CircleK Chargers

MarkN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120558820#Comment_120558820

I’ve never seen those figures in real life, sorry.

quenching

Is there any way to see if these Circle K chargers are working/dead/occupied etc? I’ve tried the Circle K app and that’s useless, their website mentions EV chargers but doesn’t list the Carlow one. PlugShare lists them but doesn’t seem to show if they’re in use etc.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560011#Comment_120560011

At least he was plugging in an ID.3, pretty sure one of the previous photo ops showed a diesel Audi "plugged" in

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120559858#Comment_120559858

Well the hub situation might not be as bad as predicted, I worked out earlier that it's an average of €230k per site, which should be enough for a pair of 150kW chargers

And based on the planning application for Clonsaugh, at least some sites are planned as 4 charger hubs

I'm not going to say it's brilliant, but between Circle K and Applegreen it'd be a significant improvement over the current network

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560186#Comment_120560186

You kinda get the sense that Circle K are going about this the half arsed way…. 2 chargers installed in 2 sites and online (supposedly, though no proper way/app to check), and a few more sites with planning in, and that’s it….. then the photoshoot and story on the RTÉ website…..

Meanwhile Applegreen have quietly gone about their business and have 10 sites with 16 units online (up from only 1 site just a few months ago). And an app we’re all familiar with to see their status… and already more sites in progress… and I don’t remember a big fanfare when they started turning the units on…

If it’s €230k per site (as mentioned above), Applegreen have already installed €2.3m worth of sites that are operational.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560186#Comment_120560186

No I don't believe so, although it's very likely they are fully online and linked to a system capable of an app. They might be linking to common shared apps or upgrading or releasing their own app or not ready to invest in the whole app thing yet.

I find most supplier specific apps not great, they hide other brand chargers and don't give great real status as to problems reported unlike say plugshare app which shows chargers down 3+ days before esb send anyone to site while their app continues to usually say all good.

I do wonder is this a bit of green washing while they maybe open more new non EV petrol stations and they know long term petrol will be a dying business, and hubs and home charging is the future which is a different model and size to petrol stations today. I would like to see even one ambitious real hub as a test site.

In terms of 150 vs 300kW I think due to grid and equipment costs 150 multiple units are ok (although they drop to 75 with 2 users), units in 2+ years time could be 300kW but then the grid gets so expensive you need real regional hub type sites where motorways meet substations with excess capacity to keep grid costs reasonable and where demand for high speed, lots of customers 24/7 makes it viable.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560164#Comment_120560164

Did the car you were testing have the battery preconditioning update applied?

zg3409

On their website I searched for sites with electric car (high speed) chargers (presumably own brand only) and these sites with details were shown (3 ROI + 2 NI). They don't seem to all be online yet but are listed on the map.

https://www.circlek.ie/station-search

Here is the general FAQ

https://www.circlek.ie/electric-vehicle-charging

I must cross reference the sites with plugshare app entries of "coming soon" to be sure they are all listed, if not I will add them. The two in NI are esb ecars old sites.

tommythecat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560164#Comment_120560164

These figures are on par with what I see from my My23 Ev6 when you precondition the battery.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120566496#Comment_120566496

Ease of payment: 5/5 for taking debit card

Power available: 3/5 considering future chargers are going to be only 150kW

Locations: -10/5 for having SPOF sites and announcing locations on their map that aren't online yet

Overall score: -2

This is actually better than Ecars who scored a solid -1000 points in every category

zg3409

Here is Tipperary town, planning applied 2022

https://www.plugshare.com/location/368332

https://www.plugshare.com/location/224570

Borrisoleigh, has an ePower AC only charger today

https://www.plugshare.com/location/98606

Third ROI sites is o bama plaza where "everyone presumed" esb is expanding with ground works today.

Now their website could just be wrong or referring to esb chargers as their "high speed" set up, but I wonder if there are plans to kick out esb NI and ROI at these sites? Anyone have anything concrete about o bama plaza maybe from esb ecars?

the_amazing_raisin

I feel like there's some creative accounting going on with Circle K. The locations on the website would seem to indicate they're branded chargers, given none of the Ionity sites are listed

The press release was pretty quick to mention all the other chargers they're hosting in their service stations, nothing like some free PR 🙄

The Plaza sites have generally been more friendly to Ecars in the past, I think Tuam and Galway Plaza are both owned by that crowd and they both have Ecars 150kW units?

One possibility is that Circle K and Ecars could be doing something of a joint venture, perhaps the chargers will be branded Circle K but will appear on the Ecars network?

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120567340#Comment_120567340

Ionity is there at least today is . The filter is by type of fuel (or gas) so all esb and Ionity at CircleK are listed

Ionity and ESB on the map. 42 in total. J5 on M9 is not listed so work in progress I'd say

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120568769#Comment_120568769

Ah okay, it seems the high speed EV charging must only have a subset of stations, possibly the Circle K branded ones

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560367#Comment_120560367

You kinda get the sense that Circle K are going about this the half arsed way

Yes. Very much so.

The charger in Fermoy has been out of action completely for the last number of months, €7m investment is a drop in the ocean for a company the size of Cirkle K who had $7bn of profits in 2022, if the site cost is €230k that equates to 30 sites across a country where they have 410 forecourts. So if they co-locate then 7.3% of their sites will have 2-4 chargers. How many of their forecourts have 2-4 pumps?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120569070#Comment_120569070

Yeah I'm forced to agree, while more chargers is good, I'm not seeing the level of commitment that we've seen from Applegreen

Not saying Applegreen are the greatest charging network in Ireland, but they have opened more sites than anyone this year and did just get planning permission for a 36 charger hub in Meath 😳

Compare this to Circle K who have so far rolled out a whole two chargers and are planning to open a few chargers across a small subset of locations

Give them a rounds of applause lads, a nice slow, sarcastic round of applause....

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575972#Comment_120575972

There are issues at applegreen as well... Their tritum (and only chademo) charger hasn't been working for some time now in Birdhill... They have planning there for 13 chargers since last year but only have 3 installed so I wouldn't give them too much credit either

More chargers is good, more working ones is better through

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120576024#Comment_120576024

The Birdhill planning application is withdrawn at this stage as the coffee drive-thru was rejected. CircleK has one planning permission granted since 2021 and nothing yet

Personally I prefer CircleK style of being open to others operators as opposed to AG kicking off the other networks or not allowing developments.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120576300#Comment_120576300

I dunno about that, haven't heard anything about more cooperation between Ionity and Circle K.

I'd have thought if Circle K was happy to share then they'd be trying to get on board with the Ionity expansion for 2025

Instead the only new Ionity site is going to be in a shopping centre in NI (better location IMO)

Maybe they're not kicking other providers out, but I'm not convinced they're going to be letting many other providers in for much longer, especially on the profitable routes

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120576300#Comment_120576300

I reckon we need a publicly owned supplier of charge points to do faster rollouts, a good one, not like ESB

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120577047#Comment_120577047

They aren't very friendly to the electricity supply at the portlaoise plaza

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120577345#Comment_120577345

To me it looks that public bodies drag their feet. Last year there was a survey on here about workplace chargers and the private sector is leading with flying colors. Look at the DCC attitude towards chargers. Give a public body a year to do something and they'll use the year to draft a report with reasons not to do it. I said it few years ago. The best thing it could happen to ecars is to be bought by some crowd like gridserve or fastned.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120578314#Comment_120578314

Yes, that's why I specified "a good one, not like Ecars" in my post.

Sell the sites to gridserve or fastned and then watch as the private enterprises jack the prices up and walks away from numerous lower-profit sites? No thanks! Don't get me wrong, if either of them want to enter Ireland and set up their own charge hubs and compete with ESB then they are most welcome to.

I remember in the 90s we had one of the lowest domestic unit rates in Europe when ESB and Bord Gais were publicly owned... Privatisation changed that for the worse I'd argue

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120578361#Comment_120578361

You just posted that the Tesla SuC is 40ish c/kWh which is nearly the same as my domestic day rate with Electric Ireland - publicly funded. So considering that all private are wrong and state is good stops the discussion for me as it goes into ideology which is far off-topic.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120578398#Comment_120578398

I never said all state enterprises are good. I literally said we need "a good one, not like Ecars"

But on that note if ESB were charging €1.50/kWh do you think Tesla have made the same reduction in price last night? Do you think AG and CirckeK would be 70-75c/kWh or would they be higher than even that level?

crl84

You said "a good one, not like ESB".

Don't know who you think is going to actually supply and install these charge points. The time taken to set up a body, regulate it, hire staff (largely away from the existing private installers), and agree locations for installs, would be years. The vast majority of public bodies/CoCos just outsource their various works to private companies as it is, as it's much cheaper and more efficient.

There are plenty of things state bodies should be doing, but there's plenty more things the private sector does quicker and cheaper.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120578916#Comment_120578916

That sounds like a problem, not a solution

MarkN

I’ve used built in maps on an EV6 and saw 45kW on Ionity (SOC may have not been ideal to be fair), I’ve seen a Polestar BST peak at 115kW for all of 5 seconds, an Audi etron not get anywhere near the claimed range, I’ve seen Maxus stuff go higher than their claimed figure but there’s just too many t&c’s for EVs to achieve their peak speed from my experience and I really do mean many, many cars and many different charging units.

I simply think 150kW is such a jump compared to the endless 50kW ESB ones that we’re all used to and of course 300+ is fantastic but as has been pointed out, these sites regularly need to be fairly out on their own in terms of location and even then, how many cars will benefit etc in the real world.

Every car sold should have a 22kW on board as standard and the reliance on faster chargers would be a lot less.

ELM327

150kW is what's needed right now and for the next 3 or so years IMO.

150kW with load sharing (ie 2 75kW) is probably almost outdated already but better than 50kW which is almost a slow charger at this point.

For future proofing 350kW is needed, halo cars are just hitting the market now that can take the peak (Lucid, Hummer) as well as others that are nearly there (Taycan 270kW, Tesla palladium 250kW , etc). What I would install if I could would be a bank of say 8 chargers, 2 dedicated 350kW that can deliver 350kW at 400 or 800v, and the rest load balanced 350kW that can do 150kW each side. Charge more for using the higher speed.

Just like EA do in the US

n.d.os

I charged my car today at Circle K on an Ionity charger from 34% to 66% 25,000kwh in total. I paid on the app by card and it cost €17.76. I don't use public chargers so so I was completely shocked when I got the invoice in my email this evening. What am I missing here? I'd pay half that for petrol.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120589055#Comment_120589055

You meant 25kWh right? Paying €17 for 25,000kWh would be the best deal in history 😉

The base price for Ionity is 73c/kWh which works out about correct for the amount of energy you bought

Circle K don't have anything to do what pricing, they're just hosting the site

It's a premium price, but better service than Ecars can offer. If you're a regular user then a paid subscription usually works out a lot better