Happy with owning an EV in Ireland

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119546798#Comment_119546798

The paulstown is an applegreen and would have been a perfect site for a decent hub. It's never too busy and is literally 1 minute off the M9.

The circle k one is at n80 turn off on the M9. Again literally a minute off the motorway. Last time I was there the charger was in place but I've heard nothing about it being commissioned for use.

I don't know what the problem with providing proper High Power chargers for the M9 is ? there's obviously some issue we're unaware about, maybe the site owners don't want the chargers, this can often be the case.

Think there should be a law at this point in time that there's a minimum of 8 x 150+ Kw chargers on every motorway service area or that every provider should provide a minimum of 8 chargers on site.

Very few towns and cities if any at all have any high power chargers ?

the_amazing_raisin

Having just driven across the UK from Holyhead to Falmouth and back, I can confidently say that I will happily pay the premium for using Ionity. Got full power from every charger I used, even saw the full 125kW my car can take

And 6 units at each site I used (Stafford and Cullompton), literally no queueing despite both sites being steadily in use

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119551065#Comment_119551065

How did you get 125 Kw ?

You must have arrived at very low SOC and high enough battery temp ?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119552265#Comment_119552265

Arrived with 11% after driving at motorway speeds for over 2 hours in 22C ambient, so battery was definitely good and warm. Although I was in heavy traffic past Birmingham for a while about 15 mins beforehand

Didn't have OBD scanner plugged so can't say exactly what temp it was

Charged 41kWh in 23 mins, so average charging speed of 107kW if I'm working that out correctly? 🤔

I'm pretty happy with that, although it wasn't quite enough for me to make the ferry home, ended up getting the later ferry (f**king flat tire that I had to fix that morning)

Bovakinn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119547809#Comment_119547809

The charger at Circle K is in such a silly place. I drive by there almost daily and more often than not the Mc Donalds drive-through queue goes well past that charger. Meanwhile, they have an entire car park that I've never seen more than half full.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119544403#Comment_119544403

Shame the M9 Carlow bypass has the crappiest road surface, it's incredibly old skool and noisy, I live 1 Km from it as the crow flies and with a proper surface it would be much quieter.

Do you know Carlow now has 3 x DC chargers ? 2 Easy go down at the TSB and BOI before the traffic lights on the left heading into town from the Dublin side.

I bet you wouldn't notice the difference between FLAC and MP3 @320 Kbps in a car if I were to blindfold you ( obviously me driving ☺️ ) and not say anything! 🤣

Dubwat

@[Deleted User] Yeah, I saw the press release about those chargers in Carlow town centre awhile back but I assumed they'd be ICEd all the time. At the time of my story, I didn't have an EasyGo account so they weren't on my horizon.

You're right, of course, about the sound quality but it's my little deceit. Just like the sweets and fizzy soft drinks help me concentrate on the motorway journey :)

eagerv

Was just thinking about how rarely I stop to fast charge now, my March Model 3 RWD is covering most of my medium length trips with just home charging. And the Supercharging makes it so easy on my odd England or Belfast trips.

I sort of look forward to having to stop and charge on a longer journey, perhaps I am a bit odd, but it has always been a good experience and have had some interesting chats.

(Also wanted to give this thread a bit of a bump, a bit of negativity at times in this forum)😁

kuang1

Yeah I'm driving my EV6 almost 4 months now and I've never been happier with a car.

Have only charged away from home twice and used Ionity in Kill both times. No issues there and made even more pleasant by Kia footing the bill for any Ionity usage for the first year!

But a beautiful machine to travel around in.

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120029221#Comment_120029221

Yes, was in a similar position when I had my ID.3, got free 2000 kWh for Ionity. But they put a time limit on it which was a bit silly, meant often left the house with a low battery so would use up some of it🙂.

But in reality cost of fast charging for me is not a problem, it's only very occasional. A good home rate is much more important.

Agree, EVs are much nicer to travel around in. Was driving a new auto Kuga the other day, what a terrible gearbox. I think Eamon Ryan is right for once when he says that EVs are simply nicer cars to drive..

the_amazing_raisin

I can confirm after 18 months that my ID 4 is still awesome, still has loads of range, the battery has not degraded to nothing (honestly not sure it's degraded significantly at all), it still charges like it's addicted to electrons and the software is (finally) getting pretty decent

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120030202#Comment_120030202

How are those big alloys with rubber bands on them holding out?😊

fits

Still love our ID.3 as well. Going to struggle to replace it if we ever do. It’s a brilliant car

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120030372#Comment_120030372

They look great if you're blind

Car park barriers are lethal, they seem to have really high kerbs and the rim protectors don't do much 😭

On the plus side that scraping noise is a good way to tell when you're too close to the kerb

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120030820#Comment_120030820

They say the best rim protector is behind the wheel..😋

Was in Belfast Tannery multi storey car park a week or so ago and had to park near top, didn't find the up lanes easy. Luckily nobody behind me so could reposition a few times. Didn't seem as bad going down, but car park was quiet early in morning so you could swing out more. The one time I wished I had my old ID.3 again..

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119547809#Comment_119547809

It's great looking back at old posts like this, and both sites now have a combined 6 spaces with 5 CCS plugs...

ELM327

There has been a bit of a jump forward in the charging network in the past year, probably not enough to cover for all the new evs but it does seem improved coverage of non SPOF hpcs