ESB eCars

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924957#Comment_120924957

One of the few good things to come out of the forecourt operators lockout of eCars. eCars can now focus on putting chargers in partnership with shopping centres and leave the interurban routes to the existing forecourt operator.

I would of much preferred these units to go near the Krispy Kreme instead of PC World, better options that way for snackage whilst charging.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120925023#Comment_120925023

In the interest of my good health it's probably best to locate the charger as far away from Krisy Kreme and Boojum as possible 😂

Also it's probably good the chargers aren't in the best parking spaces, much less likely to be hogged

I absolutely agree that Ecars should be going for supermarkets and shopping centres. I think a lot of people are going to prefer charging there instead of some smelly forecourt or a run down motorway services

My main concern as I said is traffic, I'm not sure I'd be happy sitting in 15 mins of traffic after 2-3 hours motorway driving to get a charge

liamog

It's just the duality of use cases, I used to live in the area, there are many houses without private driveways it's great to see chargers in a location where you can get a decent charge whilst doing something else. eCars will make far more money from those customers who use the charger once a week than from the customers who want to charge 3 times a year as they pass through Dublin on their way to somewhere else.

I'm sure the N3/M3 service stations will cover the charging for people passing through allowing the D15 haters to breeze past without having to worry themselves about an adventure into the less prosperous sides of the city.

hick

One stunning piece of information I learned recently directly from eCars is that if a customer presses the emergency stop button, simply pulling it out again will not reactivate the charge point. They need to send out an engineer to reset it. This explains the massive amount of the cars charger is not working along various routes.

Lots of folk hit it trying to remove a car that’s been there too long (in their view, rightly it wrongly) or because their can’t won’t start/stop charging and they think “resetting” the charger will sort it.

in any case there needs to be more education for the wider population, especially with the substantial increase in EVs on the roads, on both how to charge and the etiquette. We’ve a long way to go!

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120926615#Comment_120926615

It's not "will" it's "may"

Pulling out the switch again often fixes the issue. There's a small amount of times it doesnt.

I;'ve had to use the emergency stop a few times over the course of the years, and it never required an engineer to visit.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924957#Comment_120924957

I wonder what this will mean, if anything, for the existing Blanchardstown "hub"?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120926667#Comment_120926667

I had an experience once where the charger sh!t the bed about 2 mins into a charging session

Charger locked up completely, wouldn't charge and wouldn't end the session. Plug was locked into the Chademo port and the release switch wouldn't work

Had no choice but to hit the E-Stop to release the cable and reset the charger

When the charger reset it was still borked, don't think it was the E-Stop that did it but it probably needed an engineer to fix it

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927044#Comment_120927044

The pattern to date seems to be to remove the existing chargers

It'd be nice if they swapped out the 150kW unit for 3 more 50kW CCS+Chademo units for a total of 4, and made the 4 (hopefully) 200kW units into CCS only

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927054#Comment_120927054

They haven't removed the 50kW triple head in Obama Plaza. Is that planned?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927075#Comment_120927075

They did in Mayfield, dunno what the plan for Obama plaza is

Pretty silly IMO, are they really so short of 50kW units they need to move them elsewhere and those units are better suited to slower charging cars like Gen1 Leafs

zg3409

Looks like the 3/4 car "hub" in Donegal town has really started at pace. I think the grey thing is a new substation. Just up the road from the 2 charger laghy "hub" supemacs on site and parking is not normally an issue. Chargers seem.to.be far from normal parking so won't be ICEd as much.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/461083

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927721#Comment_120927721

Badly needed. There isn't anything faster than 50kW within 80kms as the nearest 150kW is Lunneys Service Station in Carrick on Shannon!

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927749#Comment_120927749

There'll be Ionity hubs in Derry and Sligo soon from the looks of it so that's something for the longer trips

It would be pretty nice if one didn't have to travel to another county (or country) to find a HPC

digiman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927749#Comment_120927749

This is great news, there is a 38kV substation across the road from here so hopefully power is not too big of a problem and we can get 200kW chargers

AndyBoBandy

Impressive cable length in the new charger in Westport…..

the_amazing_raisin

Ground markings in the coming days, where have I heard that before? 😏

wassie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120939666#Comment_120939666

Give it a year and it will be wrecked. Besides these cables being heavy where some folk will struggle, theres a good few peeps out there just bone lazy and wont bother hanging them up. Seeing it happen with the Applegreen ones already.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120939666#Comment_120939666

That's a tight car-park too though. The ESB charger had the standard car-park spacing rather than the wider EV spots, but just looking at Plugshare now I notice that EasyGo have a charger right alongside the ESB one, but EasyGo have the wider spors and green paint! That's really taking it to ESB!

ted1

Didn’t realise how bad Monaghan was for a charge.

3 cars charging at ecars and 4 in the Q. No other fast chargers within 50km

Shame that the 4 AC EasyGO ones in castle Leslie were all ICE’d so couldn’t get an overnight charge

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945556#Comment_120945556

I would have asked at reception for the owners to move. I stayed there a couple of years ago and the staff couldn't have been more helpful.

dsandson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120945556#Comment_120945556

It must be the bank holiday weekend. Not normally a problem getting a charge there. But it is a main route from Dublin to North Donegal, and there's not much else around.

There's one rapid due to go in to the Old Courthouse carpark in the town, with the Faster project. No idea of any other developments in the area

Red Silurian

Ecars Bolton Street, Waterford have removed Chademo, nearest is now easygo in Tramore. Their promise of support until 2024 seems to be out the window, and they wonder why nobody likes them

The_Wanderer

Had my first view today of "charger hogging". Arrived at a nearby railhead to take the train to work and the Ariya required a charge so I said I'll plug it in and the 9 or so hours I'll be gone would be enough to charge the car fully.

Another car in the other spot which I didn't take a huge amount of notice of. When on the train I looked at the app and noticed that the other car, while plugged in, was not charging as the plug was showing as available. Returned this evening to find that other car still parked up and plugged in. What an inconsiderate asshole having the nerve to leave it there all day without drawing a charge.

I often have to have overnights away and would never dream of leaving the car in a charging bay for excess hours.

Rant over.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120956215#Comment_120956215

I like them….

mackerski

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120957836#Comment_120957836

If the car was plugged in without starting a charge, the cable wouldn't be locked into the charger. That's not a risk I'd be prepared to take for the sake of a bit of free parking. And remember, kids, it's not big or clever to unplug people engaging in this mean-spirited behaviour...

zg3409

Touch to pay by credit seems to be an option on the not yet live site east of Waterford. Considering they put these on UK esb chargers years ago it's about time.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/452865

This site has chademo for the haters.

the_amazing_raisin

Wow, tap to pay, up to 200kW and what looks like 4 spaces to charge in

What's the catch? Betcha it doesn't work in the rain or something 😂

joe1303l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120958447#Comment_120958447

Surely the cable would be locked in place at the car end as long as the car is locked?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120961445#Comment_120961445

A particularly vindictive car owner could unplug the EV hogging the charger and throw their cable on the ground

I would not advocate such behaviour of course, while it's annoying there are legitimate reasons why someone might inadvertently be plugged in and not charging.

They might have swiped the card and run for their train for example and the authorisation could have failed

the_amazing_raisin

Interesting observation, Ecars doesn't seem to enforce any geo fencing on their app. Just tried starting some random charger on the other side of the country and it seemed to work (except no car plugged in)

I know a few networks won't allow you to start a charger more than a certain distance from your location

So if someone did have to leave their car on AC and run for a bus or train, they could start the charger afterwards