Random EV thoughts.....

innrain

Came across this website https://openinframap.org/#6.46/53.476/-6.847 where we can see the grid and its capacity.
Quite interesting for a geek.

KCross

SteelyDanJalapeno wrote: »

Are the grants disappearing in July?

Depends.

The new rules from 1 July 2021 are....
Grant
Reduced grant of €2500 for some PHEV's. Others get nothing if they dont meet range/emission requirements.
€5000 for BEV's
but only if RRP is <€60k

VRT relief
VRT relief already gone for all hybrids and PHEVs
BEV - Up to €5k but no relief for €50k+ cars

To know if the PHEV you are looking at still qualifies after 1 Jul you would need to check the spec/price and check with the dealer.

pdpmur

This battery technology looks interesting...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltaylor/2021/05/13/ev-range-breakthrough-as-new-aluminum-ion-battery-charges-60-times-faster-than-lithium-ion/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

If what's being reported is accurate then it would be a big jump forward in battery technology and a solution to the rare-earth-mineral issue.

daddy_boy

innrain wrote: »

Came across this website https://openinframap.org/#6.46/53.476/-6.847 where we can see the grid and its capacity.
Quite interesting for a geek.

I must be a geek

Redfox25

It looks interesting but there is alot of groud to cover between what they have to whats in your EV.
Lots of break throughs or near break throughs can only be a good thing.

the_amazing_raisin

Just saw a bit of Bjorn's livestream of the E-Tron GT. The results were pretty amazing

(Spoiler below, in case you want to wait for the video)

E-Tron GT did 1000km challenge in 9:35, 15 mins faster than Model S LR. E-Tron GT is now the fastest EV on the table

ELM327

I find those 1000 km challenges fascinating but a little misleading.
On a long trip I'd always charge to 90%+ to minimise stops. If you charged the taycan/etronGT to 90% at each stop it woudl change the 22 minutes to 35.

the_amazing_raisin

ELM327 wrote: »

I find those 1000 km challenges fascinating but a little misleading.
On a long trip I'd always charge to 90%+ to minimise stops. If you charged the taycan/etronGT to 90% at each stop it woudl change the 22 minutes to 35.

True, there is a balance of speed versus convenience. However the challenge is to do is as fast as possible, hence the short charging stops

We'll have to wait for the video to see how many charging stops he did, but my guess would be 4, so average 200km between stops. Not bad considering you'd probably be looking at 2 hours driving with a 15 mins break. Driving distances like that you'd probably be taken more breaks anyway as you'd be pretty exhausted

I think 1000km is pretty unrealistic for Irish drivers, you'd struggle to find 1000km stretch of road in this country. Perhaps a 500km or 700km challenge would be more useful for us

I think the key aspect of it is to measure what the limiting factor of driving long distance is, the car or the driver. For ICE cars, the driver is the limiting factor. For older EVs, it was the car, you had to wait for it to charge. With this latest generation of EVs, it's going back to the car waiting for the driver

Once that is commonplace then I think it'll be the tipping point for EV conversion

ELM327

I do a regular trip to cork and back. Living in north meath it's a 750 km round trip. Should be a handy 2 charge trip in my S but we end up charging 3 times due to poor charger placement and my refusal to use Ionity.

I'd love to see bjorn try that challenge in Ireland, we have no 150kW units in the wild - certainly not enough to allow these optimal challenge speeds.

270kW is pretty intense nonetheless. I watched Kris Rifas 10-80% charge curve video and the average speed over 10-80% SOC is >200kW. That's seriously impressive.

timsey tiger

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

True, there is a balance of speed versus convenience. However the challenge is to do is as fast as possible, hence the short charging stops

We'll have to wait for the video to see how many charging stops he did, but my guess would be 4, so average 200km between stops. Not bad considering you'd probably be looking at 2 hours driving with a 15 mins break. Driving distances like that you'd probably be taken more breaks anyway as you'd be pretty exhausted

I think 1000km is pretty unrealistic for Irish drivers, you'd struggle to find 1000km stretch of road in this country. Perhaps a 500km or 700km challenge would be more useful for us

I think the key aspect of it is to measure what the limiting factor of driving long distance is, the car or the driver. For ICE cars, the driver is the limiting factor. For older EVs, it was the car, you had to wait for it to charge. With this latest generation of EVs, it's going back to the car waiting for the driver

Once that is commonplace then I think it'll be the tipping point for EV conversion

Dublin - Cork round trip challenge or something.

Black_Knight

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

True, there is a balance of speed versus convenience. However the challenge is to do is as fast as possible, hence the short charging stops

We'll have to wait for the video to see how many charging stops he did, but my guess would be 4, so average 200km between stops. Not bad considering you'd probably be looking at 2 hours driving with a 15 mins break. Driving distances like that you'd probably be taken more breaks anyway as you'd be pretty exhausted

I think 1000km is pretty unrealistic for Irish drivers, you'd struggle to find 1000km stretch of road in this country. Perhaps a 500km or 700km challenge would be more useful for us

I think the key aspect of it is to measure what the limiting factor of driving long distance is, the car or the driver. For ICE cars, the driver is the limiting factor. For older EVs, it was the car, you had to wait for it to charge. With this latest generation of EVs, it's going back to the car waiting for the driver

Once that is commonplace then I think it'll be the tipping point for EV conversion

Would love to see some X to Y route challenge in Ireland. Dublin to Kerry and back or something. A Wild atlantic way challenge would be interesting too, it's so desolate of chargers.

cannco253

Let's not encourage more drivers into Salthill at the weekends....=;-)

ELM327

Black_Knight wrote: »

Would love to see some X to Y route challenge in Ireland. Dublin to Kerry and back or something. A Wild atlantic way challenge would be interesting too, it's so desolate of chargers.

There was a yearly dublin - cork - dublin rally before covid in the IEVOA

the_amazing_raisin

ELM327 wrote: »

There was a yearly dublin - cork - dublin rally before covid in the IEVOA

I was thinking after covid we should do a boardsies EV owners rally/meetup/argument over the 1 available ESB charger

the_amazing_raisin

Black_Knight wrote: »

Would love to see some X to Y route challenge in Ireland. Dublin to Kerry and back or something. A Wild atlantic way challenge would be interesting too, it's so desolate of chargers.

Give us some chance at success! I'd be nervous doing that route in the ID.4, let alone a Leaf or Ioniq28

Derry to Cork might be a good one, good selection of chargers through the midlands and East coast, if you can make it out of NI without using any of the dodgy chargers there

electricus

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

if you can make it out of NI without using any of the dodgy chargers there

How are they dodgy?

DrPhilG

electricus wrote: »

How are they dodgy?

They don't flippin work!

the_amazing_raisin

DrPhilG wrote: »

They don't flippin work!

Or there's been a car plugged into the DC charger for the past 11 hours :rolleyes:

I actually doubt this happens very often, but there only needs to be a few offenders to make life a nuisance

innrain

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

Give us some chance at success! I'd be nervous doing that route in the ID.4, let alone a Leaf or Ioniq28

Derry to Cork might be a good one, good selection of chargers through the midlands and East coast, if you can make it out of NI without using any of the dodgy chargers there

1160km. It is itching me but someday ...

electricus

DrPhilG wrote: »

They don't flippin work!

Ah ok, as if the North and North West charging map wasn't already empty enough!!

the_amazing_raisin

electricus wrote: »

Ah ok, as if the North and North West charging map wasn't already empty enough!!

Basically public charging is free in NI, since charging for it is currently illegal and the current assembly seems more concerned about how old the earth is to do anything about it

Since ESB can't make money up North, and I don't think they're receiving any money for network upkeep, they're basically ignoring it

As regards Donegal, well they've always been the forgotten county for just about every other kind of infrastructure, so why would EV charging be any different

zg3409

electricus wrote: »

Ah ok, as if the North and North West charging map wasn't already empty enough!!

50% of chargers in NI don't work and many are chademo only. No investment for years

colhickey

Just curious, have anyone of you ever run out of charge, and if so, what did you do to get out of the situation?

Did you get towed (that's an issue for an EV, isn't it?), ring roadside assistance (what are they capable of doing for you in this situation), or is there some better way of handling it?

Just wondering as I am a new convert to EV (picked up the ID4 at the end of March) and it obviously could easily happen with public chargers not working etc.

ELM327

colhickey wrote: »

Just curious, have anyone of you ever run out of charge, and if so, what did you do to get out of the situation?

Did you get towed (that's an issue for an EV, isn't it?), ring roadside assistance (what are they capable of doing for you in this situation), or is there some better way of handling it?

Just wondering as I am a new convert to EV (picked up the ID4 at the end of March) and it obviously could easily happen with public chargers not working etc.

150k+ km of EV driving and never ran out.
Same as I never ran out of petrol.

Ity's not hard

DrPhilG

the_amazing_raisin wrote: »

public charging is free in NI, since charging for it is currently illegal

That's the worst part, the relevant legalities were processed ages ago. There's nothing stopping charging for charging now other than incompetence and game playing.

the_amazing_raisin

colhickey wrote: »

Just curious, have anyone of you ever run out of charge, and if so, what did you do to get out of the situation?

Did you get towed (that's an issue for an EV, isn't it?), ring roadside assistance (what are they capable of doing for you in this situation), or is there some better way of handling it?

Just wondering as I am a new convert to EV (picked up the ID4 at the end of March) and it obviously could easily happen with public chargers not working etc.

Nope, never ran out, closest ver came was down to 8% in my Leaf and there were several chargers along the way, so I had options if I decided to bail

Probably the worst experience was travelling back from Dunleer, we had to depend on the (now defunt) DC charger in Lidl in Drogheda. Arrived and there was an E-Tron and I-Pace parked there already. Literally the perfect storm of charging queues and I didn't have enough to make the next charger

Worst part was if I'd gone 5 mins North of Dunleer I'd have 2 chargers at Castlebellingham

Thankfully there's more chargers en route and the ID.4 will make that journey anyway

As to what you do if you run out, same thing as an ICE car, you ring for a tow

Most EVs needs to go on a flatbed because the motor can't disengage and you'll start backfeeding the electronics

The ID.4 can be towed on it's wheels slowly for a short distance, but you should get a tow truck if you can

I don't think it's any easier to run out in an EV than an ICE car. People tend to fuel up their car before it gets critically low on fuel, same goes for an EV, once you're below 30%, find a charger. If it's broken or there's a massive queue then you'll have enough to get to the next charger

Busman Paddy Lasty

ELM327 wrote: »

150k+ km of EV driving and never ran out.
Same as I never ran out of petrol.

Ity's not hard

Petrol you say, have you ever ran out of diesel though?

ELM327

Busman Paddy Lasty wrote: »

Petrol you say, have you ever ran out of diesel though?

NO, but when I had diesel cars I used to run them on agri and/or kero, so I always had drums of it at the house!

DrPhilG

I've run out of petrol/diesel twice, and electricity once - half a mile from home.

My own fault, passed 2 rapids on the way but thought "ah it'll be grand..."

Silent Running

colhickey wrote: »

Just curious, have anyone of you ever run out of charge, and if so, what did you do to get out of the situation?

Did you get towed (that's an issue for an EV, isn't it?), ring roadside assistance (what are they capable of doing for you in this situation), or is there some better way of handling it?

Just wondering as I am a new convert to EV (picked up the ID4 at the end of March) and it obviously could easily happen with public chargers not working etc.

I have never run out. Closest I came was on a run across the UK in the Ioniq. 1am on a cold wet M4, my planned charge point wouldn't start a charge. No problem, on to my back-up charge point.... faulty. OK, on to my hail Mary charge point. I arrived with 12km range and guess what... also faulty. Thanks Ecotricity!

The nearest charging station was 20 kms away, and was actually marked as faulty on Zapmap. I decided to try to make it, as it was a motorway service area and a decent place to wait for the flatbed.

So, heating off, 60 kph on the motorway, pissing rain, so wipers on. Windows open a bit to try to keep the screen clear without using the fan. Thinking that getting to the ferry at 2:45 was off the cards, we got to the services with zero range.

The Charge point was alive! Thinking that it wouldn't start a charge, I plugged in anyway. The charge started fine and ran for 20 minutes before stopping. Grand, enough to get to the next charge point. But, I started it again and it ran for another 20 minutes.... and again.

I got to the ferry no problem. Don't you love a happy ending?