Applegreen own brand chargers

Black_Knight · 26-03-2023 10:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120400496#Comment_120400496

2 sessions yesterday. Looks like the first one had to start it twice. I'd be confident if I was using it today. No idea about speeds though

AndyBoBandy · 26-03-2023 11:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120401804#Comment_120401804

Yeah, started 1st time for me this morning… got 70kW which is to be expected in my SR+ at about 46% SoC and no pre conditioning….. the cables are fairly heavy, but long enough for any car in any space….. Awesome…..

Dubwat · 26-03-2023 5:25pm

@AndyBoBandy You got 70kW at Paulstown? Wow. I've used that site several times now and never got above 45kW. My MG5 LR is supposed to be able to take upto 80kW. It's almost exactly half-way on my journey from Dublin to Dungarvan, Co Waterford so I'd have driven at least an hour to get there. In some ways, I don't mind because I like to take a 20 min coffee break. But I do mind if I'm paying 150kW money for a sub-50kW service!

the_amazing_raisin · 26-03-2023 5:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403206#Comment_120403206

It's always worth remembering that you'll only get the max charging speeds if you plug in at a low SoC, generally less than 10%

I've seen max speed on my ID.4 exactly once from Ionity, oftentimes it's closer to 60-70kW it I plug in with anything over 40%

Dubwat · 26-03-2023 6:05pm

Thanks! Yeah, I'd usually arrive with 40-50% battery so that probably explains things.

Strictly speaking, if I start with a 100% battery, I can make it without stopping but then I'm wholly reliant on the only 50kW charger in Co Waterford (outside of the city). Paulstown is a godsend on the M9 since Knocktopher is gone and Carlow Ecars was down for a few days last week :(

AndyBoBandy · 26-03-2023 7:01pm

I arrived in again on the way home at 20% and pulled a more respectable 88kW, and held it up until about 40%…

It looks like I could have taken more with a warmer battery as the Tesla app did tell me that the power going in was slightly limited due to cold battery, but I’m happy enough as I took on 57% in only 23 minutes…. And made it home with 20% left…

All in all I’m delighted as Paulstown is now 1,000% my go to site for trips to/from Waterford.

eagerv · 26-03-2023 7:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403548#Comment_120403548

Does this enable you to visit the Outlaws more often?.......😁

AndyBoBandy · 26-03-2023 7:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403552#Comment_120403552

Well, it just makes the trip a whole lot less stressful…..

Kilcullen is too far from where they are (Crooke/Passage East), and Bolton St. in Waterford is a SPOF, so not reliable…..

At least in Paulstown there are 3 dedicated CCS spots, and it doesn’t matter where a Leaf parks when using the CHAdeMO, as the CCS cable will always reach the charge port regardless of what spot I park in…

Black_Knight · 26-03-2023 8:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403569#Comment_120403569

Was it busy? From what I see you weren't alone at 5pm (5.15 looks like 2 cars are charging) and at least 1 CCS was in use a decent portion of the late afternoon.

AndyBoBandy · 26-03-2023 8:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120403912#Comment_120403912

Yeah about 10 minutes after I arrived a Kona pulled in, and then I left about 13 minutes later… same on the way down, an Ioniq5 pulled in about 15 minutes after us and we were gone 5 minutes later..

Both times we arrived and it was completely empty.

The awesome thing is 2 CCS cars were charging, and still room for another as well as for a CHAdeMO car… It’s just such a much better layout compared to the eCars site in Kilcullen (and all the other 3 parking spot sites). I’d even go as far as to call Paulstown a ‘micro hub’

If/when the CircleK charger up the road gets turned it makes the M9 even better…

zg3409 · 02-04-2023 12:04pm

Got to check out castlebellingham Northbound today (while driving my 41 year old ICE!).

Good layout. It's designed for a future charger where red stick is. This now allows possibly access from wrong side of charger if charger is blocked by a car or charging port wrong side etc.

1 X chademo and 1 x CCS which can be used at the same time.

However already issues. One car here on CCS today. Chademo unused. On esb charger chademo in use with leaf. CCS car arrived, no where for him to charge. He was plugging in for 7kW AC when I saw him. Ideally leaf would have moved from esb to applegreen freeing up the CCS on the esb unit, but no driver in leaf.

Meanwhile lots of teslas coming and going on superchargers.

So even though 3 cars can in theory charge at same time at 50kW+ already only 2 cars could today.

Southbound similar set up. But this time 2 X CCS with no chademo. If spaces are blocked it may be possible to park on unmarked side and cables may reach.

Leafs can only charge at esb, so one leaf and all other leafs out of luck. One X CCS in use on esb and all leafs out of luck unless they can convince person on CCS to move to Applegreen unit.

Again lots of teslas on superchargers.

For non teslas neither site is any way close to a hub and if esb and Tesla are kicked out it's only going to be worse. It really needs government intervention to get a decent hub somewhere on M1.

I am glad I had my ICE with my and I wasn't relying on either site. I suspect applegreen will make good profits with cars queuing all day long.

Even if they roll out 2 units per site that can supply 4 cars at once it won't be half enough.

Red Silurian · 03-04-2023 11:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120430739#Comment_120430739

The M1 is such a busy road they really need hubs with a minimum 8 cars able to charge at once 2 northbound and 2 southbound or one 16 car hub accessible in both directions.

However already issues. One car here on CCS today. Chademo unused. On esb charger chademo in use with leaf. CCS car arrived, no where for him to charge. He was plugging in for 7kW AC when I saw him. Ideally leaf would have moved from esb to applegreen freeing up the CCS on the esb unit, but no driver in leaf.

You get the reverse in Mayfield regularly. CCS cars using the delta unit while the CCS only chargers are free meaning leafs have to wait for others to finish. I'd argue delta units all around is the easiest way forward on this matter

innrain · 03-04-2023 11:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434322#Comment_120434322

That is because the other units are unreliable. They never delivered peak power in nearly 2 years of functioning. Even now one is greyed out. When I used them they deliverd something like 80kW while the other plug was unavailable. I think Nobby's video with the Cork trip shows the same issue.

Red Silurian · 03-04-2023 11:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434372#Comment_120434372

Yeah and the CCS cars are as entitled to those deltas as the Chademo cars, I'm not for a minute saying they shouldn't be there... The layout is wrong is all I say

the_amazing_raisin · 03-04-2023 12:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120430739#Comment_120430739

I'm hoping they fill in the other chargers soon, but I generally agree that 4 charging spaces just isn't enough anymore, particularly if you're getting 90kW

On the other hand, Applegreen have rolled out more DC chargers in 6 months than Ecars have in a year. So they'll hopefully see the need for expansion soon, particularly if other competitors are opening up sites as well

Busman Paddy Lasty · 03-04-2023 1:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434417#Comment_120434417

I think 2 but at least one of the big Efacec units in Mayfield has CHAdeMO on one side, that space 100% CHAdeMO.

claw · 03-04-2023 1:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120430739#Comment_120430739

I went to Dundalk in my Leaf on Friday evening and was delighted that Applegreen Castlebellingham North had a Chademo charger as a CCS car was directly ahead of me going into the petrol station and went to the ecars one. I found the charge a bit slower than an ecars one tends to be but it was nice to have the option. I rarely fast charge so I didn't mind paying extra. The fact that ecars in this day and age can only have one car charging at a time is scandalous!

zg3409 · 03-04-2023 1:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434930#Comment_120434930

I believe applegreen blocked them from putting in a second charger

AndyBoBandy · 03-04-2023 2:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434989#Comment_120434989

In situations like this they should at least be swapping out those ancient chargers for more modern ones that can at least charge 2 DC cars at once….

MagicBusDriver1 · 03-04-2023 2:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120435197#Comment_120435197

That may not be an option for ecars. Ecars and Tesla need a new site near the border.

Red Silurian · 03-04-2023 2:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434807#Comment_120434807

Mayfield has 2 dual-head chargers (Delta) 5 x CCS-only and 1 x Chademo only spread across 4 boxes.

Red Silurian · 03-04-2023 2:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120435197#Comment_120435197

Why? I'd be as happy with 8 single units as 4 double units. Similarly 8 x 50 kW in place of 2 x 200kW allows 8 cars to charge for 20-30 minutes instead of 2 for 5 minutes, best move for business if you have a coffee shop on site is to have as many 50kW units on site

MJohnston · 03-04-2023 3:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120435239#Comment_120435239

There's a new big Go petrol station being opened at The Boulevard, Banbridge that would be ideal for a Maxol Kinnegar style hub, but classic Northern Ireland, it's just dino juice.

On the topic of the Applegreen chargers — I've used the Castlebellingham ones a few times now and they work fine (if not a bit frustrating that the northbound one doesn't have a third CCS connector for when the Chademo isn't in use).

However, one major flaw — there is no "stop charge" protection on the charge point interface. What I mean by that is if you're charging, literally anyone can walk up and press the "Stop" button on the charger, and kill your charge. At least with the old ESB units you need to tap your card again or use your phone to stop the charge.

the_amazing_raisin · 03-04-2023 3:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120434989#Comment_120434989

Yeah I still don't fully buy it, Ecars certainly seemed to roll over without much of a fight

I mean they could probably have taken Applegreen to court on the basis that Ecars were provided 4 charging spaces but we're only allowed to use 2 of them

I think Ecars were quite happy to pass the buck on that one

JohnC. · 04-04-2023 9:52pm

Planning application gone in again for an Applegreen at Mullinavat, near the south end of the M9. With provision for a 20 charge point hub. Though I fear that may just mean they might throw in a couple at the start and maybe up to 20 in the future

https://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/local-news/1077832/new-service-station-complex-with-two-food-outlets-planned-for-kilkenny.html

AndyBoBandy · 04-04-2023 9:59pm

Perfect spot for another motorway services, and closer to Waterford too..

if they started with what’s in Paulstown (3x CCS & 1x CHAdeMO), it would be another excellent addition to the M9

MarkN · 04-04-2023 10:27pm

Was in Lusk southbound today and a red Kona was sitting in one of these Applegreen chargers just parked. Driver was in the car when I was walking past the second time and I really was tempted to ask what they were at but I just thought better of getting into an argument. Boils my pi55.