ESB eCars

It can always get better in fairness. I don't think anybody will disagree with that sentence.

My main bugbear is that unless you have a driveway and permission to install a charger it's much more difficult to own an EV in this country than a petrol or diesel

But if you have the above then the charging infrastructure is adequate and getting better

Yeah I agree, the lack of affordable overnight charging for people without a driveway is a big issue holding back EV adoption

I realise that they would need some degree of planning exemption and funding, but it seems like a lot of councils in the UK are mass deploying AC so they must see some merit

One of the arguments that's often brought up against AC is that it isn't profitable because you need a separate meter connection per charger per ESBN rules

However, I posted a document a while back showing that you can have multiple chargers, it just isn't the preferred way

So a modicum of applied thought could allow public AC to be a reality. You could have a deal where the council could pay for on street spaces to be pre cabled back to the ESB cabinet. Doing a whole street would be much more cost effective than individual spaces

Then chargers could just be rolled out as demand is there. For designated spaces, the owner of the space could pay the council to install a charger which is linked to a personal RFID card to stop people stealing your electricity

For unassigned spaces, there could be a waiting list option to gauge demand per area. Put in some identity checks like having to include proof of address and proof of EV ownership to keep everyone honest. These chargers would be available for the public via a CPO

The reason I'm not suggesting people just install their own chargers is because they'll all be on the same ESB meter and I assume the council won't want a mishmash of chargers on the street

There's some nice EV chargers now that looks just like a bollard and are very unobtrusive.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294624#Comment_122294624

Its a bit off topic but

ESB ecars have rolled out on street AC and said they don't want to do any more. Easygo have rolled out in Ennis and say they don't want to do any more. All Dublin councils have said charging hubs is their preferred route over AC on street and they have taken away the on street trails in Swords, Malahide street lights etc.

It could be done of course, and any new footpath redesign should at least put in ducting to each parking spot. I think part of the reason is councils in general in Ireland dont get much funding from central government and the reality is this will be massive cost for on street AC and the actual price may make it not in demand and in reality unviable at scale, and there is a new quango who's job it is to do these things so the councils will happily sit on their hands and wait for funding from central government. The only council hub I see rolled out to date is this one and that relied on excess power at the site (swimming pool no longer heated by mains electric I think, combined heat and power generator on site) , council owned site and a test to see if it would be in demand. They hope commercial operators will fix the problem which is somewhat working out side of city centres.

I wonder if a power shared solution is worth a thought. Just thinking outside the box but picturing a bank of 20 DC chargers beside a block of apartments and the guaranteed minimum power is only 7kW (with the max being 140kW).

If all 20 chargers are being used they charge at 7kw so grand for overnight charging, similar to what we would have at home, but if only 1 car is plugged in it can reach up-to 140kW. So during the day, for example, it can act as a rapid charger.

Not massively different to ELM's idea earlier of 25kW chargers (which I will state again is a good one) but with the addition of overnight charging possibilities for apartment dwellers. Obviously cost is a big factor as well

As a very smart man once said, from small concepts mighty corporations are grown

I'd like to see some studies on exactly how bad DC charging is for car batteries long term. Current pedestals are 2 X 22kW, so 44kW total. You could in theory run 6 cars at ~7kW instead. Could you power share it so if one car only is plugged in it could take the full power? I'd imagine it could. So you would have a charging hub for overnight AC for residents but as well you could knock off the power sharing feature during the day and use it as a public DC charger using the same power level. Ambitious, I'll accept and we keep coming back to costs, of course, but I'd imagine the tech is there at least to achieve this

I have gone into detail about it. Twice. Im not doing it again.

Where — can you provide a link? I'm not seeing that detail anywhere here

No your first assertion is definitely no longer correct. The only struggle would be in a car that can't use CCS chargers.

There's definitely a need for more AG charge points at the M1 service stations, but even online you have Ionity Citynorth which is an excellent hub, and then once you're over the border there are tonnes of options (and even more being constructed right now) between BP Pulse and Ionity expansions.

I'm from NI and live in Dublin, so I'm constantly driving this route, and the situation has improved significantly in the last year and a half alone.

Mind you, I can make the entire journey without charging if I start in Dublin with 100%, and I think my car's battery is fairly average for what is on the market in 2024. Looking at the Renault Megane E-Tech, Peugeot E-208, VW ID.3, the Kia e-Niro, and various other non-luxury "low end" EVs, all of them are now capable of doing Dublin to Belfast and back with no charging, in terms of range.

I think this is what a lot of EV-refusniks and infrastructure complainers don't understand — the cars themselves are improving to a point where the infrastructure dynamic is very different.

Yes I understand the mechanism behind it, but I (naeively?) assumed because the onboard charger was dictating the speed etc that there was less wear. Either way it's a moot point for now, I can't see that many low power DC hubs emerging!

Yeah in a way you're both right I think

Personally I'm not sure if rapid charging really makes that much of a difference to EV batteries and if it was all something that was sold to us years ago on the FUD

I have a family member who used to charge her car the whole time at the chademo in the local Nissan dealership back when they were freebies, maybe about 4-5 years of consistently going in 2 or 3 times a week to top up, home charging mostly since it was gotten rid of but still a bit of Chademo every now and then.

One battery bar dropped last week and it's a 161 Leaf with 150,000kms on it so it has really made me wonder if it's just FUD or not

There's a very good reason I chose stations with 2+ chargers in my filters. There's probably a similar amount of single chargers dotted along the route but nah haha!

Banbridge specifically will be a real boon for electric travellers — already has 4 x 150kW at the Maxol, and there's a 12 x 300kW Fastned Hub being constructed at the moment.

Belfast has a 11 station Ionity hub too, just off the M1.

Last weekend at Castlebellingham Northbound (1x CCS & 1 Chademo non-tesla charger): 1 ID4 charging. 1 Q4 e-tron waiting. I would have topped up for the 10/15 mins I was there if a charger was available. All 8 Tesla chargers unoccupied. If there really is a deal between Applegreen and Tesla to keep the SC Tesla only then Applegreen need to get the finger out and install more CCS plugs for the rest of us (otherwise I can not plan any trip around using their sites where a single CCS plug would leave me waiting ages).

Yeah the Applegreen stations are no longer part of my charging plans, if I need any. I pretty much skip them entirely for the Ionity hub if a charge is required. Or if I'm on my way from Belfast to Dublin I'll probably just wait until the Ballymount Applegreen hub.

I've no idea why AG are doing things so slowly on their M1 sites — they have essentially not improved since the eCars stations were first installed (I know the charging speed is better on the newer AG units, and I know the AG units can do Chademo and CCS at the same time, but it's basically the same amount of charge points available) — when they are making great strides elsewhere in the country.

At least it wasn't a 300kW charger going from 70 to 92%… I'd have used the protective steel pillar in John Cleese-style as a re-education tool. 🤣

Yeah...what?

So just to be sure I got it correct, you and another car were plugged into the same charger, and you paid for both cars to charge?

What kind of charger was it?

I assume you tapped your Ecars card on the charger, or ended it via the app?

One possibility is the other car wasn't charging for whatever reason and you inadvertently started their charger

I didn't think you were allowed to use the same card on two chargers in parallel though