ESB eCars

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121897115#Comment_121897115

I've been wondering about that myself, right now both units on the old hub are busy and the new hub is completely unused

They must love suffering over in blanch or something

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121896383#Comment_121896383

Nothing new. I think someone posted a pic on plugshare after they removed the fences. It is like that for the last week or so

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121898028#Comment_121898028

What's this madness? Two spaces per charger?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121898856#Comment_121898856

I know, same setup as Blanch

Obviously the usual planner is on leave and the new person has some radical ideas 😂

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121898856#Comment_121898856

It's still charger at the back of the space instead of in the middle. If they'd have placed the chargers just halfway up the space we'd have access to all chargers from any car charging location.

I'm going to give them a C+ for this layout

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121899474#Comment_121899474

Most likely you'd have someone crash into the charger within the first day or two trying to swing into the space 😂

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121897164#Comment_121897164

Yeah that's ecars, if I'm on the road and have a choice between ecars and something else there's only one that I'll go to and it isn't the one that I technically own

obi604

I rarely public charge so excuse my ignorance.

so let’s say I rock up to an esb 50 kw or greater CCS charger.

does the charger release from the esb charger by just pulling it out, or do you have to do something first on the esb app on your smartphone first to release it?

Flinty997

...

crl84

You can just pull it out of the holster.

The charge won't start until you tap the ESB rfid card (free from their website/app), or start on the app.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910593#Comment_121910593

thanks

was at one earlier and maybe was faulty but I got to the point where I just stopped as I felt I was going to break something if I pulled any harder. Then thought I needed to do something on the app to release it etc.

Redfox25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910658#Comment_121910658

Sometimes you have to lift it slightly as you pull it. Imagine a small lip you need to lift it off before you pull it out.

It's hard to explain as once you do it, you will do it without thinking next time.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911494#Comment_121911494

thanks. But essentially it sounds like the charger should release without touching any app etc

wassie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910593#Comment_121910593

Not quite right - Some of the older ESB charger units (eg green units) will not release the lock until it is authorised by the app or RFID card.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911512#Comment_121911512

Ok. Maybe I was at an older one then. Any easy way to identify older ones?

edit - I missed where you said green ones.

wassie

Actually there are blue ones as well - eg Sir John Rogersons Quays. Not familiar with the makes (other here will know), but they are limited to the 50kW units.

talla

Some of them also don't release until you have selected the charger you are going to use on the screen, e.g. if the unit has a CCS and a Chaedemo plug, you select the connection you want to use, if the unit has two CCS then, you have to select left or right connection.

Can't remember if teh above is before / after authorization.

the_amazing_raisin

I decided to check out the new hub in Blanch last night. It's definitely a bit tucked away, like Currys are ashamed to have it in view of their front door

Might be part of the reason it apparently isn't as busy as the other one

I noticed they have debit card readers on them now, but a sign saying they aren't active yet. Nice to see some progress at last, any word from Ecars on when they'll be activated?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911552#Comment_121911552

A handy thing to have would be signage. I was in England last week and there was a sign at one of the chargers that read

Step 1 - plug car in

Step 2 - swipe card

Car is now charging

There were also instructions to stop the charge but I can't remember exactly what that was

The SEAI seem to love signage, maybe they could force charge point operators to have something like this displayed?

wassie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911979#Comment_121911979

The credit/debit card readers are not yet active AFAIK on any eCars units. They have them blanked off at the Kinnegad Plaza hub. No idea as to when they will be be active. Might be something on their facebook page (Im not on FB myself).

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911512#Comment_121911512

Some of the chargers lock the cables in place until released from front of screen on charger or within app. There have been reports some fail to unlock. One work around may be to push cable IN while the unlocking is happening to reduce pressure on the locking mechanism and it's more likely to unlock. You can also try multiple times. The one below definitely locks and I think there is a red light on each holder.

You can also telephone helpline line in case of any issues, but pushing plug in during unlocking is main fix.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910519#Comment_121910519

The few I've used required me to tap with the fob/card/app etc to release the cable from the holder.

Red Silurian

Got an update today from ecars regarding pricing from a query I sent in September 2023 (almost 6 months ago)

Our pricing review will be completed soon and we hope to any relay price change, if any, to our customers in Q2 of this year.

Don't forget, elections in June, if you want to put pressure on the politicians to bring down EV charging prices that would be a good time to do it

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121920714#Comment_121920714

Also a good time to remember that politicians have nothing to do with ecars.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121920714#Comment_121920714

Local elections are an ideal time to pressure your local politicians to provide municipal charging services as discussed in this thread https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058084894

eCars aren't in that business so not sure why you'd feel my local representative on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council would have any impact beyond smiling and nodding at me.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121898856#Comment_121898856

It is not really a five star location. Yesterday I went to the Blanch one which is supposed to be same layout. 3 spots on the left side of the chargers were taken and I went to the 4th only to find out that it is offline and actually an ESB tech was working on it. My only option was to park diagonally on the right side of the last charger taking some of the next space. Here at Carrickmines I won't be able to do this because of the concrete walls. I pointed out the the ESB tech and he said "we're working to resolve this" I won't hold my breath. So it may be that there will be 4 chargers free and you wouldn't be able to use any of them.

Otherwise happy to report that in Blanch I got +120kW @ 27% SoC. I used the old site for precond but for only a couple of minutes as I was coming from J5@N3. I got 37.7kWh in 24 mins which averages 92.5 kW. Bit slow but I stayed longer than usual as I got distracted by some work :)

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121920804#Comment_121920804

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121921064#Comment_121921064

Seems fairly obvious to me

Ecars - Owned by ESB

ESB - Owned by the state

State - Run by national politicians

National politicians - Part of political parties

Political parties - Choose local and European politicians

Local and European politicians - Voted for by the public in the upcoming month of June

Is anything that I say above untrue?

prawnsambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121922566#Comment_121922566

I've been having a think about this. ESB could drop their prices, but there would be immediate uproar from the other operators about ESB using their dominant position in the market to stifle competition. So the only way for them to stop that is to also drop prices to the operators a similar amount. But then other electricity users would be up in arms about subsidised EV charging and be looking for similar price cuts. No way out of that impasse that I can see. The same would go for a government subsidy for EV charging. Any other countries do this?

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121922697#Comment_121922697

ESB networks or electricity providers set the bulk pricing of non esb ecars. Ecars also buys electricity from same market. The wholesale price of electricity has gone down for all providers already (depending on their contract). The price they charge is as somewhat linked to wholesale price but they are taking the Mick keeping it high long beyond what's reasonable.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121922566#Comment_121922566

It's semi state, nothing else is untrue, however you conveniently left out multiple EU laws about state market/state aid rules. The state is not allowed to tell ecars what to charge. The only one who could have done anything, the CER/CRU, has washed their hands of EV charging years ago