ESB eCars

ecars put 5x dual socket 22kW AC charge points in Pavillions in Swords - they should have done the same in Blanch or more even. Stick the DC charge points in a garage outside (but near enough) to the centre. The ones in Swords are very busy.

Especially if its the van

We are heading for a day trip to Croagh Patrick from Kildare/Dublin border. It's the first trip in ages without a possibility for a Supercharger. I'm scared. Hope we'll make it back before the work starts tomorrow morning.

There are 6 chargers in the Delphi resort which is on the road from Louisburgh to Leenane if you are going that way. 22kw AC so not fast chargers but a handy option if you’re in need of a top up. You’ll need the ePower EV app to use them.

Thanks, was easy after all. Got there with 49% of battery remaining and then it was a matter of 1hr at AC socket of the Westport DC charger while having a dinner.

Had the AC plan not worked out I was planning to try to hit the 150 kW unit at Ballinalack on the way back.

That's my point!!

Great to have this charger but common sense should have prevailed when choosing the location.

Cool story. Hopefully the petrol station in the M3 gets the charger sooner rather than later. It'll save drivers the hassle of trying to get off the main route and into the shopping centre car park.

I don't think anyone is against having these chargers in Blanchardstown where they are, but I think the issue is there are probably a lot lot more sites that should have had more/better units installed before Blanch was pulled out of the hat (and yes, along motorways like Castlebellingham or Enfield etc...)

2x 50kW units would have sufficed here instead of the 150kW + 50kW configuration.

then, a bank of 5 or 10 twin plug AC22's for those who'll be there for 2-3 hours+ (which in fairness Blanchardstown already has, though they'd want a bank of these AC chargers in all of teh Blanch carparks)

I think you've hit the key point, there's a difference between needing to charge, and charging when it's easy and convenient, and this needs to be reflected in the charging facilities installed

If I'm travelling a long trip, I'm fine with stopping into a service station for 15-25 mins to charge and grab a coffee. But getting stuck in traffic or a massive charging queue is not okay. So service stations should be prioritised for HPCs and there should be a higher level of guarunteed power available

If I'm grazing for a charger (maybe I don't have a home charger) then I'm probably happier to stop for an hour or 2 and integrate the charging into my weekly shopping. Businesses are starting to realise that having convenient chargers is a pull for customers and I'd say Blanch is ahead of the curve in providing DC chargers

22kW AC is nice but realistically for most cars it's 3-4 hours to get a useful amount of energy into the battery. Great for the cinema but not so great for anyone else

But I do think the layout of the ESB "hub" in Blanch is extremely poorly thought out. Beyond the obvious 3 spces for 4 plugs issue, the chargers are too easy to be blocked given their proximity to the shops

I still think the ideal setup is 2 of those 200kW Delta units in the middle of 4 spaces which can charge 4 cars at once (say 4x CCS and 2x Chademo each, keeps everyone happy) and no overstay up to 90 mins. If I park up and one of the units is free, then I plug in and get up to 200kW. If another car plugs in while I'm shopping, I'm still getting 100kW. If 4 cars are plugged in, I'm still getting 50kW and after 90 mins I've got at least 75kWh which means most cars are full. Once the car is full, the other cars are getting more power and I'm probably done my shopping by then and am unplugging

Valid points in all of this discussion.

But it only serves to highlight the complete lack of charging in Dublin. This needs to be addressed urgently.

The rate at which new EVs are being registered each month vs the rate at which new chargers are being installed, this problem is going to compound exponentially.

By that logic ESB is jumping ahead and failing to do either of those things

Precisely.

Because of the network still being far from fully developed then we are all going to be forced at times to use locations that are not perfect.

Lets assume eCars actually has a plan we don't fully know of yet for a fully functioning network.

That network would feature different types of location.

And as network is now and as it will be as it develops - we work with what's available to us

Units don't have power yet. Typically they don't remove older sites, but it depends.

In terms of existing chargers and how to find them don't ask, just use plugshare app and filter by CCS or chademo. I (and others) try to ensure latest chargers are listed there along with any problems mentioned here or on Facebook.

In terms of esb rollouts I think they want more government funding, as in hand outs. Power upgrades for the likes of Blanchard's town could be significant, once you talk high numbers your basically paying esb networks for powerlines and a substation that needs planning permission. Then you don't own the parking spaces, and no such thing as free meal. They could easily quadruple the number of chargers and still be busy, I hope easygo roll out a job but from what they say single sites are more profitable. They don't seem to want to create hubs beyond kinnegad which can charge two cars at once. Easygo also complain grid costs make it impossible to justify the additional cost to get enough power to supply a hubs needs. A real tender from government is needed.