Faster project - 36 Charger sites for NI & border counties

zg3409

These should all have touch to pay by credit card option. My Weev app is available in ROI for these border chargers. I'm NI they are easygo branded.

Philips2233

Thanks for checking. Tried again, and it is installing. Restarted my phone, don't know if that made any difference but works now. Another app for charging!!

denismc

The Epower app will work with WEEV chargers in the North, I have used a few times in the last year. Epower are based in the South but they must have some agreement with WEEV.

Electric Car Chargers Ireland - EV Chargers - ePower

crl84

Disappointing to see that the recently opened ones are single CCS and Chademo. Surely a dual CCS with Chademo would be far more useful, and minimal extra cost?

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781736#Comment_121781736

A lot of these slower chargers cannot load share across multiple cables so 2 x ccs would be of no benefit.

crl84

So a CCS and Chademo can't both charge at once either? Pretty poor if so. As said earlier in the thread, having 2 units at one location would be better than having single extremely limited units dotted at different locations.

Philips2233

Looking at my apps, ePower and Weev seem to be the same, both show the same chargers in the Republic. Using Sallins as an example, I know this charger and it is labeled ePower.

dsandson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781736#Comment_121781736

This is part of the structure of this project. As it's European funded there needs to be a genuine competitive tender process. That means a performance specification for the chargers. To my knowledge there's only one charger manufacturer that can provide CCS/Chademo and CCS, and that's Alpitronics. They're a highly regarded manufacturer but also likely one of the more expensive because of that.

So the project promotors could not have legitimately put that in as a requirement as it would have restricted options to one manufacturer. A requirement was in there for Chademo at every site to maximise interoperability, so we get CCS/ Chademo at each site.

These chargers can load share between the two connections. They have 2 or 3 60kW power modules, depending on the supply coming in. They seem to be pretty good chargers but time will tell.

the_amazing_raisin

I'm guessing the funding pot didn't extend to large hubs of HPCs in most locations and they decided to aim for quantity over quality in some cases

It's always disappointing to see a SPOF site, even when there's another charger in town it could be across a heavily trafficked town centre, very odd putting for a visitor

Obviously we'd all like banks of 350kW chargers but in a pinch a pair of chargers sharing the connection would be preferable to a single unit

dsandson

The project aim was to improve electric car travel across NI, and the border counties, plus the Scottish Islands. In that they've done well here. They're installing chargers in towns the ESB has either forgotten or not provided enough chargers. Given the tight timeframes they've done well, much much better then they did in NI where chargers are limited to 3 councils.

I suppose geographic spread of DC chargers is an important step in a largely rural area. Hubs then come second.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121786954#Comment_121786954

I agree the main aim of the project was to plug gaps in the charging infrastructure, and they have done well in that respect

I'm just lamenting the fact that they didn't have the funds available to ensure there were at least two chargers per site, they'd have so much more resilience if they did

Hopefully there'll be an expansion project in the future which builds up some of the sites

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121781794#Comment_121781794

As said they might be able to load share.

My understanding is there are multiple units on some sites. In NI in particular many local councils dropped out meaning more chargers for other councils and more possibility of multiple chargers on one site.

I am totally in favor of large hubs where 30+ cars can charge instead of lots of smaller sites. I understand some of these areas may be unviable for commercial operators to consider without support but one or two units was ok 10 years ago ..

dsandson

The Weev units can load share, confirmed by Weev themselves during the final Faster ROI webinar last November. Weev chargers have power units in 60kW modules, so thats how they split. Obviously one car has to be a Leaf. They're sold by Garo but built and marketed by an Italian company.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121798335#Comment_121798335

Could also be a Tesla with the increasingly rare Chademo adapter

lukas8888

Carrick On Shannon Just operational charging 75 cent ESB fast charger 2 minutes away still extortionate but now 65 cent You would think Weev would at least try to be competitive especially after getting state help.

crl84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121784980#Comment_121784980

Well hopefully they can be upgraded easily to 2 x CCS in future, as hamstringing them by only having one CCS available to use due to a provision for the rapidly dying Chademo charger is seriously short-sighted.

CivilEx

Tobercurry Sligo 150kW CCS / CHAdeMO now live in Weev app.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/482740

lukas8888

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121939150#Comment_121939150

75 cent per KW.