First venture into EV, looking to fill in some gaps in my knowledge!

Cyrus

So pre the Corona lock down i managed to order myself an etron 50, should be with me in 3-4 weeks depending on whether we are curfewed or not!!

The spec is E-Tron 50 sport, typhoon grey, black styling and pack and black mirrors and privacy glass. thats basically it, the sport is pretty well specced anyway.

So in terms of getting ready, i have the seai number from the dealer so i think i can get cracking on the grant application for the home charger now? (or do i need a reg no?)

Charge point i dont want to go much over the grant but i do want one that i can manage via an app if possible and set to charge to tie in with night saver rates. Anyone recommend one in that scenario? I dont have any electric showers but i do have an air to water heatpump.

On that note just for reference, what am i looking at charging time to 80% on an etron 50 from say 10% with:

a home charger,
with a 3 pin plug and
with a fast charger?

To be honest the majority of our driving is local, the reason i went with the 50 is that the number of times that we have gone beyond the range in the last year can be counted on one hand so we can work with the fast charging set up.

What are the fast charging options, am i right in saying Ecars and Ionity? whats the best way of setting up for both? i see with ionity people are ordering some kind of payment card from germany is that correct? Roughly what should a 10-80% charge cost me were i to use a fast charger?

thats it for now, ill post pics whenever i am able to get it,

looking forward to it!

ELM327

The etron 50 is quite a short range EV compared to others available at the price, but it has the advantage of fast charging at Ionity.
You can sign up for maingau to use Ionity and it costs 40c per kwh. If you top up to 80% adding 40kWh, you're looking at a 16 euro charge.
Similar price at ecars, 29 or 33c per kWh. Ecars also have an overstay fee if you charge longer than 44 minutes.

You also have easygo, worth signing up with them.

3 pin plug you're looking in terms of days not hours.
home 7kW charger you're talking about 9-10-12 hours (ie overnight)
If you want a "smart" home charger with app etc then you will pay a lot over the grant. Zappi is the one to look at. Generally however you would use the in car apps to manage charging (eg I have a Tesla model S long range and I use the car app to charge at night rate, using a "dumb" 32a rolec home charger)


The etron is a lovely looking car and I strongly considered one before getting my S but I do 50-60k a year so the range of the etron (especially the 50) was prohibitive. Well wear, sounds like you've done the sums

Cyrus

ELM327 wrote: »

The etron 50 is quite a short range EV compared to others available at the price, but it has the advantage of fast charging at Ionity.
You can sign up for maingau to use Ionity and it costs 40c per kwh. If you top up to 80% adding 40kWh, you're looking at a 16 euro charge.
Similar price at ecars, 29 or 33c per kWh. Ecars also have an overstay fee if you charge longer than 44 minutes.

You also have easygo, worth signing up with them.

3 pin plug you're looking in terms of days not hours.
home 7kW charger you're talking about 9-10-12 hours (ie overnight)
If you want a "smart" home charger with app etc then you will pay a lot over the grant. Zappi is the one to look at. Generally however you would use the in car apps to manage charging (eg I have a Tesla model S long range and I use the car app to charge at night rate, using a "dumb" 32a rolec home charger)


The etron is a lovely looking car and I strongly considered one before getting my S but I do 50-60k a year so the range of the etron (especially the 50) was prohibitive. Well wear, sounds like you've done the sums

thanks

so the car should be able to manage when its charged, i dont need a smart charger then? just a regular one?

annual mileage is 9-10k (KM) i reckon a full charge could last us 2.5 weeks based on most normal days. (10km mon-friday maybe 60km over a weekend)

the reason i ask on 3 pin is if we visit my folks in wexford i wont have enough range to get up and down, so its either stop in gorey on way back up or use trickle charger at home, but you reckon days?

ELM327

I mean, we have inlaws in wexford 20 mins south of the Gorey Ionity stop and we trickle charge on the granny cable.
It may not fill the car 100% but it adds some range.

Here's an easier way to put it, your home charger is at 7kW. Charging on a 3 pin plug is just under 2kW. So it charges 2/7ths the speed of the home charger. If you're there overnight and leave the following afternoon it will be grand, if not, a few mins at Gorey will make up the difference.

unkel

Nice one, hope you get it soon, well wear!

Don't make any rash decisions on the charger. Do you have any solar PV panels on your roof or are you planning to get some in future? If so, you might consider a Zappi or equivalent charger, that can sense when you are producing more electricity in your house than you are using, and it will send the excess to the car (provided it is plugged in)

Also do you have a night rate meter? If not, get one straight away. Just ring your electricity provider and they will organise it. It won't cost you a cent, but once in place your standing charge will go up by about EUR50 for the year and your day rate will go up by about 1c/kWh, but your night rate will be less than half of your day rate. Even if you charge your car once a week, you will save significant money over having a normal meter (and charging at night is much better for the environment as it is mostly done on wind in Ireland)

KCross

Cyrus wrote: »

Charge point i dont want to go much over the grant but i do want one that i can manage via an app if possible and set to charge to tie in with night saver rates. Anyone recommend one in that scenario? I dont have any electric showers but i do have an air to water heatpump.

As said, the inbuilt car timers are usually what you use for scheduling the charging, not the charge point itself.

A smart charger can give you some additional things like inbuilt load management, solar integration, app support etc. You dont necessarily need those but review that list again here

Cyrus wrote: »

On that note just for reference, what am i looking at charging time to 80% on an etron 50 from say 10% with:

a home charger,
with a 3 pin plug and
with a fast charger?

The eTron 50 has a 64kWh net battery so to go from 10-80% is 45kWh which will take about 48kWh from your supply as there will be some heat loss.

So, the figures for a 70% charge would be....

3-pin socket (10A/2.3kW) - 21hrs
home charger (32A/7kW) - 7hrs
rapid charger(120kW) - their spec says 30mins from 5-80%.

Cyrus

unkel wrote: »

Nice one, hope you get it soon, well wear!

Don't make any rash decisions on the charger. Do you have any solar PV panels on your roof or are you planning to get some in future? If so, you might consider a Zappi or equivalent charger, that can sense when you are producing more electricity in your house than you are using, and it will send the excess to the car (provided it is plugged in)

Also do you have a night rate meter? If not, get one straight away. Just ring your electricity provider and they will organise it. It won't cost you a cent, but once in place your standing charge will go up by about EUR50 for the year and your day rate will go up by about 1c/kWh, but your night rate will be less than half of your day rate. Even if you charge your car once a week, you will save significant money over having a normal meter (and charging at night is much better for the environment as it is mostly done on wind in Ireland)

hey unkel

house is an a rated new build without solar panels so i dont foresee us getting them any time soon.

also have changed over to the night rate now, luckily our meter is the newer one that can do both so no change in equipment required.

what charger do you have?

Gumbo

If you don’t want to spend much more than the €600 grant then forget about smart chargers etc
Zappi is €1k plus.

I have one of the original ABL chargers. I plug in. It charges.
Cost me €200.
Paid sparks €100 to connect and sign off.

Work our what you want the charger to do and then move from there.
You most likely have a heat pump in the house so that may be a factor in tie decision.

Cyrus

Gumbo wrote: »

If you don’t want to spend much more than the €600 grant then forget about smart chargers etc
Zappi is €1k plus.

I have one of the original ABL chargers. I plug in. It charges.
Cost me €200.
Paid sparks €100 to connect and sign off.

Work our what you want the charger to do and then move from there.
You most likely have a heat pump in the house so that may be a factor in tie decision.

what does having a heat pump mean, i need one with load management?

Cyrus

also does anyone know of a good owners forum for the etron?

Gumbo

Cyrus wrote: »

what does having a heat pump mean, i need one with load management?

Yes possibly but I’m not 100% sure. Either load balancing or a priority switch.

Cyrus

is there any of the irish installers that list prices for the chargers and the various ones they carry, any i have looked at seem very reluctant to put a price on anything!

KCross

Cyrus wrote: »

what does having a heat pump mean, i need one with load management?

Depends on the size of your heat pump and ESB supply...

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=112782457&postcount=1335

unkel

Cyrus wrote: »

hey unkel

house is an a rated new build without solar panels so i dont foresee us getting them any time soon.

also have changed over to the night rate now, luckily our meter is the newer one that can do both so no change in equipment required.

what charger do you have?

Like Gumbo, I have one of the original ABL chargers that was installed at my house for free under the original subsidy scheme (that ended in 2017)

If you don't need a smart charger then any charger will do as long as it is 32A / 7.2kW. If I were you I would try and get the job done for as close to EUR600 as possible, meaning it won't cost you anything (after the EUR600 subsidy)

Calahonda52

Cyrus wrote: »

what does having a heat pump mean, i need one with load management?

As a layman,
HPs, with UFH normally run at night.
.
HPs, with rads, run during the day.
.
my understanding of the HP vs EV charging is as follows.
.
You need to find the input power kWs for your HP and check it out vs the draw on the car charger.
.
if the combination exceeds the house input capacity then u have an issue.
.
A priority switch will do either the car or the HP.
.
a load management option on a charger may give the HP first call and then the rate of charge on the car will be less, hence longer charger times.
.
That my understanding, as a layman.

Cyrus

Calahonda52 wrote: »

As a layman,
HPs, with UFH normally run at night.
.
HPs, with rads, run during the day.
.
my understanding of the HP vs EV charging is as follows.
.
You need to find the input power kWs for your HP and check it out vs the draw on the car charger.
.
if the combination exceeds the house input capacity then u have an issue.
.
A priority switch will do either the car or the HP.
.
a load management option on a charger may give the HP first call and then the rate of charge on the car will be less, hence longer charger times.
.
That my understanding, as a layman.

I have both ufh and rads ! Looking at my meter about 1/3 of my units are used at night so hp must be running alright

unkel

Cyrus wrote: »

I have both ufh and rads ! Looking at my meter about 1/3 of my units are used at night so hp must be running alright

I wouldn't draw that conclusion so easily. I would have expected a much more even 50-50 split (or even a higher night time consumption) if your heat pump is running mainly / solely at night.

Cyrus

unkel wrote: »

I wouldn't draw that conclusion so easily. I would have expected a much more even 50-50 split (or even a higher night time consumption) if your heat pump is running mainly / solely at night.

No what I mean was it deffo runs at night but during the day also

your spending 60 odd grand on a car and want to save 3/400 on the charge point?

Just get one with load balancing and move on.

ELM327

Night rate is mandatory, I don't understand why it's even a question.
I was 2:3 in terms of day:night before the EV... it's 1:3 now.

Cyrus

BrownFinger wrote: »

your spending 60 odd grand on a car and want to save 3/400 on the charge point?

Just get one with load balancing and move on.

60odd

i wish

doesnt mean i need to spunk cash unnecessarily

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

60odd

i wish

doesnt mean i need to spunk cash unnecessarily

I think its fairly necessary that you can charge it at home without blowing your main ESB fuse.

Cyrus

BrownFinger wrote: »

I think its fairly necessary that you can charge it at home without blowing your main ESB fuse.

ill let the electrician guide me on that

Cyrus

Cyrus wrote: »

ill let the electrician guide me on that

Well I am one so :P

listermint

tbf cyrus, start off on the right foot. Get a charger that will will future proof your home electrical install. That car you bought is wacky money and warrants a decent brand charger to boot.

Calahonda52

Cyrus wrote: »

I have both ufh and rads ! Looking at my meter about 1/3 of my units are used at night so hp must be running alright

have you a buffer tank?

Cyrus

BrownFinger wrote: »

Well I am one so :P

indeed but not the one fitting it :pac:

Cyrus

Calahonda52 wrote: »

have you a buffer tank?

there is something in the attic, presume thats it!