Everything you always wanted to know about electric vehicle (but were afraid to ask)

ongarite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118726469#Comment_118726469

The Electric Ireland free Saturday or Sunday plan is limited to max amount of kWh on the free day.

I can't remember the exact figures but it might get you 2 hours charging at 7kwh rate each weekend.

innrain

I think there were some stories about Zoes with rented batteries being shut off due to unpaid invoices.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/renault-zoe-s-battery-can-be-switched-off-1.1777795

budhabob

https://www.micksgarage.com/d/battery-charger/products/3614534/2000a-12v-lithium-jump-starter-with-150psi-air-inflator

Folks, random one. I assume the linked piece of equipment would work with any 12v battery including an EV?

unkel

Yep. Very expensive though and I wouldn't buy anything from Mick's Garage. If something goes wrong their customer service is atrocious.

I bought a 12V pump for €15 recently in Lidl and a lithium jump starter for about €25 in Amazon. I have jump started 2.5l 6 cylinder petrol engines from that, amazing stuff.

budhabob

Cheers, I haven't seen a lithium jump starter that cheap anywhere, and there are difficulties getting batteries delivered.

Sabre Man

You wait ages for an EV cars and coffee, and then two come along at the same time.

First up is the EV Meet up at Circle K on the M6 just outside Athlone, which is being held on Saturday the 26th of March at 1 o'clock.

Then on the 2nd of April, the Ballinora Tidy Towns Sustainability Team is organizing an electric cars and coffee day in Ballinora, County Cork, in the car park of the GAA pitch, from 10:30 until 1 o'clock.

These events are free and open to anyone so you're very welcome even if you don't drive an electric vehicle yet.

https://youtu.be/NKjx2ldfDm8

Sabre Man

Another cars & coffee, this time in Laghey, Co. Donegal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5P26MRP_UQ

Sabre Man

Inge experiences an annoying knocking sound in his 2017 Tesla Model S 75, and it seems the iBooster may be faulty, so he has to bring his car to Dublin for a service. In Sandyford he gets a Model S 70 as a loaner and compares its range to that of his own car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqpXhyu1MGo

Raoul

Lads, feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the EVs tbh. I read one of the other threads and a guy was getting great advice about switching both his cars to EV. The consensus was to go for one at a time. I have an 08 Ford Mondeo that is probably on it's last legs. I will be doing a round trip commute of 170 km, maybe 3 times a week and a few long journeys from the east coast to the west coast (maybe 4/5 times a year). From reading that other thread, the best option may be to keep the Mondeo and then get an EV for the commute. I'm not sure what EV would be the best option though for a 170km round trip where I probably won't have the option to charge at work.

Edit - Budget is prob <€35k

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118845815#Comment_118845815

Any newish EV nowadays will easily do a 170km round trip, the only ones that would struggle would be the early 24kWh Leaf's.

East to West coast M4/6 is one of the best served routes in Ireland for chargers, and about to get a whole lot better when the 2 Tesla Superchargers on the route are powered up.

A Tesla Model 3 RHD would look after all your needs and then some.

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118845879#Comment_118845879

Thanks, I had originally forgot to put in a price range. Prob talking €35k, I don't mind if it is second hand.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118846262#Comment_118846262

€37k would get you this 2021 ID.3 with about 350-400km range if you dont need the Mondeo sized car anymore.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volkswagen-id-3-id-3-1st-5dr-auto/30442189

unkel

€37k for a year old base ID.3? That's insane money. For €39k you'd have a brand new Ioniq 5 on the road. That will actually fit 5 people plus luggage.

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118846635#Comment_118846635

These types of comments are what make me clueless. As the previous guy is pointing out the ID3 for 37k but then someone comes along telling me that is not good at all. ha

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118846678#Comment_118846678

Not that is not good you may get better value elsewhere. Start by test driving some. Be flexible with the budget as some finance might cost you less. Different people appreciate different things in a car. Some space, some looks, some badge. Right now there are so many to choose from. I haven't heard many "this is rubbish" when describing an EV on this forum.

unkel

Don't get me wrong, I'm not rubbishing the ID.3. But it's a small family hatch build to a cost, it looks and feels cheap on the inside and out, doesn't have a lot of redeeming features except it drives well, software is still dodgy. Everything that you'd expect as standard costs extra. An ok car new for about €28k, but a year old second hand one for €37k is insane in my book.

The Ioniq 5 on the other hand is reasonably specced, very spacious, very well build and not quite as cheap looking on the inside, has cutting edge fast charging technology and half decent software. Brand new for €39k on the road is a bargain. One of the very few new EV bargains out there, I hasten to add...

kanuseeme

The Ioniq 5..... New Ioniq 5 Executive**58 kW BatteryElectric €38,495... I do not know the range.

New Ioniq 5 Executive Plus 73 kW**72.6 kW BatteryElectric €45,495, this one @ 130 kph is 261 km range with a bigger battery than the 39k version.

You should have 50 km left over on a trip from Dublin to Galway, more if you drive slower, you will need 10 hours to charge it up or a fast charge to get back.

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118846635#Comment_118846635

Agree. How much did this car cost new? Either the dealer is trying to make a killing or gave a ridiculously high trade in for it. I know part of the problem is demand but I think the grant is really messing up used EVs prices. Dont see why the buyer of the new car should pocket a €5k grant and expect to receive trade in or sell privately basd on list price before grant. Imagine if this happened with VRT with trade in / private sale price based on list price before vrt. The current approach does nothing to make used EVs more affordable. The main focus seems to be carefully speccing new EVs to come it at a € under €60k and then waiting impatiently until it can be moved on so the person can benefit from another €5k free money from the Govt before this particular gravy train is pulled. Great model for people who want to benefit from the latest new toy.

Am I guilty of sour grapes or wha??

unkel

No, I agree. The grant should be abolished asap. It has served its purpose, now everyone wants an EV anyway even if it's a few grand more to buy than an equivalent internal combustion car.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118678521#Comment_118678521

One is a Type 2 connection and the other is a CCS.

A model S can charge at either.

Sabre Man

Tesla has started opening their supercharger network to other brands for owners in some countries. In this video, Inge tells you everything you need to know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjfUX151uqw

Sabre Man

This is the IEVOA AGM 2022 with timecodes in case you missed it or want to rewatch a specific part.

https://youtu.be/vXr16pMnfMk

Sabre Man

Donal Monaghan, Project Officer at the FASTER Project, made this interesting presentation at the IEVOA AGM 2022. More fast charge points? Yes please!

The FASTER Project is a joint initiative across Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland to support the transition to low carbon transport systems and to demonstrate how each of the three jurisdictions can provide early systems learning in relation to electrification of transport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h_NWQ2KHoc

Sabre Man

Imagine a world where you don’t have to think about which parking space has charging. ​Because they all do. That's DockChain.

DockChain is a 'chargepoint multiplier', which allows multiple parking spaces to be ‘electrified’ from one base power source with a daisy chain of inexpensive and simple charging points. The technology can significantly reduce the cost involved with charging large numbers of EVs. It also removes the operational inconvenience of moving vehicles around chargers, or where rapid vehicle turnaround is required.

In addition, DockChain makes rapid DC charging possible for all parking spaces at little more than the cost of slow AC charging infrastructure today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX7FrWDGhUk

AFOL

How does the reduced toll charges work? I have got an eflow tag, but based on the web chat with eflow today I was told to email them and request a refund on paid tolls? I assumed I could have the tag setup on a reduced rate instead of emailing for refunds.

unkel

Drop eflow and sign up for tolltag.ie / parkmagic. The refunds are instant when you go through a toll. Do a search here on the forum and you will find that it comes up time and time again and that everyone has poor experiences with eflow and good experiences with tolltag.ie / parkmagic. With eflow you only get the refunds at the end of the month (if you are lucky) and you need to be an accounting technician to reconcile the refunds to the original payments.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118976637#Comment_118976637

Call them. Eflow is known to make it hard to get the reduced rate. If no joy change them

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118976846#Comment_118976846

Really?

I emailed them LEVTI@eflow.ie and they had me setup the following day.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118976908#Comment_118976908

This is what has been said on this forum in the past. Every month they forget to "refund" the customers saying next month and they have a system where they would refund a month in arrears while others would apply the "discount" live. It is good to hear they have changed to a better setup.

crisco10

I use easytrip, experience was sesmless with them too. Took 2 minutes to self register the EV on their website. Discounts applied immediately so I only pay the discounted rate.

AndyBoBandy

Reduced tolls ends this year anyway doesn’t it? So little point changing now….

unkel

I don't think that's decided yet. And anyway I save about €250 per year on the tolls and the year is only started so that would still be a good saving of about €170 for me if I signed up now.

Same saving as taking the cable out of your car, charging up for free at your local Lidl every week for the next 3-5 years, but with zero hassle. Only sayin'...

drunkmonkey

Is there anywhere you can park a phev for a few hours cheaply or free to get some charge around the country.

Had in my head there was free council ones just can't see a list of them anywhere.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988170#Comment_118988170

Yep. At home on your driveway.

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988200#Comment_118988200

Doh! seriously though is there free council ones or was I dreaming, like it makes no sense to use a normal charge point when out and about with a slow charging phev.

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988170#Comment_118988170

In Waterford car parking is free for a PHEV if plugged in at any council owned spot, an EV can park for free at any council owned parking. Normal charging rates apply.

https://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/departments/roads-parking/parking.htm

drunkmonkey

That's what I was thinking of, pay for parking get some charge included.

Are these points listed anywhere for the entire country, I didn't see them on a charging app.

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988370#Comment_118988370

What I quoted is the opposite🙂. You pay for charging and get parking for free.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988370#Comment_118988370

pay for parking get some charge included.

There is no distinction though between BEV and PHEV for that.

like it makes no sense to use a normal charge point when out and about with a slow charging phev.

What do you mean by "normal charge point" and it making no sense.

The public AC charge points are all much the same. The eCars ones are usually 22kW and you get some in multi-story car parks which might be limited to 7kW but the rate you get will all depend on your car, but like I said, no distinction between BEV and PHEV.

And there isnt a single list to look at. Its down to each council as to whether they give free parking or not. Some do, some dont.

ionapaul

Hey folks - I'm getting a Volvo XC40 Recharge fully electric in a few months, will be my first electric car. I will be a total novice and other than knowing the car will now be charged via electricity and no petrol will be used, and that therefore I'll need to get a charging point installed somewhere at the front of our house, I'm clueless! I drive about 10,000km a year, mainly made up of a short commute a few days a week in Dublin and occasional drives to/from my parent's home in Galway city.

Is there anything else in addition to the charging point I should arrange ahead of getting the car itself? Anything it would be clever to sign up for, cards I should get, etc...? Would charging the car via a three-pin socket through the window at my parent's house be OK to recharge the battery ahead of driving from Galway to Dublin city?

unkel

"Is there anything else in addition to the charging point I should arrange ahead of getting the car itself? Anything it would be clever to sign up for, cards I should get, etc...?"

Get a night rate electricity meter. It's free and you will save a fortune with an EV. Sign up for at least the ESB eCars and EasyGo cards. If you already have or are planning to get solar PV on your house, get a smart charge point like a Zappi. Get a tethered charge point and make sure your cable will be long enough

"Would charging the car via a three-pin socket through the window at my parent's house be OK to recharge the battery ahead of driving from Galway to Dublin city?"

Yes perfectly fine

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988170#Comment_118988170

Loads but it’s a big country. Where are you looking for ?

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988794#Comment_118988794

By Normal I meant where you'd charge an EV for 20 minutes or so, the phev charges a lot slower so would want to park it up for maybe 2hrs, which I think you get fined for at an esb point.

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118989320#Comment_118989320

Cork and Dublin City center.

kanuseeme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118988370#Comment_118988370

Wexford is free while charging.

Better to pay if in doubt, or this could happen.

unkel

There's always culchie EVs in Dublin being clamped. The owners thought they did the right thing as in their home county parking is free while charging. Not in Dublin. Sh1tty thing to come back to a clamped car and a big fine. There should be one common policy for the whole country on this.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118989456#Comment_118989456

So you need to distinguish AC and DC here or else it’s not clear what you are actually asking.

Most PHEVs can’t charge at any DC charger (they don’t have DC port) and that’s where EVs would charge for 20mins.

Its the AC charge points you are thinking of I’d say as you would need a few hours on them and the 45min overstay fee doesn’t apply to AC charge points.

On the apps you need to filter for AC charge points and then find out what the council do in terms of parking fees while charging.

drunkmonkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118989735#Comment_118989735

It's AC type 2. Ah right thought the overstay fee would kick in hence I thought it would be pointless to use an esb point as it'll only take 3.7kW it's about 5hrs for a full charge. So i'm corrrect in thinking i'd park for maybe 2.5hrs and pay around 2.50ish and no overstay fee.

Is there no cap on how long you can stay at an esb AC charger? Can't see anything in the t's and c's?

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118990115#Comment_118990115

If parking in Dublin, you’ll pay €3 per hour for the parking and then the new ESB rates for charging. 27c a kWh at the moment, but increasing next month I think.

madness to consider this in a PHEV in my opinion. The cost is very prohibited.

your 2.5 hour stay in Dublin would be about €7.50 in parking and about €3 in charging fees.

kanuseeme

LoL, what's the madness?

The only thing extra is 3 euros, spend the extra 3 euros and save the same again on fuel, now parking is 4.50.

It's hilarious to park near or beside a charger, pay for parking anyway, and then spend more on fuel because of something, someone, or some other reason?

Surely "cost is very prohibited" cannot be the reason, electricity is cheaper than fuel.