ESB eCars

mfceiling

Am I correct in saying that there are no 150kw chargers in Dublin? The highest powered chargers available are 50kw?

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117755292#Comment_117755292

That is correct.

the closest 150kW chargers would be Kells, Portlaois or Kilcullen

i think the services at Clonshaugh would be an ideal spot for a hub of some sort 4-8 car site…..

it’s at the M1/M50 interchange, close to the airport, so just a prime location for a hub.

anyone hitting Dublin from the northern half of the country gets a nice top up before heading into the city, anyone going to the airport for a collection/drop off from the country gets their top up, taxi’s based at the airport get their top up before going back to the airport, anyone heading to the northern half of the country gets a top up for the outward leg……: prime spot.

theres also 2 hotels onsite so power shouldn’t be an issue.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117755292#Comment_117755292

Yes. Sandyford SuC would be over 50kW when open. There are about 13 ecars and 2 easygo all 50 kW. Some of the ecars are power limited to 50kW meaning if one connects AC43 while DC is in use both AC and DC are limited to 25 kW each

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117713124#Comment_117713124

eamon is spending 2 million of our tax money to launch a covid style climate awareness campaign seeing as how successful the covid brainwashing went, so you'll constantly hear it on the radio see it on tv etc t the only way to stop man made climate change is for Irish people to reduce co2 and pay more tax lol which of course is what it's all about. lets hope he doesn't get the green light to go ahead with such waste of money.

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117754355#Comment_117754355

There are triple head units with 3 parking bays!?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, badly designed charging units and their parking are not your fault and you shouldn't burden yourself with them. Park whatever way gets you plugged in. If people complain, tell them to complain to Ecars, you're only a symptom of their bad design.

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117756851#Comment_117756851

You could always change your behavior and not have to pay the tax 😲

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117755366#Comment_117755366

Not gonna happen I would say. The parking is too busy at Clonshaugh and I don't think Circle K would give that up. If they did add more charge points it'd be ICE'd frequently.

I was there the other day and needed a 20 min charge to continue a journey. Leaf 24 charging on CHAdeMO and another Leaf 24 sitting next to it. I asked them to move. "Oh, we're just queueing". I told them to move and queue in a parking spot. They were blocking AC43 which I needed.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117759792#Comment_117759792

They were queuing correctly. The error was that you needed the fast AC and they didnt move.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117759475#Comment_117759475

How can I avoid paying tax ? I'd love to know lol

garo

Can we keep the discussion on-topic please? There is a politics sub-forum where you can rant about Eamon Ryan.

My own view of Eamon Ryan is quite dim though perhaps for different reasons than yours but let's talk about eCars only here.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117759792#Comment_117759792

I was more thinking about 1 of the 2 hotels at the same site. Surely they could give over or rent out 2/4 spaces for some chargers? One of them already has a bank of AC chargers in its underground carpark, but fast chargers are what's needed...... Look how much land is around the site..... Theres bucketloads of scope there for the development of a hub.. a hyper hub even.... 20 cars... all that airport taxi traffic, needing fast charges on their way back to the airport.....

It could not be better located for such a hub...

Busman Paddy Lasty

+1 for Clonshaugh, both Lusk services and Castlebellingham services. Power lines run parallel to the motorway. These should be easy upgrades to hubs and they're busy too.

ELM327

We know castlebellingham has the power already as they have 2 supercharger sites one each side!

Busman Paddy Lasty

Yes! And Junction 7 has 2 Ionity.

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117759446#Comment_117759446

Yeah there are a few 3 Bay FCPs. Enfield and some others on the M6/M4, I believe.

True it's all Ecars fault but you'd expect some courtesy, especially when I asked the guy and demonstrated it to him that cables won't reach. I'd myself repark the car for other user to reach the other cables if asked (politely 😎)

Anyway longer cables would do the trick. The new 50 kW AC/DC (replacement) cables are also short! The 150 kW are a bit longer maybe...

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770110#Comment_117770110

Very true regarding the new DC twin cable units cables being too short...

I pulled into Athlone services (Kilmartin) last week needing a top up, an ID.3 was in the middle space using the 150kW CCS (absolutely fine), so I parked in space 3 to use the 50kW CCS, and low and behold it wouldn't reach the rear left charge port (Model 3), I had to park in much tighter to the ID.3, and with the nose well out over the walkway to get the cable to fit.

This is a perfect example of a site that can charge 4 cars at once yet there's only 3 spaces...... If someone parked in space 3 and plugged into the AC (and stayed for the day, which they are perfectly entitled to do), then the 2 DC plugs on that unit are rendered useless as long as a car is occupying the middle space while using the 150kW charger.

Space 1 & 2 should be for the 150kW only (and ideally both CCS). the 50kW unit should be directly behind space 3 so the cables will reach any car's charge port, and there should be a space 4 designated AC only as an AC cable would easily reach the unit from a 4th space.

Incidentally later on that day when arriving home, I stopped into my local DC Triple head for another quick top up as the OH was going straight back out for a drive and needed some fast juice (arrived at 20% & didn't have time to charge at home), and an MG taxi was plugged in. I saw he was close to his 45 minutes, so plugged into the AC43 to at least get something until he'd finished, but when it came time for him to finish up, the app couldn't connect to the server and he couldn't finish his charge. I told him to just use the card but he didn't have one and was waiting 3 weeks for it to arrive!! I checked my app and it was the same... He called eCars and they couldn't do anything either other than tell him to lock/unlock his car, which seemed to end the charge (Didn't Bob Flavin discover this flaw with the MG's whereby locking the car stopped the charge?). Anyway it was the 2nd time I needed to rely on eCars to be on time, and once again it was a bit of a sh1tshow...

2 days previously I stopped in Galway Plaza, plugged into the 150kW which was great, but 3 seconds later another Model 3 arrived and plugged into the 50kW, and then 10 minutes later 2 Model S's arrived within a minute of each other.. All the while the CHAdeMO on the 150kW unit was sat idle while I was only pulling 50-60kW from it by that stage... I stopped at 80% and got out of there to allow the first Model S to get in and start charging.

ESB need to get the finger out and start the next J14 style '8 car' hub ASAP because relying on them is a fcuking sh1tshow....

The Athenry & Enfield Superchargers can't come quick enough........

slave1

What you point out regarding cables and parking spaces are so obvious to an EV driver, likes of M3, MS, Ioniq etc particularly caught.

So therefore it's obvious eCars are either ignoring/incompetent in their approach.

Longer "overhead" cables would sort the issue

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117771109#Comment_117771109

Ecars rock up to units on press days, when they've all the access they need, and from memory I can only remember seeing them in a PHEV Outlander. Maintenance is done by 3rd party engineers in diesel vans. Compare this to Chris in EasyGo who will at times head down the country in his Model 3 and fix units. He actually uses the units easyGo installs, though he certainly prefers the SuC network when he can. 😄 Not saying the EasyGo units are much better for access than ESB, but the optics from EasyGo caring about user experience is certainly better.

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770624#Comment_117770624

Waste. Waste. Waste. The design is wrong. Two Chademo which are useless. It should be CCS, CCS, CCS, Chademo, AC. Is this a hub???🤔

The worst thing are the little columns/bollards. They restrict the access even more! So you've stupid parking, short cables and bollards.....

Why do they put them there, this is mental. Some Irish semi-state specialty? I've never seen these in front of the chargers in any other country. It makes no sense.

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117771109#Comment_117771109

In fairness, I'd say the length can't be customised. Especially efacec, not sure about the new replacement units...

Foremost, they have to properly layout the parking and work with that as much as possible before thinking about customisation. But they can't. Not putting bollards in FFS! Nutters. Their competence level is very low.

Why is so that Irish government agencies & semi-states can't do ANY sort of infrastructure right and/or high quality? I see a pattern here...

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770624#Comment_117770624

Are you sure? Yes multi charger spots would mitigate the issue somewhat BUT if they can't do a simple 2 charger "HUB" right, do you think they can do it right with 3,4,8? I doubt so.

They've been proven utterly incompetent, disinterested and disgraceful. I don't want my money, including EU money, taxpayers' money, to be spent on this wasteful shítshow at this stage.

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774486#Comment_117774486

AFAIK the new Circontrol Raption DC units have options for longer cables. Same with the 150kW units.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774481#Comment_117774481

True... I never thought about the lack of bollards at SuC units, but then again do Tesla give plenty of room to park at their SuC sites, and all cars have a common sided charge port, so that makes things easier. ESB likely put bollards in there because we're squeezing all sizes of cars into parking bays not designed for charging, so they have to protect their infrastructure with steel. Yet again, treating the symptom, not the cause.

AndyBoBandy

Don't forget as well that SuC sites have the little wheel chocks in each space so when you reverse into them, you feel the rear wheels hitting the chocks and know that's where you need to stop for the cable to fit perfectly.

KCross

You gotta have the bollards, although they do look like they are too far into the parking space in this case.

No bollards is a guarantee for some muppet to back into the charge point.

cannco253

Are there any recorded instances of someone backing into or hitting an ESB charger or even a Tesla SUC?

Cable damage and wear and tear seem to be more common , but surely if you damaged a charger you would be liable for the repair, although proving it would be very difficult.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117776657#Comment_117776657

A better question is... have you ever seen a steel bollard bent over because someone hit it! :)

I have.

It makes perfect sense to have it to protect your asset. No need for it to be 3 feet away from the charger though making it even harder for the cable to reach your car!

Tesla dont have the issue as they have the parking chocks on the ground which generally achieves the same end result.

AndyBoBandy

Meanwhile the southbound unit at Castlebellingham is down for maintenance…..

god help anyone not in a Tesla….

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774674#Comment_117774674

I never thought about the lack of bollards at SuC units, but then again do Tesla give plenty of room to park at their SuC sites, and all cars have a common sided charge port, so that makes things easier. ESB likely put bollards in there because we're squeezing all sizes of cars into parking bays not designed for charging, so they have to protect their infrastructure with steel. Yet again, treating the symptom, not the cause.

Really I haven't seen a charger with bollards anywhere else than in Ireland. Btw EasyGo Kinnegad also has bollards!!!!

https://photos.plugshare.com/photos/769085.jpg

This runs deeper that Ecars it seems 😀

McGiver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117777000#Comment_117777000

Someone tell ESB to put in the bloody chocks!!! 😎 Really, the charger must be super close to the kerb, they can't be wasting space with bollards and concrete...

slave1

And here we go, local Circle K charger with new long cable, Tetris parking no longer required