Applegreen own brand chargers

AndyBoBandy

What’s the craic with signing up in their app?

wasn’t there a trick to it? I’m trying but it keeps failing at the payment method…

Dubwat

I'm hoping to use this site next week on my Dub-Dungarvan trip!

Kinda sad though that it's 2023 and (some) EV drivers get excited about a new charger...

wassie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120190499#Comment_120190499

Just signed up myself there and no issues.

Also placed a request to see if an RFID card is available to be associated with the account. I'll report back when I get an response.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120190634#Comment_120190634

Nah, still not happening!! I just tried on teh website linked 2 pages back and still not working!! tried using g credit card and then debit card, and every time teh same result as above...

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120190634#Comment_120190634

Spoke their head honcho on the ev side day: debit card or app, no raid gizmo by them.

Car crashed onto one of their ones in Birdhill and the other one inaccessible du to water ponding.

They ar being relocated this month, with addition chargers

vinniem

Looks like cannot get RFID card with AG. Had no issue adding visa debit card to account, albiet set account up a few months ago.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120190499#Comment_120190499

Try a different phone and some elses card. I often need to approve things using the bank's own app mid way through authorisation. There is a help line number 015124800 . You can also ring your credit card company who may be blocking them.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120191182#Comment_120191182

Yeah I had a few back and forth emails with their help desk, and they believe it's my bank not allowing teh transaction to be processed (it's just a €1 test transaction that gets refunded almost immediately), but I am with Bank of Ireland, and I do often get the approval notification in teh app when making certain credit card transactions!!!

I'll call the bank and see if it's on their end as although these units to have tap to pay, it'd be nice to have the app as a primary source of using these chargers

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120191397#Comment_120191397

I create a virtual revolut card for such situation. Keeps things tidy and are much easy to auth

AndyBoBandy

Chargers going in in Castlebellingham Northbound… right next to the Tesla chargers

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120191744#Comment_120191744

That should make it easy when they end the Tesla lease

AndyBoBandy

Looks like they are laying them out like the Tesla chargers too with front & back charging spots (as can be seen from the rummer tyre blocks on either side of the pedestals…)

badly needed up there too as anytime I was ever in there there was always 2-3 cars waiting to charge while there was always usually 5-6 Tesla stalls empty…

innrain

At Cullemore testing the CCS chargers. Started with 21% and 34°C.

Charger 2 Port 2 It goes to 41 kW and few minutes later drops to 20kW. Stopped restart. The same. Current to battery seems limited to 85A (the battery charges with only 30kW the difference going into heating) then goes down to 40A

Charger1 41kW. The current is now 100A as the battery is at 53°C. A leaf arrives Helped the driver start then moved to the last port

Charger 2 Port 1.Starts with 20kW.Wait 5 mins nothing changes. I stop the test. SoC 36%

My gut feeling is that the chargers are set to equal outputs from the get go. Also if the max power is achieved only by 800V architecture then 45kW is max I can hope for. I hope I'm wrong

outlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120213353#Comment_120213353

I suppose they decided to activate the chargers with whatever power was available on site and not wait an age for an improved grid connection. The real weakness seams to be local grid capacity and delivery of said improved connections…

bricky06

2nd unit (CCS/Chademo) now online at Paulstown according to plugshare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120213353#Comment_120213353

I was there with an 800V preconditioned Ioniq 5 and only got 58kW so not much better.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120216666#Comment_120216666

I suggested this above too, it seems shady to advertise them as 180kW and charge the premium price if that is the case.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217941#Comment_120217941

It's a bit of creative accounting, the charger is capable of 180kW, even if the grid connection isn't

DownByTheGarden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120217941#Comment_120217941

Theyll be like the broadband companies. Use the words "UP TO" for everything.

zg3409

Enfield east and westbound showing live on my AG app.

At cullenmore I saw esb networks on site install a new cabinet next to grass. They may have only just supplied limited power but it's crazy the premium price and claimed speeds, when drivers should possibly avoid them.

AndyBoBandy

Avoid them and go where though? To an eCars site that’s only €0.07/€0.11 less per kWh but is a spof site? Or to Ionity which costs about the same?

Nah, I’d be using Applegreen all day long, and happy to do so at €0.75/kWh, especially if there’s 3 times less of a chance of having to queue up…

Like them or loathe them, AG are rapidly becoming a proper player in charging in Ireland. And they seem to be trying to solve a lot of the problems we’ve encountered for years (eCars insistence on laying out sites as poorly as possible).

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120246999#Comment_120246999

I agree Andy, but they really need to get ahead of these low power issues. Not gonna be much use if 4 cars are plugged in and getting 12kW each 😕 (assuming the site is limited to around 50kW)

I feel like Applegreen hired some marketing folks from an internet company for their new charging network. Advertised speeds and actual speeds have a dubious relationship

AndyBoBandy

Do we know if they have applied for grid upgrades to give the sites the power they need? Would grid upgrades show up in planning permission?

we all know how long grid upgrades take!!! (Athenry Supercharger still waiting almost a year later to have the other 4 units turned on)..

If these units are still power limited in a year, then I’d be asking the question of Applegreen, but given most of these sites are barely a few months old, I’d be assuming that grid upgrades are forthcoming, as if not Applegreen will lose credibility in a market that’s essentially still in its infancy in Ireland.

eltoastero

If they really want to win our hearts they should just let users know before they plan their journey. Change the power rating of the charger in the App until it's ready to deliver 180kW, or a pop up message stating the same would be the sound thing to do. I'm sure they want to deliver 180kW (faster turnaround, more energy dispensed, more money spent) but are limited by forced (mostly) outside their control.

But when I'm planning a trip I'm still aiming to use IONITY first, then AG and eCars are both on my second tier options.

I want AG to keep doing what they're doing, they look like they're trying to do this right (beefy chargers, multiple plugs per location etc.)

edit, update: castlebellingham north and south both have covers over the chargers that are in the ground as of 15th Feb.

innrain

Went to Ashford this morning and stopped at Cullenmore thinking to give them another chance after the works reported by @zg3409.

Happy to report 88kW @16%SoC with no preheating whatsoever. Had no time to fiddle with Scanmytesla but the power was constant all the time I was there. I stayed only a couple of minutes and the SoC went to 35% There was a Leaf on the other charger. We just need a Taycan now to test the 800V limit. :) It is not perfect but much better than previous 26kW or ESB SPOFs

bricky06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120245947#Comment_120245947

Do you mean you saw them install a new cabinet recently or back when AG were installing their chargers at Cullenmore?

Old diesel

My cynical take is that based on their performance to date....

Applegreen are all about stopping other CPOs getting into their service areas.

Rather than being interested in being a really good CPO.

They want people to sigh and pay dear for EV charging of the lowest quality in terms of speed and infrastructure.

Probably want to keep petrol going as long as possible.

The contrast between what Maxol have done up North on a couple of sites and what Applegreen are doing seems stark.

Need better.

Edit.....

I'm being harsh possibly but I'm regularly seeing online the Kempower units Osprey use in Uk and I'm a bit jealous.

Need proper standards across the board instantly.

Easygo need to pull their socks up too the rapid at Lidl in Mallow is down for 2 or 3 months at this point.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120250240#Comment_120250240

I think you're being slightly harsh but not totally unjustified.

Applegreen are definitely trying to keep the other CPOs off their turf, but the same can be said for every other forecourt operator

Now that they're smelling the money, they don't want to share

Tbh, I think this might be a good thing. Petrol stations aren't really places you'd want to hang around, much prefer a shopping centre or a hotel personally.

So forcing the likes of Tesla and Ionity out to greener pastures might be a benefit overall

The comparison to Maxol is an interesting one. Certainly if the site in Kinnegar is the standard then Maxol have knocked it out of the court in terms of user experience

However, they only have one hub, with one more applying for planning, not exactly stunning progress

Applegreen have got 5 sites running with 5 more under construction. Now to be fair, quite a few of those sites only have one charger and they seem to be struggling with grid connections but for rate of expansion they can't be beaten

So there's two different approaches at play here, Applegreen is the hare while Maxol is the tortoise, we'll see who wins the race

(Ecars meanwhile is the dead skunk on the side of the road)

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120250240#Comment_120250240

I don't think you're harsh at all. If we would compare to ESB yes they seem to be better. But the bar is so low that it takes very little effort. Most likely in 3 years time 88kW would be considered slow charging. Coming with these pair of chargers in 2023 when the sales seem to explode is a bit meh. To put a context, 9% of the whole national EV fleet was registered last month. I'm following fastned closely and anybody who wants to run a charging network should take them as example.

Are we 5+ year behind? Easygo are still installing those ABB units from 2013

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120250727#Comment_120250727

I agree with you regarding the likes of Fastned, there's CPOs who are providing chargers that are (barely) adequate for today and there's others who are planning 5-10 years ahead

To an extent it depends on the car manufacturers. Any 400V car running CCS basically tops out at 200kW so there's an argument that that's all you need to install

However, Hyundai/Kia are already on 800V and can go over 200kW, VW are going that direction with their next platform and Tesla can go over 200kW already

So it's looking like 350kW is going to be the standard soon. I'll admit I laughed at Ionity when they were installing 350kW chargers and my Leaf can only take 50kW. I reckoned we wouldn't be hitting those charging rates until 2030. Looks like I might have been a bit off the mark in my predictions 😁

Old diesel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120250727#Comment_120250727

Fastnet were very much what i had in mind when I was saying about Applegreen being more interested in blocking others then doing a good job.

I can't understand why Ireland seems to want to sleepwalk into sloppy solutions when EV technology on car and charger side has the capability to deliver excellence.

Edit

Something that doesn't get enough coverage in Irish EV debate is the difference it will make to EV driving...

If you have the following.

1) top notch performance from ESB networks and Eirgrid in getting good power to sites.

2) excellent CPOs like Fastnet or the Uks Osprey.

3) using the best for reliability and back up charger manufacturers.

3) is very overlooked - I'd like to see assessments on how Delta compares to Kempower or how both of those compare to Tritium and ABB....

I suspect that Tritium and ABB are very inconsistent.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120250766#Comment_120250766

I remember the days when my Kona would charge at 73kW and I was thinking wow. But couldn't stop thinking how amazing would be to charge at 150kW. Then I charged with over 200kW in fact I left when charging speed was "only" 150 kW. Only 2 years in between.

Looks like I might have been a bit off the mark in my predictions 😁

Well allegedly Bill Gates once said that 640KB is enough memory for everyone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120251659#Comment_120251659

The first ones are hard to answer and they keep more about the political will and wrong people in wrong jobs. For the second 3 I recommend looking up one of the Bjorns videos where he looks at how different chargers operate. I'll try to find it. I don't say Trition and ABB have poor chargers but they are old generation with less agile capabilities. Having load balancing split 50/50 is really old tech. Buying such chargers in 2023 is bad form showing me the buyer doesn't have the homework done or needs a placeholder.