ESB eCars

Black_Knight

I don't have this data (readily available) as far back as March 2020, but in August 2020 there were 113 fast charge points on the island of Ireland. Today there are 126.

I'll see can I get more info from March 2020 to today later.

liamog

peposhi wrote: »

Where are the 4x350kW located, slave1?

They're Ionity chargers and being discussed over here,

Moved Ionity Discussion to Ionity thread https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=110860447

Black_Knight

Irish rail got a few new units. Not new sites, just new units.
Irish rail Charleville,
Irish rail Mallow,
Irish rail Tullamore

McCurtain Street Car Park also got a new evolve smart T AC unit.

zg3409

slave1 wrote: »

I agree with your line of thinking but with current length of cable and charge ports all over the place on EV's who knows what Tetris could be involved

4 spaces are needed at a minimum. This 3 spaces between 2 chargers is crazy.
Ideally I would like to see chargers in flower bed with long cables at 4 spaces either side (8 total) so ICEing and abandoning is very unlikely

The effort and cost and then put the two chargers so close together that the middle spot is shared between the two is madness, particularly where there is ample spaces right beside, unlike some petrol stations where every parking spot is a very limited resource.

ELM327

Or just build them like truck diesel stops. This is the way its going.
Like fastned, tesla etc.

AndyBoBandy

Has anyone been through J14/Mayfield recently? Anyone passing by soon want to take a spin in and snap a few photos for us???

We’re almost in April, and they’ve been at it for a while now.
Would love to see what units are going in, and are they even in yet.....

You’d also wonder why they aren’t doing similar in at least another few sites on the network.....

the_amazing_raisin

There hasn't been much movement on replacing the other chargers so I'm thinking ESB has all their staff working on the J14 hub

Black_Knight

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

There hasn't been much movement on replacing the other chargers so I'm thinking ESB has all their staff working on the J14 hub

AFAIK the charger replacements are done by local engineers, contractors, not necessarily ESB staff. That's only from the brief experience i've had with 1.

There is work being done though.

As I posted on the 15th March:

Black_Knight wrote: »

Irish rail got a few new units. Not new sites, just new units.
Irish rail Charleville,
Irish rail Mallow,
Irish rail Tullamore

McCurtain Street Car Park also got a new evolve smart T AC unit.

Since that these too have had new 22kW AC units installed to replace the old unreliable ones.
Strand Road, Bray, Wicklow
Main Street, Dundrum, Dublin 14
County Hall Car Park, Off Maudlin Street, Kilkenny City, Kilkenny
Public Car Park, Off South Street, New Ross, Wexford
Irish Rail Plunkett Station, Dock Road, Abbeylands, Waterford
Irish Rail Car Park, Portarlington, Co. Laois
Yeats Tavern & Davis' Restaurant, Sligo-Bundoran Road (N15), Drumcliffe, Sligo

About 1 per working day.

the_amazing_raisin

Black_Knight wrote: »

AFAIK the charger replacements are done by local engineers, contractors, not necessarily ESB staff. That's only from the brief experience i've had with 1.

There is work being done though.

As I posted on the 15th March:


Since that these too have had new 22kW AC units installed to replace the old unreliable ones.
Strand Road, Bray, Wicklow
Main Street, Dundrum, Dublin 14
County Hall Car Park, Off Maudlin Street, Kilkenny City, Kilkenny
Public Car Park, Off South Street, New Ross, Wexford
Irish Rail Plunkett Station, Dock Road, Abbeylands, Waterford
Irish Rail Car Park, Portarlington, Co. Laois
Yeats Tavern & Davis' Restaurant, Sligo-Bundoran Road (N15), Drumcliffe, Sligo

About 1 per working day.

Good stuff, I figured ESB had a group of contractors doing all their work and were concentrating on J4 but it looks like there's plenty going on in the background


Still waiting on those 2nd DC chargers at the M1 service stations, however :rolleyes:

Black_Knight

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

Good stuff, I figured ESB had a group of contractors doing all their work and were concentrating on J4 but it looks like there's plenty going on in the background


Still waiting on those 2nd DC chargers at the M1 service stations, however :rolleyes:

I've heard nothing about M1 getting any updates, sadly.

The only 2 publicly mentioned planned "hubs" are these:
Ballinalack, Co Westmeath (N4)
Lahey, Co Donegal

List of all the 22kW units to be replaced. This doesn't seem to list all the units currently using EBG - Highline BM AC units (the old ****e ones).
https://www.esb.ie/docs/default-source/ecars/replacement-charger-locations892b632d46d164eb900aff0000c22e36

Source: https://www.esb.ie/ecars/our-network/network-upgrades

slave1

So passed by the new Athlone hub now open.
As predicted it's very tight, there was a van parked opposite the chargers so I had to swing around to get the car into the space, granted I could have reversed a bit more back, but from being reasonably well parked I was occupying the pedestrian walkway.
If a CHAdeMO is parked where I was then I would not be able to hook up as the CCS cable does not reach, doubt likes of Ioniq could charge either or any car with charge port at back left.
In any case the centre parking spot is frightfully tight to park into, you can see how I had to park outside the spot where the photo was taken to avoid the post, herself would not attempt to get the S right back so the nose would be stick right out into the (tight) road.
The chargers should have been set back into the narrow plant/soil/whatever gap that it is, and the spots should be a good bit wider.
It's also in a horrible to access spot, I can see everyone making their way to the hotel in the background and doing loops to try and figure out how to access the hub.
In summary, a balls of a setup, honestly, a balls.

AndyBoBandy

So a CCS car with charge port on rear left can only use Space 1 or 2

If using space 1 - can use the 150kW unit
If using space 2 - can use the 50kW unit.

Would the 50kW unit CHAdeMO cable even reach over to a Leaf in spot 3 there? Doubtful by the looks of it, so they'll only ever use space 1 or 2.

What a shambles...

the_amazing_raisin

slave1 wrote: »

So passed by the new Athlone hub now open.
As predicted it's very tight, there was a van parked opposite the chargers so I had to swing around to get the car into the space, granted I could have reversed a bit more back, but from being reasonably well parked I was occupying the pedestrian walkway.
If a CHAdeMO is parked where I was then I would not be able to hook up as the CCS cable does not reach, doubt likes of Ioniq could charge either or any car with charge port at back left.
In any case the centre parking spot is frightfully tight to park into, you can see how I had to park outside the spot where the photo was taken to avoid the post, herself would not attempt to get the S right back so the nose would be stick right out into the (tight) road.
The chargers should have been set back into the narrow plant/soil/whatever gap that it is, and the spots should be a good bit wider.
It's also in a horrible to access spot, I can see everyone making their way to the hotel in the background and doing loops to try and figure out how to access the hub.
In summary, a balls of a setup, honestly, a balls.

Wow, that is pretty bad


Only way an Ioniq is getting CCS from that middle spot is goint sideways across the middle and right spaces


I wonder will the Chademo or CCS for the 50kW even reach the right hand spot, with the cable exit on the left side of the charger?

AndyBoBandy

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

Only way an Ioniq/Tesla is getting CCS from that middle spot is by going sideways across the middle and right spaces using the CCS on the 50kW unit.

fyp.. :cool:

liamog

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

So a CCS car with charge port on rear left can only use Space 1 or 2

If using space 1 - can use the 150kW unit
If using space 2 - can use the 50kW unit.

Not trying to defend that layout, as the recessed spaces are ridiculous, but this problem is no different to any other charging space where they site the charger at the rear of two spaces. I'd just leave my car sticking out at the front if I had to charge

Similarly a CCS car with the charger on the rear right would need to park in space 2 for the 150kW, and space 3 for 50kW. I do wish eCars would stop laying out chargers like this and switch to a pull through model.

the_amazing_raisin

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

fyp.. :cool:

That's if they're in a good mood


To be fair, going nose in the cable should probably reach, assuming you can fit between those pillars

Black_Knight

slave1 wrote: »

The chargers should have been set back into the narrow plant/soil/whatever gap that it is, and the spots should be a good bit wider.

Funny enough I was thinking the opposite. Push them out a little further and you could possibly drive an ioniq or S straight in and reach the rear of the car. Almost like a fuel station forecourt. Obviously the bays would need to be wider so you could get out of your car, but it's a thought. As it is, it's neither here nor there, but it isn't right.

Middle bay, as you mention, looks tight enough.

If I needed a charge, and my access was restricted, i'd have no problem parking like a clown to get plugged in. This is the system Ecars have built without any real world UX consideration (or at least it seems that way), sure i'll be branded an "a**hole driver" or whatever, but parking that was is a symptom, not the cause.

ELM327

It really does look like they are designing these for nose in cars only.

the_amazing_raisin

liamog wrote: »

Not trying to defend that layout, as the recessed spaces are ridiculous, but this problem is no different to any other charging space where they site the charger at the rear of two spaces. I'd just leave my car sticking out at the front if I had to charge

Similarly a CCS car with the charger on the rear right would need to park in space 2 for the 150kW, and space 3 for 50kW. I do wish eCars would stop laying out chargers like this and switch to a pull through model.

Even if they just stopped marking the spaces it'd be better. Cross hatch the area with green lines and let the EV drivers figure it out among themselves


It'd make the spots less likely to get ICEd as drivers would think it's a loading bay or something


Although any ICE driver who would actually WANT to park there needs to get their eyes examined

the_amazing_raisin

ELM327 wrote: »

It really does look like they are designing these for nose in cars only.

Designed around that Nissan ENV-200 van that the ESB has :rolleyes:

slave1

ELM327 wrote: »

It really does look like they are designing these for nose in cars only.

Yep, our Leaf would be able to park and use CHAdeMO in all three spaces.
S would be able to use the one I'm parked in for photo to High Power and Centre one for 50kW

ELM327

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

Even if they just stopped marking the spaces it'd be better. Cross hatch the area with green lines and let the EV drivers figure it out among themselves


It'd make the spots less likely to get ICEd as drivers would think it's a loading bay or something


Although any ICE driver who would actually WANT to park there needs to get their eyes examined

This is how I see it anyway.
I drive up and park in a way that lets me reach the charger. If it's outside the lines then so be it.

liamog

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

Even if they just stopped marking the spaces it'd be better. Cross hatch the area with green lines and let the EV drivers figure it out among themselves

I pretty much treat them like that anyway. I once parked parallel to the charger on the M1 to access it whilst a Zoe was using the FastAC. So long as too many people don't treat it as a park right in the middle we should be grand.

ELM327

slave1 wrote: »

Yep, our Leaf would be able to park and use CHAdeMO in all three spaces.
S would be able to use the one I'm parked in for photo to High Power and Centre one for 50kW

This is why I keep the chademo adapter as well as the CCS one. Gives more options, and the chademo adapter gives a foot or more of additional cable length. 50kW chademo is better than 0kW CCS if the cable doesnt reach!

AndyBoBandy

I'll probably be going to Galway in about 2 weeks, so will certainly be bypassing Athlone... unless absolutely needed!!

Galway Plaza is exactly 200km from home, and my Galway destination is 24km from Galway Plaza, so a stop at the plaza on the way there, or on the way home home should suffice!!

slave1

Galway Plaza much better laid out, very open, used it once or twice over the Summer, handy spot.
Hopefully you'll have the Athenry Superchargers in next year or so (different thread!!)

AndyBoBandy

slave1 wrote: »

Hopefully you'll have the Athenry Superchargers in next year or so (different thread!!)

Hopefully this decade......

AndyBoBandy

Of the 2 sites along the Galway - Dublin Route (Galway Plaza & Athlone), which has the better food/snack amenities in peoples opinion?

Had a SuperMac's in Ballacolla a few weeks ago and it was crap!!!

I know McDonald's aint the best/healthiest option, but my god it can fill a gap when it needs to... and would be my choice above SuperMac's, so if it was a grub/charge break, Athlone would be the winner for me!!!!

ELM327

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Of the 2 sites along the Galway - Dublin Route (Galway Plaza & Athlone), which has the better food/snack amenities in peoples opinion?

Had a SuperMac's in Ballacolla a few weeks ago and it was crap!!!

I know McDonald's aint the best/healthiest option, but my god it can fill a gap when it needs to... and would be my choice above SuperMac's, so if it was a grub/charge break, Athlone would be the winner for me!!!!

Athlone has mcds at the Ionity spot, Galway is the same as ballacolla.
Have not been t o the ecars place in Athlone.

ELM327

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Hopefully this decade......

Coming end of [current_year] !!