about the tag charge, still it's very convenient having the tag.

It's also possible to have purchased tags. I paid for two 10 years ago still have them and I only incur half the monthly fees per tag (€0.50/month + VAT).

Calahonda52

ELM327 wrote: »

Still no updates on my online account.
Have email confirming the car is eligible (Ioniq BEV)
All tolls - m50 and m3 mostly - still show at full price
Eflow

AFAIK they do the adjustment at month end

liamog

In possibly the least surprising news, our Ioniq was recognised under EVTI, but the eUp wasn't.

yannakis

Calahonda52 wrote: »

AFAIK they do the adjustment at month end

I remember this line from the easytrip newsletter announcing the discount. You get charged as normal, and get credit at the end of the month.

unkel

liamog wrote: »

In possibly the least surprising news, our Ioniq was recognised under EVTI, but the eUp wasn't.

I'm surprised you didn't contact your toll company to tell them both your cars are full EVs.

I changed mine online and when it wasn't "approved" within a day or two, I send them an email. The got back to me confirming the car had been approved. And all this was before the first of July

liamog

unkel wrote: »

I'm surprised you didn't contact your toll company to tell them both your cars are full EVs.

I changed mine online and when it wasn't "approved" within a day or two, I send them an email. The got back to me confirming the car had been approved. And all this was before the first of July

I did, I've rang about 3 times at this point. Was told it was being handled by the magical back office team. I've emailed the EVTI email address and will see what happens.

I suspect it will require me to email them the registration certificate.