How long does it normally take ecars to fix charge point?

marpad

Hi, I am a new EV owner and just wondering how long it usually takes Ecars to fix public charge points that are broken? I reported a charge point as broken one month ago and tried to use it today and it is still out of order. Of the six public charge points in our town only one is showing as currently working:( We have our home charge point so it isn't an issue most of the time but I was on a journey this morning then had an appointment in town and hoped to top up before having a smaller journey this afternoon but have had to come home to charge. Just wondering if it is normal for it to be out of action for this long? My husband tried to use it two weeks ago and it was also still out of action.

unkel

marpad wrote: »

I reported a charge point as broken one month ago and tried to use it today and it is still out of order.

I'd bet money that is a slow charge point (SCP)? You could report it again, but chances are eCars won't bother fixing it. Those slow chargers are a thing of the past really

The future is for almost exclusively home charging (at cheap night rates) or paid for (quite expensive) very fast public charging (think a 5-10 minute fill up for when you do long distance travelling)

jerryg

It took over 6 months to fix the ccs charging in Ballinasloe!
I know because I got stuck there in my early ownership now I am smarter and would have charged in kilbeggan to get to Galway or slow charged up the town in Ballinasloe if I was stuck,but I was in a hurry to get to Galway.
I have to say in my 8-9 month ownership it was my worst situation.

n97 mini

Depends on the CP. Anywhere from 2 days to infinity.

BoatMad

currently there is no funding in place for the charging network, ESB are maintaining it on a care and maintenance basis , and a poor one at that , ( because the CER and the ESB are playing chicken )

mel.b

BoatMad wrote: »

currently there is no funding in place for the charging network, ESB are maintaining it on a care and maintenance basis , and a poor one at that , ( because the CER and the ESB are playing chicken )

As someone new to EVs can you explain the background & why CER and ESB are having a dispute and why more chargers aren't being installed?

jimmycrackcorm

I'm also curious about what actually breaks with the chargers?

KCross

mel.b wrote: »

As someone new to EVs can you explain the background & why CER and ESB are having a dispute and why more chargers aren't being installed?

The ESB got funding, sanctioned by the CER, to run the pilot program. This involved installing and maintaining the current public infrastructure (both SCP's and FCP's).

The ESB don't currently own the infrastructure but they do want to own it and have asked the CER to give it to them so they can then start a charging regime for it.

The CER are currently "thinking" about that request and are supposed to give an answer by Q2 2017 (i.e. by the end of this month).
There is no incentive for the ESB to install more chargers until the CER make a decision.


The CER did ask for the publics opinion on it here:
http://www.cer.ie/docs/000413/CER16286a%20ESB%20eCars%20proposal%20regarding%20the%20Future%20of%20the%20Assets%20developed%20during%20the%20ESB%20Electric%20Vehicle%20Pilot.PDF

reboot

Think if there was a competition for last time a CP was seen, let alone fixed, winner would be Ballynahinch Co. Down.
It was so badly vandalised, they never replaced it, signs are still up, and bays permanently Iced. Six Years Ago.
Close second Downpatrick, Co down, first CP intermittent for 5 years, when one socket might work. Second CP same village, bay blocked every day by Mitsubishi Man, goes to work, not even plugging hybrid in. 5 years.
Sometimes your own are the worst.

slave1

These are in NI where legislation is not there to allow charging for use so the entire region has been abandoned in terms of chargers, rightly so as the initial free period is over and eCars are not a charity

zg3409

Have a look on the plugshare app for check ins and reported faults and when fixed. Particularly in NI many chargers need to be replaced and won't be until matched funding is in place. In ROI all older chargers need replacing as parts and support are no longer available.

Assuming it's a new charger, generally the AC points are lower priority to DC units. Sometimes your report of a fault is not believed , or they reset it, but fault is not actually fixed, other times they fix it quickly. It depends on the actual fault and what needs to be changed and if they have the part with them.

A remote reset straight away is best case, worst case the parts needed are not available as charger is obsolete.

Some chargers have been broken for 3+ years, others were removed from the app as they are broken for 3+ years e.g. Wicklow Train station.

If its showing online on the app with no faults still, they probably think its working OK, and you should report it again

the_amazing_raisin

slave1 wrote: »

These are in NI where legislation is not there to allow charging for use so the entire region has been abandoned in terms of chargers, rightly so as the initial free period is over and eCars are not a charity

To be fair they were never a charity, their operational costs were being covered by public funding

Nothing stopping the NI assembly from paying ECars or any other provider to fix up the network

It's not like the NI assembly has ever made any mistakes when handing out money for renewables

Kramer

cruisey1987 wrote: »

It's not like the NI assembly has ever made any mistakes when handing out money for renewables

"Cash for ash charging" :pac:.

Imaging getting paid for charging your EV. People would be sucking every last kWh out of the chargers, hooning up the M1/M8/M7 to discharge their batteries as quickly as possible to get back to recharge to earn more cash.

Bet we'd see some crazy efficiency figures - 50kWh/100km plus .

the_amazing_raisin

Kramer wrote: »

"Cash for ash charging" :pac:.

Imaging getting paid for charging your EV. People would be sucking every last kWh out of the chargers, hooning up the M1/M8/M7 to discharge their batteries as quickly as possible to get back to recharge to earn more cash.

Bet we'd see some crazy efficiency figures - 50kWh/100km plus .

Reminds me of Dublin City's response to ESB installing a bunch of chargers without asking first

Council: "If we give them free parking then everyone will buy an EV to try and park for free"

Me: "Problem solved"