Random EV thoughts.....

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121796349#Comment_121796349

What happens if you live in your car? No domestic bill

I don't believe it'll add any significant time to charging, often the biggest time sink after charging is waiting for the authorisation to go through. In general credit card readers seem to have better network connectivity than whatever junk the charging providers are using

Cash would probably be a time adder, but for example if there was a cash payment terminal near the chargers then it wouldn't be too bad. Also no network latency because the terminal doesn't need to go and check someone's account balance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121795114#Comment_121795114

I agree that some businesses should be forced to take cash, or debit cards should be made truly non discriminatory (which seems unlikely)

I also understand why a lot of businesses don't want to take cash, particularly the risk of theft

There is a middle ground which can be found somewhere, for example in supermarkets not every till needs to accept cash but there could be a rule that at least one cash till needs to be in operation

For EV charging, I think the middle ground is to have a cash terminal nearby or a preloaded card or voucher system that can be bought in a shop nearby (or just pay in the shop for chargers in petrol stations)

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121787931#Comment_121787931

Correct, CHAdeMO is bi-directional, Leafs were used in Japan to provide power during their nuclear crisis a while back

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121796625#Comment_121796625

Indeed , to the point that if you look in the boot of a gen 1 toyota mirai, you'll find an outward only chademo socket!

ELM327

Speaking of Mirai actually, if we had even a minimal H2 network here I'd buy this for the lols.

https://carfromjapan.com/cheap-used-toyota-mirai-2016-for-sale-656d425f348a057319b64585

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121796693#Comment_121796693

You can always make you own. You just need a big battery, this guy and you can get a half pound of H2 per hour. That'll get you 20 miles I'd say :D

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798029#Comment_121798029

"This equipment utmost output pressure is 0.4MPa" Hmm. I think more equipment would be needed. When i checked it (and I'm a nerd, I checked these things last time I looked into importing a mirai) it would cost ~250k to have a home generator for hydrogen with sufficient pressure to feed a car tank. With Hydrogen you need 350 or 700 bar pressure, the 350 would half fill the tank and the 700 would fully fill. I'm not 100% how the liquid changes location but I have an inkling that if I connected the car to that generator, it would backfeed the genny with hydrogen from the car.

I'm not a fan of hydrogen for propulsion btw, I just think the novelty of owning a hydrogen car in Ireland is worth the 7-9k if we had a couple of stations.

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798087#Comment_121798087

You said it is for the giggles. Max pressure 4bar. above that all the safety requirements kick in.

munchkin_utd

slight tangent, today Germany has made a snap decision to freeze paying any exiting grants or processing any new grant tenders for Hydrogen research due to corruption/ nepotism/ favours for friends within the Hydrogen and fuel cell branch and generally dubious reporting on previous research presented. Theres a few cases found but its reckoned its the tip of the iceberg.

The research funds frozen are about 330million Euro, but thats for both creation and usage of hydrogen for cars and industry. So its not massive but still not insignificant.

Heres the story on the main public service broadcasters website (in german)

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wasserstoff-wissing-100.html

Thats not great news for anyone hoping for miracles any time soon on the hydrogen car front.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798715#Comment_121798715

They've also stopped funding for electric truck and bus purchase programs due to a funding shortfall and oversubscription to the grant

https://www.electrive.com/2024/02/19/germany-no-longer-subsidises-electric-trucks-and-buses/

It looks like the programme funded something like 8,300 trucks of H2, PHEV and BEV types. Also something like 5,000 buses since 2021

Good progress but this is Germany, they've a lot of trucks to replace

Likely it'll slow adoption of electric trucks, where a company could afford 50 electric trucks with grants they'll now buy 30 without the grants

munchkin_utd

>They've also stopped funding for electric truck and bus purchase programs due to a funding shortfall and oversubscription to the grant

em, theres a stop on all new Ev grants not just for buses but also for cars but thats another problem altogether as thats down to the pot being oversubscribed and they thought they could reallocate unused covid funds to all manner of environmental projects but the constitutional court ruled that that was out of order (covid emergency != climate change emergency) and essentially they needed to use the 2024 pot of EV cash to backpay the promised grants for 2023.

Ironically the minute they stopped the car ev grants manufacturers stepped in to promise that anyone with an order would get a reduction from them, and within a week or 2 there was across the board reductions anyhow that left cars cheaper than when there was grants a few weeks earlier.

mfceiling

Ok.

electricus

After my last Volkswagen service (ID.3) oil change and spark plugs had ticks next to them on the checklist. Brakes and fluid were not ticked, even though they were due a 2 year check.

the_amazing_raisin

Honestly at my last service I was expecting a panicked call from the dealership saying the catalytic converter was missing from my ID.4 😂

slave1

Ye don't really believe this clickbait, what dealer would be writing up a letter and posting it in 2024

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827309#Comment_121827309

Often they give you paperwork after a service that has oil changed etc. They use a standard template. I find dealers make up any old rubbish to drive up quotes on service. It's real cowboy stuff.

AndyBoBandy

The Kenmare Bay Hotel & Resort have just installed 50 (fifty) chargers, and for at least 2024 (and hopefully beyond), charging is completely free.

Charging here is not a possibility, it’s guaranteed.

ELM327

That's insane. Fair play. Doesnt need to be free, I'd prefer if it werent. But available to use is much more important.

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827362#Comment_121827362

Could you provide a link? Couldn't see anything on their fb/insta, and nothing added to Plugshare yet.

Presume they're all 3/7kw AC?

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827923#Comment_121827923

It's cross posted across all the EV facebook groups this morning

crl84

Thanks, looks like it's free for hotel guests only, which makes more sense. Comment under the post says it's a mix of 7KW and 22KW chargers.:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IEVOA/posts/3619566844951244/

"Hi folks. Besides being a tesla driver for nearly 6 years I am also a hotelier. My hotel the Kenmare Bay Hotel & Resort has just done something very radical re electric vehicle chargers. We have put in 50 (fifty) chargers. The idea is to make charging at the hotel a guarantee not a possibility therefore getting rid of any anxiety whatsoever and making it very convenient.

Also all hotel guests will receive free charging at least for the whole of 2024 and probably beyond.

The hotel is completing it renovation to 4 star and has great offers at the moment.

Sunday to Thursday inclusive you can get a room for 95 euro plus your free charging. A deal and a half.

Thank you."

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827923#Comment_121827923

I added it to plugshare today

https://www.plugshare.com/location/599040

dodzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827535#Comment_121827535

Great gesture and all, but let’s be realistic here. They are obviously making enough € to fund this.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829537#Comment_121829537

Well they don't seem any more expensive than other similar hotels around Ireland, so I'll turn it around and ask why other hotels aren't installing banks of destination chargers

There's a few around which seems to be getting on board with EV charging, whereas most hotels will either do nothing or install a token charger which gets broken and never fixed

Don't know about anybody else, but I reckon the Kia EV9 is one of the ugliest things I've seen on four wheels in quite a while.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830884#Comment_121830884

It's absolutely disgusting looking it looks like a Lego car.

wassie

Test drove one last week. Actually quite impressed and the the white was much more impressive up close than any photos show. Found the front end was actually well styled and it had a very practical interior. But with a 100kWh battery it was always going to be an expensive car.

ELM327

I think it looks well actually, just too expensive for a Kia. If it were 67 instead of 87k for the AWD I'd already have one.

Dades

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829537#Comment_121829537

This is a very Irish response.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829537#Comment_121829537

Reading the details hotel was closed for refurbishment. Part of planning was probably some chargers and ducting. Owner is an EV driver so decided to roll out massive numbers of EV chargers. I presume costs will be expensed against taxes paid, but still heavy upfront cost if you assume each pair is 2k x 25 =50k. He probably should have promoted it a bit better in terms of free charging and special offers for next 2 months just opened low season. As in proper press release with details on hotel website.

Potentially the chargers could be a good income when they go pay and it may drive business and day lunch business from other hotels.

I expect even though they are all 22kW (claimed), they may only be 11kW each if two cars plugged into same unit, and across all the 50 there is probably load management with a limit of say 50kW across all but also measuring grid limit for hotel when hotel is at peak usage such as during a wedding. Medium to long term a higher grid connection may be needed for all 50 to be used at the same time but that's not likely for a long time and most users will be staying all night so reduced power may not even be noticed. Maintenance costs could be high if they have inbuilt billing and in general these units tend to break especially if used a lot.

Firblog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829537#Comment_121829537

Not necessarily, they're probably investing in charging points to attract business, they now have a facility that other hotels in the area don't. Given the choice of two equal hotels, costing the same, which are you going to book? The one with multiple chargers, or a different one with no or very few chargers?