How often do you use the public charging network?

Dont be at yourself

A lot of threads here tend to descend into a discussion on our (lack of) charging infastructure, so it would be interesting to hear how frequently the EV drivers on here use it.

Taking the last 30 days, how often have you used public charging?

Orebro

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

A lot of threads here tend to descend into a discussion on our (lack of) charging infastructure, so it would be interesting to hear how frequently the EV drivers on here use it.

Taking the last 30 days, how often have you used public charging?

Zero.

Twice but it was an unusually busy month for us.

denismc

It might be a good idea to create a poll for this thread!

Anyway in my case it was 3, only one of those was essential.

unknownlegend

Haven’t used public charging in 12+ months at this stage. Luckily my commute/driving patterns allows me to rely on home charging almost exclusively.

Generally I try avoid it as found it an unreliable experience but I understand plans are in place to improve this.

daheff

use it weekly as there's a charger near where i go once a week. where its situated suits with my activity

ethernet

Last 30 days? Not at all.

Mupchease

I use a fast charger roughly 6 times a month. I’d use a Tesco charger the odd time I shop there too but it would be used for no more than 40 minutes.

I’ve only had one bad news story with chargers with all 4 in the area being down and I had to slow charge 70km to get to a fast charger. Other than that chargers have always nearly been free. Max wait 20 minutes once.

slave1

Virtually never, too unreliable so we use ICE for journeys that require an EV charge

tedpan

Once a week on average. I used to use them more, but as EVs have become more popular and PHEVs are abandoned for over an hour at a time, it's just not worth it anymore.

tedpan

I was talking about FCPs, I don't use public standard charge points at all.

uphillonly

slave1 wrote: »

Virtually never, too unreliable so we use ICE for journeys that require an EV charge

Sadly this is the case of us too.

If they are smart with prioritising of the rollout of the charger expansion, I think a few key multiple charger locations will make a significant difference to this.

Mickeroo

I used it a couple of times in the last 30 days and for the first month I had the car I was rapid charging 3 times a week but only because I hadn't had my zappi installed yet.

Now I've a home charger I don't think I'll use the public network more than a couple of times a year outside of maybe the odd opportunistic destination charger.

creedp

A couple of times a month when I need a quick top up to complete a journey. However, I uses SCPs regularly for a 30min top up to get me home.

Gumbo

I used to use them once or twice a week in the Leaf.
In the i3, I haven't used one at all.

I have home and work charging and the EV range covers my mileage so I don't have to worry about them (thankfully).

irishgrover

On average about 10+ times per month....last 30 days would have been a little higher. For example drove over 1000km last weekend

unkel

I fast charged once last week, that's the first time this year. And the only reason was that I forgot to charge at home the previous night and had to collect people from the airport shortly after work, so no time to slow charge at home first

When I got there (Newland's Cross), a Kona was charging and an ESB Ioniq was parked, for an RTE news feature. That took 10 minutes and then the Kona charged for 10 minutes or so. Then I charged to what I needed for that day (took about 15 minutes)

Behind me was another Kona waiting, a Tesla Model S and a Leaf 24/30 :eek:

That is the situation at fast chargers in Dublin now, no point to ever use them unless you are literally prepared to wait for an hour or even way more.

I publicly slow charge sometimes where it is convenient - where you get better parking than if you were not parked in a charging spot. Like at some beaches or at Dundrum shopping centre, etc. But only if I'm going to be there for several hours, otherwise I couldn't be bothered getting my cable out

ewj1978

Have the I3 2 weeks. Used the network 3 times.

ltd440

The leaf in my house only saw a public charger in our first week of ownership so far. Obviously it suits us to charge only at home, I'd hate to be reliant on the network. I passed the kinsale Rd roundabout fcp at about noon and I saw 1 leaf and outlander charging and another leaf pulling in to q

Silent Running

I do a lot of crazy-long runs, so I would have to public charge 3 times in one day sometimes. Otherwise I'd public slow charge probably once a week.

There would often be times when the car doesn't leave the driveway for days.

Is there even a "normal" use case where you could measure one driver's public charges per 1000 kms against another driver? I wouldn't think so.

Casher

I charge at home and recently work got 2 chargers, there are currently 3 BEVs & 1 PHEV in the staff car park, so the two chargers are more than enough for us to share. For my normal commute I would only need to charge once or twice a week. I sometimes drive for work, mostly within my county in which case home or work charging is sufficient. Occasionally I travel cross country, then I have to rely on the FCP network. So far so good as it is usually outside of Dublin that I travel to so demand doesn’t seem to be too high.

peposhi

Once or twice a month. We do approx 3000km monthly between the two Ls

Stealthirl

At least twice a month when i do about a 200km trip. Home-Blackrock-Lucan FCP-Portarlington SCP-Home.
Strangely enough it's my nearest FCP i usually use on the Portarlington trip.
If i had a bigger battery i wouldn't use it much if at all but alas i have a L24.

Got a bit stuck the other day and had to unexpectedly go out when i didn't plan to so only had 16%. Pulled into the Lucan FCP at 8PM as i could see someone had been plugged in nearly an hour so expected them to be finished soon. Black L40 abandoned so had to hope i would make Blanch and that was free. Thankfully it was but i thought id look in at Lucan on the way back at 10:30 and low and behold the L40 was just pulling out so the car was abandoned from 7pm till 10:30pm

n97 mini

^ Could have been a local getting free electricity. There were a few at it at that CP.

unkel

Stealthirl wrote: »

the L40 was just pulling out so the car was abandoned from 7pm till 10:30pm

:mad:

Why does it always seem to be L40 owners that do this?

ethernet

unkel wrote: »

:mad:

Why does it always seem to be L40 owners that do this?

Most likely because it’s one of the most popular EVs. Maybe *some* owners aren’t au fait with the etiquette. In the same way the popular Outlander is usually the PHEV you will see at a charging point.

Third_Echelon

I rely solely on public charging as I live in an apartment, but I live in California, so the network is excellent... Charge usually at work and the odd time at the local library/shopping centre. Fast charger also readily available a few mins away. It's never too busy thankfully.

I have a 16 mile roundtrip commute to work and it's a second car, so never too much an issue with range etc (2019 eGolf - ~130 miles fully charged).

Stealthirl

n97 mini wrote: »

^ Could have been a local getting free electricity. There were a few at it at that CP.

Oh i knew it was prone to that before i got my leaf, I'm a local [8km away] but as i said if i didn't need a fast charge id rather go home and charge then sit in a car for 45min to an hour just to save less then the price of a coffee.

unkel wrote: »

:mad:

Why does it always seem to be L40 owners that do this?

Iv seen others do it in fairness [inc L24's] but the fact it takes longer to charge the bigger batteries it's more likely to find them hogging a point over an hour.

Taking the average price of power is say 23c a unit a L40 driver is saving about €9 for a full charge. Anyone with an EV is likely on a lower rate then the average if not on night rate.
My rate is about .17 net per unit so just under €7 to fully charge an L40 at home with zero inconvenience to myself or others. €3-€3.50/100km

unkel

Night rate is about 8c/kWh. It costs about €2.50 to charge my car from 0%-100% even taking into account charging inefficiencies.