Random EV thoughts.....

I'm not sure approvals received in August will be valid with a non-smart charger. The terms and conditions state that if they are changed after the initial application, then the revised terms and conditions apply to the application.

I think the actual percentage of EVs on typically 1 hour daily commute during rush hour is high in terms of EV ownership.

For those with 100km+ daily commute it's a no brainer to go EV for fuel savings. I did the sums and it made sense to go EV asap due to fuel savings. The numbers are entirely different for those only making local trips to nearby schools and supermarket. The quality/age of cars on long daily commute dont really represent normal buyers of new cars. It's great to see lots of EVs in daily use but we are far from targets and lots of diesels and petrols still being sold, while supply of EVs is mostly limited by manufacturers not demand due to supply chain limits. Lots of people hanging onto old car as they cannot decide if to go EV or buy new diesel or petrol. The prices of used EVs really had risen as demand has risen a lot by those with daily commute.

Is the point of it to encourage hotels, shops, gyms, cinemas, tourist attractions etc to put in more AC chargers so less people will need enroute charging?

Yeah bad news, he was constantly clashing with the works council, probably because he wanted to fire half of middle management for being useless at their jobs 😏

Hopefully the rest of VW is seeing the light and will continue their electrification strategy

I used to think that. I still would like to see that happen. They made a great start early on in 2015 / 2016 with excellent EVs for reasonable money. Unfortunately their production numbers are still very low. They don't seem to be able to produce EVs in big numbers (like say a million a year or thereabouts), like Tesla and BYD have already proven they can.

So I did a quick check of charger usage on the drive home from Drogheda

Ionity City North, both chargers in use. ID.3 and Taycan so at least they were using the kilowatts

Applegreen Lusk, there was an e-C4 at the ESB charger

Just a random Saturday morning and chargers were all busy along the M1

There's also Maxol Donabate and the airport, but I've a feeling they were probably busy as well

Really could do with some more chargers on that route 😬

In a scheme that was expected to deliver up to 200 public chargers per year, so far 33 have been delivered in the year or so the scheme has been active.

it’s fairly clear that the majority councils want nothing to do with EV charging.

They are approved not delivered. We have to wait for those 33.Then if you remember Co. Louth installed a pilot AC for 30+k. Maybe there is some interested party hence the big number.

The LGMA document clearly says there is no business case for LAs to install chargers. Grants mean something voluntary. You don't have to do it Then Dublin LAs say they rather install rapids which do not qualify for this grant. Then they say there is no space for rapids, and where there is space there is no power. It is good they have parking enforcement divisions cause that is making money. Mark is right it is govs fault for not driving the change, and leaving it to the uninitiated local councils who don't see value in getting more work on their plate.

Well I'm glad Bord Gais is doing so well out of the current energy crisis 😑

I get that business is business, but is a 74% rise in profits really justifiable. I mean that surely means that they're increasing prices at around 2x their cost increases, right?

It works out at around €78 per customer profit for the first six months.

They are being heavily incentivised to do so.

Any taxi driver not in an EV by now is certifiably insane. The subsidies are off the scales, basically they get the EV taxi for near zero total cost of ownership over several years. Even if you're addicted to the stink of diesel and your hobby is to give people cancer, you'd still be very tempted to go EV as a taxi man for the enormous financial savings.

Fair number of E-Niros as well around me too, they all just seemed to be in hiding today.

Might have spotted one blocking a petrol pump (while a Prius was blocking the charger) but didn't get a good enough look to see if it was a PHEV or EV

PS, the Prius moved after a minute, in his defence there was literally nowhere else to park

I think the taxi subsidy was closed for a while this year, from March or April. It got oversubscribed and ran out of cash, but should be reopening for the second half of the year

Who'd have thought that EVs would have been so popular as taxis? 😏

It's supply and demand. In the first grant year, grants were available until Oct. This year, the grant offers closed in Feb (or March?) due to huge demand but they can't buy an EV within the 3 month grant window. The NTA has offered to be flexible but the dealers won't commit any delivery dates to paper. So the taxi drivers are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Also, spare parts are a potential problem. I'm hearing stories of people waiting months for spare parts and not just EVs. A taxi driver can't be off the road for 2 or 3 months while waiting for a spare part to turn up for their new EV. In an auld Prius or Skoda, you could go to the breakers yard and get a spare part within hours.