Public Charging Charge Cards

BlueUmbrella

Hello,

I've been trying to find a thread with an overview of which charge cards are available to use at public chargers in Ireland, but couldn't find an overview.

I'm aware of Freshmile, ESB eCars, WeCharge. What else exists?

Met a guy at a charger yesterday who recommended the PlugShare card, but i cannot find where this card is available - only the PlugShare app and map to help find charge points.

Thanks!

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058300207/public-charging-charge-cards

Plugsurfing probably

BlueUmbrella

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697457#Comment_120697457

Ahh yes thank you!! That was it.

Prices look a bit mad though - €0.94c/kWh at a lot of sites?

TG for home charging 😂

KildareMan

I've got and used:

ecars (used on esb charger to try it out)

Elli (used on Ionity to try it out)

I've also got Easygo but not used it yet

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120697534#Comment_120697534

Ecars covers most of your charging in this country, easygo will cover their own network which is all the lidl ones

Chargepoint, or -chargepoin+, as they are branded are the handiest for ionity and other spurious ones out there I think, card is free and the price is roughly the same, no messing with apps is a huge benefit also

You can use plugsurfing and chargepoint on ecars terminals but they're much more expensive, for me their main usp is that they bill your card straight away after the transaction is complete so no messing with topping up accounts etc

KildareMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120700864#Comment_120700864

I have the various apps but I got a card / rfid for each also. I've only used the cards and all worked first time with no fuss. The Elli was very easy to use.

Chargepoint also have chargers in commercial parks. There's one in Newhall business park for instance at a Starbucks coffee place.

I've managed to do 6,000km in less than 3 months in the Megane, with only the 2 public test charges

MarcusP12

Hi folks, sorry to hijack this thread but I’m new to EVs after just taking delivery the other day…I saw Plugsurfing referenced in chargers near me so set up with the app…..one thing I’m curious of is that all the ecar chargers seem to be showing as free for less than 45 min….is this right?? Maybe just the slower ones? Haven’t even done a test charge yet but just wondering what’s people’s experience…..

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120706793#Comment_120706793

The first 45 minutes you pay "only" 95c/kWh then after 45 minutes you pay 10 quid for each 45 minutes or part thereof

MarcusP12

Ah ok! I completely read that wrong so….we have chargers at work so that’ll keep me going till I get my own one at home….would I be right in saying the chargers in marley park are free at least?

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120707051#Comment_120707051

Yes Marley are free. Plugshare is a good app to look for chargers. info only can't use it to activate chargers. It is community driven, so you can get some info about the chargers around you. There are pictures and comments as well as ratings given by users.

Marlay front and rear car parks. Front appears under repair. There is a Lidl nearby which is an AC easygo

unhappyBB

I really thought this public charging thing would be so simple but I'm lost! Is there really no single map or resource that lists every available charger?

I was planning to drive from Dublin to Cork and charge near the city but I can only find 1 or 2 (not so fast) fast chargers and after looking at the reviews I'm not so sure they're guaranteed to work. Surely that can't be right?

(I'm getting my first EV soon and am having trouble getting a home charger installed)

Edit: my apologies. I see plugshare from the previous post has a large list of chargers. I thought it was a community charger sharing site

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120708598#Comment_120708598

Try https://abetterrouteplanner.com/

You can put in your car and simulate few long trips. It will help in making an idea about range and chargers. You can play with start %, speed temp preferred networks.

Here it is an example route Dublin- Cork-Dublin for a Kona 64kWh

And here the same for a Leaf 62kWh

It suggests to drop the speed to 100 km/h to achieve a better time. You can play with these setting anyway.

zg3409

For Aldi stores with AC chargers You need to download the Shell Recharge app & order a free RFID card. It takes around 7-8 business days to be delivered. Card is orderable through app.

Once you activate /link card in app, you tag on by the top right circular LED to start charging session. Probably will not start with app alone.

As said plugshare app lists the most chargers all brands and coming soon sites please check in on plugshare if the public chargers work or not.

MarcusP12

So what’s the story with all these different apps and cards? So far I’ve come across Plugsurfing, e-card, easygo and now she’ll recharge…I don’t loaded shell and it’s showing all the Esb ones like Plugsurfing….are there different charging structures or why would u go with one over the other?

MarcusP12

Sorry to come back to this one but are you sure this is right? When I click on say the chargers in sandyford luas….if does say free of charge for first 45 min…..very confusing! Maybe someone has used the app and can advise?

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711854#Comment_120711854

This is an AC charger (22kW type 2)

0 for the first 10h, 10quid for each 10hours or part thereof AND 95c/kWh

Also paid parking

GTE

I am collecting a BEV tomorrow. It will get me home, so I do not need to worry about charging but I am planning ahead.

I already have ESB and EasyGo for my PHEV. I have never needed any others.

I just got the Ionity app and I gather the service stations (CircleK and Applegreen) take debt/credit cards.

Is VW WeCharge any use?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713144#Comment_120713144

VW Wecharge is handy for Ionity, same price AFAIK if you don't do a monthly subscription but instead of faffing around with apps you just conveniently tap a card

I use the following cards/apps

ESB card - biggest network in the country, free card with €20 top up

Chargepoint (-chargepoin+) - Free card, handy for Ionity access, bills a linked card directly so no topping up

Easygo app - Works well, cheaper than using a credit card at Lidl

Applegreen app - Avoids the need to pre-auth at their terminals, also bills a linked card directly so no topping up

Shell Recharge card - Free card, required for Aldi chargers

Freshmile (for ecars and ionity) - Card costs €5 and they charge per minute as well as per kW so the faster you charge the better... Works out cheaper than Ecars AC above 11kW, Ecars DC above 47kW and Ionity above 66kW

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120711578#Comment_120711578

Typically the cheapest app to start a charger is the charger owners app, so mainly esb for esb, easygo for easygo and lidl, shell for Aldi, but ionity for ionity typically has cheaper options, often German cars have a discounted card or apo for ionity. Easygo app allows you to roam to ionity and esb but at a higher price.

Plugsurfing is intended to be a general roaming app which may be cheaper or dearer or have strange overstay rules compared to the proper app. It's indented to cover "all" but only covers some.

Plugshare can't start any chargers but it can list EVERY known charger and rumours if it is working. Most other apps won't show you if users have reported a charger as faulty and esb ecars can take a good 3-4 days to mark a faulty charger as faulty even though they are being notified daily. The wait for an engineer to go and try fix charger and only then report it as bad if it can't be fixed that day. Thus a delay of 3 days before the official app marks charger as bad is common. On plugshare anyone can flag a charger as having issues. I tend to add new chargers within a day and so it tends to be quite accurate in terms of showing every known charger.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120714696#Comment_120714696

Often German cars have a discounted card or app for Ionity

Just watch this as often there's a monthly fee of about €15-€20 a month to get the Ionity discount

Garzard

Not a card question, but was looking for charging at Blanchardstown SC for a run tomorrow and saw that there's a row of ECC ones by the M&S - haven't been able to find an app for these if anyone's familiar with them?

oDerak_man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943426#Comment_120943426

You can use Plugsurfing app to use these chargers.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120714696#Comment_120714696

Do I need an EasyGo fob to roam on ESB or Ionity or does the app allow it?

Garzard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943460#Comment_120943460

Installed now, thanks. Is the Charge Key needed or can you simply plug in and pay later via your saved card details after you're done?

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120943521#Comment_120943521

I believe easygo app will work, e.g. ionity north Dublin.

Beware you may pay a premium. Easygo app does not automatically top up so ensure you have lots of credit or charging may stop mid charge.

Reports today that 2 ionity stations in Gorey (out of 4) are not working, one showing offline.

joe1303l

EasyGo App can be tricky to top up of late giving an error called something like “Braintree”. Workaround is to log into your EasyGo account via an internet browser and top up that way.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120944423#Comment_120944423

Beware you may pay a premium

You do pay a premium. The easygo price on ionity is 76c/kWh and they charge 27c to start the charge

Ionity own rate without subscription is 71c/kWh with no starting charge

The best rates for ionity are freshmile who charge 30c/kWh and 45c/minute which makes it cheaper as long as you charge at 66kW or faster. In fact if you charge at the full 350kW on Ionity using freshmile it costs 38c/kWh. I understand that is hypothetical and probably not yet a speed that is possible

I think chargepoint (-chargepoin+) are also worth a mention here as they charge 73c/kWh on Ionity but send you a free access card, so no messing around with apps etc and your card gets hit by the exact amount after you finish filling your car so there's no messing with accounts or top-ups or pre-auths