BMW I3 EPA Rating.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1091844_2014-bmw-i3-electric-car-rated-at-81-miles-124-mpge-breaking

So not really an improvement over the Leaf MK 1.5. (though we knew that, it's official now)

It does make the I3 the most efficient EV yet produced, now if they only had installed a bigger battery the muppets. God knows why they didn't, my only conclusion is because the German car makers don't want electrics to be a success. I swear if Nissan had a 30 kwh battery in the beginning then all other manufacturers would have a 30 kwh battery, I bet only when Nissan release Leaf II in 2017 with a bigger battery, then the other car makers will follow. I can't believe they would rather install an engine as a generator than a few extra kwh, says a lot really !

€33,500 for the entry I3 though I stand to be corrected and I don't know the trims yet, no info on BMW Ireland.
Leaf 25,500 for the mid spec and 27,500 for the top spec.

The I3 is smaller but a lot quicker. Might be worth picking up in 2-3 years.

I3 has CCS fast charging which there are far fewer than ChaDeMo for the Leaf. Hopefully an adapter will become available to plug into ChaDeMo chargers.

Someone on irish ev owners told me the Rex does qualify for Vrt relief and grant.

I've not seen conformation of this yet.

Cloud

I asked ESB ecars where the newest CCS chargers are in Ireland:

The CCS units currently installed are located at: Rochestown in Cork, Dunlaoghaire in Dublin; Ballinasloe in Galway and Kilbeggan in Westmeath. We will have more of these units coming on stream in the future.

Here is the full newsletter from end of May.

Dear ecar community,

We would like to update you about the EV charging infrastructure and other news from ESB ecars.

Charge Points Update: Since our last newsletter, a further 40 new charge points have been installed.This includes 32 AC public charge points and seven new Fast Chargers that are multi-standard - DC Chademo (to facilitate Nissan, Mitsubishi and Peugeot Citroen cars) and Fast AC (to facilitate Renault), as well as the first four CCS enabled units (to facilitate BMW and VW cars).

(Please see attached for a full list of these charge points).

ESB’s electric vehicle fast charge network expands: The recent additions to the fast charge point network are primarily located close to or on major inter urban routes, including Ballinalsoe and Kilbeggan on the M6, Four Lake Retails Park in Carlow, Knocktopher in Kilkenny on the M9, Supervalu in Ballaghaderreen on the M5, Park Pointe Retail Centre in Dun Laoghaire, and Rochestown in Cork.

There is now a choice of fast charging options on routes between Dublin and Belfast, Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Wexford.

The charge point map has been updated to include locations of all new charge points.

‘ecars connect’ App update:The ecars team are aware that there is an issue with the Android version of our ‘ecars connect’ App. We would like to apologise to any of our customers who may be affected by this issue. We are actively working on its resolution and we hope to have it resolved in the coming weeks.

Customer Relationship Management System: Over the next few weeks, we plan to introduce a new customer relations management application to our call centre. This service will help in logging your calls and in the management of customer queries and issues in a responsive manner. As part of the new CRM application, your name and telephone number will automatically be available to the call centre, enhancing speed and delivery of customer service. In order to avail of this new service, you will need to have given permission to have your customer data stored. If you have not yet done so, you can contact the mailbox ecars@esb.ie to give your approval.

The Great Electric Drive: ESB recently announced the new ecar Ambassadors who are taking part in The Great Electric Drive 2014/2015. Thirty two ambassadors were selected, twenty six individuals and six companies, from over 20,000 applicants. Each ambassador will trial an EV for up to four months. Major car companies are providing the EVs, including the BMW i3, Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi iMiEV, Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid, Nissan Euro LEAF and Nissan e-NV200 commercial van, Renault ZOE the Renault Twizy and the Renault Kangoo ZE commercial van. Please follow their electric journey on the ecars blog we would really appreciate if you could take the opportunity to share your knowledge and experiences with our Ambassadors www.esbecarsblog.ie

Larne to Cork, a journey of almost 500km #LarnetoCork: ESB ecars undertook a driving comparison between an ecar and a diesel car on a cross-border drive from Larne, Co. Antrim to Cork. Both cars followed the same route, allowing for real time comparisons to be made in terms of fuel cost savings, environmental savings and journey duration. It took the ecar 8½ hours, stopping for two hours and twenty minutes to avail of fast charges at Newry, Lusk, Monasterevin and Cahir. The ecar used approx 80 kWhrs of electricity, both off peak and standard rate electricity, at a total cost of €13, with zero tailpipe emissions.The diesel car took 6½ hours, stopping for a total of one hour for lunch/coffee. The diesel car consumed 28 litres of diesel at a cost of €42 and emitted an estimated 72kgs of CO2 emissions: : http://www.esb.ie/electric-cars/electric-car-news-and-events/electric-car-press-releases/500km-cross-border-drive-from-Larne-to-Cork.jsp

We hope you are all well and wish you safe e-driving.


Kind regards,


The ESB ecars team

reboot

Cloud wrote: »

I asked ESB ecars where the newest CCS chargers are in Ireland:



Here is the full newsletter from end of May.

What part of Zoe doesn't need Fast AC chargers do ESB and NIE not get?

reboot

reboot wrote: »

What part of Zoe doesn't need Fast AC chargers do ESB and NIE not get?

What was that question again ?

reboot

Deleted User wrote: »

What was that question again ?

Just my ongoing rant re the fact that in AC mode the Leaf only draws half the charge current compared to that of the Zoe.Leaf owners are constantly asking for more and bigger rapid charge points,and recently bigger batteries in the new Leaf. During the past 13 months I have used a rapid CP twice,not because I needed to ,(The Renault charging in less than an hour from a SCp),but because it happened to be there.The upgrade to the recent Rapid CPs in the North I feel is not to accommodate,the Zoe ,but the Leaf.
If this EV project is to succeed ,I fear it might not, perhaps we should be thinking more Bread Van, and less Bugatti , I haven't even started on the 2 ton Tesla.

As more KWh is added to cars there will be a lot less reliance on fast chargers.

But they do need o iron out the bugs.

reboot

Deleted User wrote: »

As more KWh is added to cars there will be a lot less reliance on fast chargers.

But they do need o iron out the bugs.

Perhaps Ultra Capacitors may help? Thanks

reboot

reboot wrote: »

Perhaps Ultra Capacitors may help? Thanks

Maybe in fast chargers but not cars because they don't even have an energy density of lithium batteries. But yeah I don't see why ultra caps couldn't be used.

This is one area where used ev batteries could help.

reboot

Deleted User wrote: »

Maybe in fast chargers but not cars because they don't even have an energy density of lithium batteries. But yeah I don't see why ultra caps couldn't be used.

This is one area where used ev batteries could help.

Think formula E and maybe even formula 1 at present may use UCaps.

reboot

reboot wrote: »

Think formula E and maybe even formula 1 at present may use UCaps.

Maybe but that would be for bursts of acceleration, you wouldn't get far on a super cap.