ESB eCars

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869025#Comment_121869025

True. Noticed this at Liffey Valley a lot of chargers are in closed car parks. The ones beside TGI Friday. Seem to be open late.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121866631#Comment_121866631

Can you not shoot a quick poo and grab a takeaway coffee at blanch?

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869044#Comment_121869044

Well indeed, it would be better to have both. But if the centre is giving up space and having a charging provider install chargers in their land, I'd much rather the above setup, or something that could accommodate 32 cars charging at 25KW (ie 16 x 50kw units), to be installed first, as that's actually more useful to the vast majority of people that will be visiting the centre.

Clearly the centre don't really care about providing charging facilities for users of the centre. This is just a fast charger, no different to the ones that will be 5mins down the road in Maxol, or scattered at various other points just off the m50.

None of this is ESB's problem though.

zg3409

eCars don't want AC units. They have a small AC hub in Swords at pavillions shopping centre, multiple units on multiple floors.

The new Blachardstown hub is because Blachardstown 50kW+ sites were busy 24/7/365 and they are being blocked from nearby motorway national route sites by competitors. They did what they could to maximise revenue. They should have moved the new chargers forward and redesigned the parking properly but that might of needed planning or obstructed passing cars if cars parked forward in the spots.

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869242#Comment_121869242

Unfortunately I can't poo in demand!

And if I'm in the centre for a few hours shopping, eating, or going to the cinema, having to add on an extra 30mins while I babysit the car on a 100kw+ charge is a poor use of my time.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869919#Comment_121869919

You're too busy doing nothing to waste time doing nothing.

I'd assume at a busy location you want to rotate people off chargers as quicky as possible. Not have them blocked for hours. As such a SC is different to a hotel.

Any way there's a mix of both now. Has anyone use the 7kw chargers at blanch. I've never bothered myself.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869919#Comment_121869919

eCars don't want to be in the business of charging your car whilst you're in the cinema. They do want to be in the business of providing charging services to people who live in D15 and don't have off-street parking to charge at home. The chargers at Blanch have been consistently busy for a very long time, their main use seems to be people in the immediate area who need to charge their car. I used to live in Ongar, if I couldn't charge at home I'd rather drive to Blanch and charge the car than sit a Maxol garage on the N3. Blanchardstown is a retail destination and district centre.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869919#Comment_121869919

Is there a Starbucks there? That might help with the on demand aspect

I suppose in your case you could do one of those things, return to your car to unplug and move to a parking space and then do the rest of the things on your list? I'd recommend the shopping first as then you can put the shopping in the boot while you do the rest of the things.

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870367#Comment_121870367

Of course, I doubt ESB give a f--k. They have to source the space/land from somewhere though. Who owns that land? I assume the company that owns the shopping centre. It's in their long-term interests to have people in the centre for longer, spending money. Instead they'll have people charging for max 30mins, probably sitting in their cars. The Starbucks a few mins away might get some extra visitors. Noone is going to be sitting down for food in Captain Americas or Wagamama beside it while charging.

As you say, these will be handy and very busy with the nearby apartments and people who can't home charge in the area. Inconvenient for people who want to charge while they're shopping/eating/cinema in the centre., assuming the 8 spaces aren't full anyway....

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870387#Comment_121870387

Yes, and that's exactly why they're inconvenient for anyone who wants to charge while shopping or spending some time in the centre.

To be clear, I'm all for 200KW+ chargers all over the place. Somewhere where the vast majority of people will be spending a few hours away from the car though, would benefit a lot from chargers that people can leave for longer. No different to destination chargers.

Given the liklihood that the 8 spaces would be full, and the inconvenience of adding more time to specifically charge the car, I probably just wouldn't bother charging there.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870464#Comment_121870464

No doubt if a company that does want to provide charging services to cinema goers for longer periods approaches the landowner they'll also agree to a commercial lease to make money on part of the car park.

I'm not aware of any company whose business is selling electrons targeting these customers in Ireland yet. The long charge companies seem to be making money by acting as a service provider for the site owner instead of selling to consumers.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870387#Comment_121870387

There's also a public bathroom behind Starbucks and a Hotel if that goes back to being a hotel.

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870529#Comment_121870529

Thanks, I guess that makes sense.

I assume that in this case, it was probably ESB approaching the landowner about locating chargers on their land, rather than the opposite way round so.

Also assume that from ESB's perspective, the CapEx costs of 4 x 200KW units, groundworks and connections, are cheaper than for 16 x 50KW units.

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870367#Comment_121870367

To be fair on a fast charger either Blanch or the maxol garage are much of a muchness. You're literally only going to be 15 or 20 minutes. You'd barely have time to get a coffee at either location and you'd be moving on again.

the_amazing_raisin

I think it's worth appreciating that for possibly the first time here we've a choice (or will very soon) of two HPC hubs very close to one another

For example if you're heading out of Dublin and there's a tailback on the Blanch exit then you just head on to the next exit and detour to Maxol, or the upcoming SSE hub in Ballycoolin if you're up for the extra driving

In other words, you've the same experience as an ICE driver. If the petrol station is busy or closed then just go to the next one that's a few mins away

It's hopefully a sign of good times ahead

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121870494#Comment_121870494

Funnily enough I've been checking on the chargers randomly today to see how busy they were, didn't see more than two cars charging at one time

What was really weird was that the old hub was fully in use at that time

Word must not be getting around about the new chargers, or else people are such masochists they'd rather queue for the small hub than use the bigger one nearby

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121872287#Comment_121872287

That wouldn't be the charging pattern for someone who lives in the local area and needs to charge their car for weekly usage. You'd be spending closer to 40 mins charging instead of a 20 min top up.

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874108#Comment_121874108

This is what worries me about the lack of AC charging going forward. No driveway and you've to use a nearby DC charger. Battery will be cold so your state of charge will be lower than if you had done a 2 hour motorway drive. Then you hope the charger is free. Then it's at least 40 minutes for a top up.

If we had lots of AC charging (lamp posts etc) then you could leave your car all night and let the car charge while you sleep.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874264#Comment_121874264

The 2 problems with AC charging is it's expensive for the end user and it's not profitable for the providers, that's 2 issues that are hard to overcome

I can see a day in the future where AC charging stops being installed in cars altogether and you'll only have a DC port

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874108#Comment_121874108

Statistically there are not many EV owners without home charging. There are very few public AC chargers near where people live. So I assume they would prefer to spend less time at a DC charger than leave it over night in a remote location and walk back and forth to it at night and in the morning. Of course there might be a tiny number of little living at the centre, who prefer this.

I think someone would have better options during their week than the SC for charging. Perhaps near their work etc.

If you bought a EV that can hold a week's worth of driving you'd think they'd have a better plan for charging it, than AC public charging.

No?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874642#Comment_121874642

Isn't there some opinions that slow AC charging is better in the long term for the battery. Inconclusive though.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874935#Comment_121874935

There's been several studies on that which have had slightly contradictory results

There was a couple done on Tesla's in the US with very high mileage and that had been supercharged constantly

In general what seems to have been shown is that there isn't a definite link between DC charging and battery degradation.

The cars studied did show slightly higher degradation than others but they also had much higher mileage, and the difference was in single digit percentages

I think the key takeaway is that a lot of DC charging isn't going to seriously harm your battery in the short term

Flinty997

I agree. I think when the SOH battery checks become normalised it will elevate much of these concerns and perhaps inform the servicing.

I think it's going to difficult to provision long stay AC chargers in places other than car parks, with 24hr access.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874642#Comment_121874642

Not charging at home kind of defeats the purpose

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121874879#Comment_121874879

Certainly, when I was doing it, I'd much rather go to the supermarket and pick up groceries than I would walk 20 minutes each way to an AC charger. A lot of the people I used to see at Knocklyon seemed to be pretty regular. Same as years ago in Blanchardstown. There's a bigger number of regular DC chargers than you'd think, and they are much better customers for the network provider than a person who shows up once every 3 months for a mid-journey charge.

People are often blind to different use cases from their own. So far I've done reliance on nearby DC, home charge point shared by the household, and currently using local neighbourhood shared AC point. Shared neighbourhood AC works well, but it's a long way from being common enough for people to rely on.

Flinty997

I'm just going by the statistics. I know I managed fine for a few weeks on DC chargers before I got a home charger. But I do very little distance in a week.

I can see a neighbourhood ac charger being a problem if you need it overnight and you find someone else parked in it. I suppose at that point you divert to a DC one.

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121875909#Comment_121875909

What's the story with the shared AC charger? Is it a communal point or was it a private operator whom installed it?

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121876756#Comment_121876756

It's part of planning permission for new developments with shared parking, they have to install a minimum number of EV charging spaces. As of yet there's no service provider in place and there's no fee. I'm expecting it to change at some point. I've been given permission to install a charge point at the house I'm renting but I'm not in a rush until I find out what the communal fee will be. Depending on the cost difference between the domestic rate and communal rate it may not be worth installing equipment for the landlord.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121875479#Comment_121875479

In my example home chargers would either become DC chargers or be banned outright

innrain

Carrickmines is getting ready. They replaced the fences blocking access with cones. Anytime now anytime.