ESB eCars

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117914774#Comment_117914774

800v is the "350kW" branded units. Ionity and the mayfield ecars chargers are800v

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117914836#Comment_117914836

I drop in there regularly for a coffee/toilet break, but yet to charge up. I often see similar to what you reported, the spaces really are a mess..

ELM327

I charge there quite a bit too, and find no issue. (CCS). Both 50 and 150 units work fine.

liamog

It seems clear that the new units in Mayfield are a pile of sh1te, (and a quick check below now confirms this....) so just ditch them and install a sh1t ton of the 150kW units, 2 plugs on each of them, but enough of them that load sharing sessions should be few and far between.

The new units in Mayfield are used pretty successfully in other countries, it's likely just integration issues with eCars backend system. They both rely on the standard Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) but system integration always ends up much flakier than expected.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117914940#Comment_117914940

I'm not saying they don't work fine (although when we stopped in again on the way home, and used the 50kW CCS, it kept yoyo'ing from 22kW to 40kW and back... (CCS & CHAdeMO on the 150kW in use). I'm saying that we need more of them!!! Twice I was there yesterday, and both times more than 1 car queuing up to charge!!! on a Sunday in mid September.... there'll probably be another thousand EV's registered from now until years end, and by next summer, probably another 10,000 new EV's on the roads.

They could really help themselves by putting some simple feedback options in their app for each site... (verified by location settings in device).

. Charger not working

. Queuing to charge

. Multiple vehicles queuing to charge

. Spot(s) blocked by vehicle(s) not charging

No usage stat in the world is going to tell them 3 cars were waiting for x amount of time, and another 3 cars came and didn't even stop as it looked like an EV meet at the charger....

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117914985#Comment_117914985

The units were first turned on 103 days ago, and they're still not working right.

How long more do they need to 'integrate' them?

Maybe eCars should call in the Norwegians.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117915154#Comment_117915154

Honestly at this point I'm hoping ESB just sell the network to someone like gridserve or fastened, someone who can competently run a charging network

10-10-20

That's just inviting "market-rate pricing". We see what happened there when Ionity rolled out their pricing based on their financial desires.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917418#Comment_117917418

I could turn that around and say that the ESB are artificially lowering prices to prevent anyone competing here

For a market to function it needs healthy competition, so far we have none in this country so we're stuck with a garbage network paid for by the taxpayer punctuated with a few overpriced high quality chargers, also paid for by the taxpayer

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917530#Comment_117917530

There's also the Ionity, Tesla and EasyGo networks operating in Ireland. Probably the main reason we don't see a competitive market here is that we're an island off the coast of Europe. It's only very recently that we're getting enough vehicles on the road to make the provision of charging services on a commercial basis viable.

slave1

"I could turn that around and say that the ESB are artificially lowering prices to prevent anyone competing here"

Except there are cheaper and better out there, Tesla SuC are both cheaper in unit cost terms and they only charge for what goes into the battery unlike eCars who charge for what was output from the Charger inc. losses/power to AC etc

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918655#Comment_117918655

I'm fairly sure the second bit isn't true any more. They changed it about 18 months ago. At least, that's what my head is telling me but the internet is letting me down trying to find it.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918735#Comment_117918735

https://electrek.co/2020/01/13/tesla-updates-supercharger-billing/

However, they are not charging for charging losses

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918809#Comment_117918809

Thanks, that's what I was thinking of!

I wonder if that's a side-effect of letting the car do the billing instead of the EVSE? There might not be any way for them to know the power delivered by the EVSE so they just suck up the difference and bill for the electricity that made it to the car instead.

bodgerfederer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917418#Comment_117917418

which is perfectly fine for people that can charge at home and are just looking for reliability for those few times that they are doing big trips.

i'd rather pay a premium and get a reliable service.

more ev's also means more people with home charging. as an example, i no longer need public charging when i visit family in waterford as they just got a charger put in. for me, public charging will be mostly staycationing only and likely less than 5/6 times a year total.

more ev's, slightly larger batteries, small country, small population where everyone knows each other...the market rate for fast charging is closer to the Ionity rate than the eCars rate i reckon.

slave1

Ah, I do remember that piece about charging for AC etc now you post it, with free SuC it never really bothers me but 9/10 I turn off AC when charging so I get out of there as soon as possible

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918923#Comment_117918923

They've done away with the free charging now as well haven't they?

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917418#Comment_117917418

Ionity is a bad example as they are trying to push you in their cars while keeping the chargers free from others. Similar to SuC but because Ionity took EU money they can't close directly so they do it virtually.

What about Gridserve, Fastned? When looking at ecars strategy of placeholder chargers, I think they do it just to block others in coming. The best for us, would be for them to sell as ecotricity did. Last year I spent nearly 800 quid on charging with ecars but their unreliability made me jump ship with the first occasion. I better pay 40% more on easygo than to drive to a charges which is not able to deliver more than 25kW, if it delivers. So far this year I'm less that 200 quid billed by ecars most of it would be AC charging and I'm at the point where I have to cancel the subscription as it is not worth it anymore. So yeah I prefer "market-rate" to "sub-standard service"

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918986#Comment_117918986

No Tesla sold new today come with free SuC, the referrals for free charging is now also gone, but most cars with 2016 or earlier reg are free SuC for life (with some exceptions if sold more recently via Tesla used)

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918655#Comment_117918655

Technically the SuC is the most expensive network since you have to pay a minimum €49k membership fee at the moment

I'm not complaining per se, it's great that Tesla are ring fencing money from every car sold to improve their network and I wish other manufacturers were doing the same

It'll be interesting to see where Tesla goes with the pricing when they open up the network. I don't see them giving the same price to other cars as Tesla owners get, it'll probably be a lot more expensive

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117919279#Comment_117919279

Sorry I thought you meant free SUC from referrals.

AndyBoBandy

It's the pace of the roll out that's the kick in the balls!!! It's just nowhere near fast enough.

The first ground works photo at Mayfield was uploaded on February 28th..... and almost 7 months later, no sign of the next site...

Its all well and good installing '3 car hubs' with 150kW + 50kW units... (what are we up to now? 8-9 of them?), but thats not what we need right now. We need minimum 8 car hubs, and at least 6-8 of them spread out across the motorway network. By the time eCars finally get 6-8 of these sites up and running, we'll need them to be 16 car hubs, and once again be behind the curve!!

Seriously like. Next 8* car hub. Where and When please?

*8 if one is using AC.

mfceiling

Just thinking about my local area for ESB charging.

There is a 50kw charger at my local circle k on templeville road. It's always busy and the staff usually park in one of the 3 bays or there will be another car parked there (only one of the ground spots is painted green even though the unit has 3 heads).

Rathmines have their ESB charger in Tesco's carpark and that's pay parking plus the gates are locked at night so if you're stuck....tough.

Ranelagh's charger is in a pay parking area that is also a clearway, so if you need to charge at a certain time of the day then it's tough luck. If you are fortunate to have to charge outside this time then the on street parking price is quite expensive.

As I type this I'm at my local circle k having a coffee. There is a Hyundai charging on CCS and a lady has pulled in to the charger in a leaf. If she plugs into the Chademo then the CCS stops. Hi tech charging infrastructure indeed.

hold my beer

I was using that same Circle K for a while. I always wondered what would happen if someone else plugged in while I was charging. I assumed the power to my car would have dropped, which would have pissed me right off. Think it's best to only have one car charging at a time if that's the case.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117919982#Comment_117919982

That templeville charger is awful.

Slow, often out of order, and iced a lot.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117920027#Comment_117920027

I never had any issues with it, other than it was busy. Also, no idea why you'd say it's slow, it's the fastest around the area being a 50Kw

innrain

The Templeville charger has the lowest score from Dublin rapids on plugshare. I used it a lot back in the day, I think I have about 20 checkins on plugshare. Can be ICEd by vans taking a breakfast/lunch break. Usually if you ask they move. It is "power limited" meaning any slow charging car connected to the Type 2 will drop the DC side to 25kW even when they don't charge. It is not worth queuing at this charger. The closest to this is Newlands Cross which is also power limited followed by Stillorgan P&R which you guessed, power limited. So Stillorgan Hotel (or Talbot as it is called now) is the best best but choose your time slot wisely as there are a lot of apartments in the area

slave1

I had the misfortune to use that Talbot Hotel charger last week in the wee hours (long story), took half and hour to get it working via eCars resetting it numerous times as according to them the last user never stopped their session. This was my first use of the eCars network in just over a year I'd say, nothings changed

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117920065#Comment_117920065

Its generally 40kW or so peak

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918886#Comment_117918886

Define "a premium"? €0.79 a unit when you rock up with 5% left and you need to get to 85%? That's a premium of €40.45 for a 64kW car, or approx €0.11 a kilometer (at 6.8kw/kW).

For me, that's a premium too far. Much in all as we might dislike the coverage/reliability/speed, we need the likes of the ESB to provide a reasonable level of competition until there is sufficient natural competition; otherwise we're just another pocket to be gouged, justified somehow by our remote position on a Western island.

As for Tesla and only paying for the power delivered to the battery - will that still stand for non-Tesla vehicles when they open their charging stations? I don't know what the charging losses are generally on EV's, but some are going to be worse than others. I'd be surprised if they maintain the lower unit-rates AND not bill based on the power dispensed from the charger. Polluter-pays, if effect - if you rock up with an inefficient method of converting electrons into charge, then you foot the bill.