Tesla practicalities in Dublin

WildWestWorld · 04-09-2020 7:18am #1

Hi.
I am thinking of going fully electric Tesla Model X and Model 3 in D6, Dublin. I am concerned about the practicalities of this given:

a) I don't have off street parking for home charging
b) I need to make regular trips (Model X) of over 250KMs - the vehicle would need to be quite fully charged on a regular basis.
c) The Model 3 would be more for the city runabout school drops, shopping, visiting friends, the occasional longer trip with the Model X

Would like to hear any thoughts on this given the increase of EVs/Teslas and the lack of charging stations ins Superchargers (1 nearby) in Dublin.

Thank you

Lumen · 04-09-2020 8:14am

Opinions will vary but this is mine...

Familiarise yourself with public charging local to where you live, and don't focus too much on charging speed, you're better off finding somewhere you can leave the car(s) to charge slowly overnight once or twice a week.

Long trips will be fine. The motorway routes out of Dublin have high speed chargers, although most of them are Ionity and very expensive (~10x night rate electricity), but you probably don't care about that since you live in D6 and still have 150k to burn on a couple of new cars. :pac:

slave1 · 04-09-2020 8:49am

If you don't have off street parking for home charging then forget it, we are a two EV household and this is only achievable with home charging.
The alternative is spending countless wasted hours driving around looking for somewhere to charge and then sitting in your car while it charges when you should be at home relaxing/family time.
Don't do it.

ted1 · 04-09-2020 9:02am

WildWestWorld wrote: »

a) I don't have off street parking for home charging

Then it’s not for you

Gumbo · 04-09-2020 9:11am

WildWestWorld wrote: »

Hi.
I am thinking of going fully electric Tesla Model X and Model 3 in D6, Dublin. I am concerned about the practicalities of this given:

a) I don't have off street parking for home charging
b) I need to make regular trips (Model X) of over 250KMs - the vehicle would need to be quite fully charged on a regular basis.
c) The Model 3 would be more for the city runabout school drops, shopping, visiting friends, the occasional longer trip with the Model X

Would like to hear any thoughts on this given the increase of EVs/Teslas and the lack of charging stations ins Superchargers (1 nearby) in Dublin.

Thank you

If you don’t have off street charging forget about any EV.
How will you have 100% on the mornings that you need the 250km trip?

The lack of public chargers is irrelevant currently. EV owners need to be able to charge at home over night for or to work long term.

You’ll get tired very quick driving to a local charger at night time and leaving it there for a few hours then going back to collect and then having to do that with 2 cars. And that’s assuming they are available.

zg3409 · 04-09-2020 9:18am

Don't rely on public chargers for day to day use. Often public chargers are busy, broken or blocked. Some public chargers become broken and are not fixed for years. Unless you live within a couple of miles of 2+ 40kW+ chargers its not an upgrade going from petrol to full EV.

If you could get or have charging at your workplace, then it might be workable, but you would need a guarantee your work charger will be available to you and if it breaks that it will be immediately fixed

eddhorse · 04-09-2020 9:26am

Agreed with most posters here, no on street parking will cause you turmoil.
Rent a model 3 for a week and see how it goes then multiply that by 2.

Casati · 04-09-2020 9:31am

eddhorse wrote: »

Agreed with most posters here, no on street parking will cause you turmoil.
Rent a model 3 for a week and see how it goes then multiply that by 2.

Where can you rent a Model 3?

JPA · 04-09-2020 9:39am

Casati wrote: »

Where can you rent a Model 3?

UFO Drive. Maybe other places as well.

Casati · 04-09-2020 9:50am

JPA wrote: »

UFO Drive. Maybe other places as well.

Great, I might do that myself - 98 quid a day by the looks of it

markpb · 04-09-2020 10:03am

There are people who drive EVs without home charging so it can definitely be made to work but I'd agree with the others, it's not going to be easy and it wouldn't be a great introduction to EVs for you.

Additionally the X is a thirsty car (if you can still use thirsty to describe an EV). We use it for lots of short trips in Dublin (to/from creche, shopping, etc) and it averages over 300wH/km (in the summer!) for journeys like that so although they're short trips, they use a surprising amount of charge. It's a lot more efficient on longer journeys (160 - 250 for motorway/DC trips). The M3 is probably a lot more suited to those kinds of trips.

slave1 · 04-09-2020 10:24am

Your X (and the S, not sure about the 3) has what they call a "departure tax", it consumes relatively high amount of energy as it brings the battery pack up in temperature which statistically looks like "high" usage for the shorter trips, but the reality is it is all around protecting the longevity of the battery pack which is becoming more and more evident as the Tesla's age very very well

Gumbo · 04-09-2020 11:31am

markpb wrote: »

There are people who drive EVs without home charging so it can definitely be made to work but I'd agree with the others, it's not going to be easy and it wouldn't be a great introduction to EVs for you.

Additionally the X is a thirsty car (if you can still use thirsty to describe an EV). We use it for lots of short trips in Dublin (to/from creche, shopping, etc) and it averages over 300wH/km (in the summer!) for journeys like that so although they're short trips, they use a surprising amount of charge. It's a lot more efficient on longer journeys (160 - 250 for motorway/DC trips). The M3 is probably a lot more suited to those kinds of trips.

+1

It’s an EV so efficient, but remember it’s a high performance, heavy car so it sinuses more electricity than the average EV in the same way buying an M5 uses more than buying a 535d.

slave1 wrote: »

Your X (and the S, not sure about the 3) has what they call a "departure tax", it consumes relatively high amount of energy as it brings the battery pack up in temperature which statistically looks like "high" usage for the shorter trips, but the reality is it is all around protecting the longevity of the battery pack which is becoming more and more evident as the Tesla's age very very well

I’ve noticed this too. First thing in the morning, that first % seems to disappear quick.

Cyrus · 04-09-2020 11:57am

ted1 wrote: »

Then it’s not for you

Agree with this

Two evs with no home charging is just a recipe for hearthache

liamog · 04-09-2020 12:14pm

WildWestWorld wrote: »

Hi.
I am thinking of going fully electric Tesla Model X and Model 3 in D6, Dublin. I am concerned about the practicalities of this given:

a) I don't have off street parking for home charging

Can you clarify your off street parking situation. Is it on street parking in a council managed area, or is it an area with shared parking that's controlled by a management company.

If there is a management company then with a some effort, it may be possible for you to resolve the home charging situation. As to managing without a home charger, it's certainly doable, but you'll pretty much eliminate any cost savings compared to an internal combustion vehicle.

AndyBoBandy · 04-09-2020 12:29pm

Gumbo wrote: »

How will you have 100% on the mornings that you need the 250km trip?

Just to play devils advocate here on this point. For a 250km trip you wouldn't need to leave with 100% (maybe in a M3 SR+ with no charging stops and all motorway driving yes, but I'd still be happy setting off at 80-90%).

Depending on where you are going, you could get pretty much anywhere if planned right.

For instance a few weeks back, I drove from Nth Co. Dublin up to Banbridge in the North in my SR+, and left the house at 37% (something I wouldn't have dreamed about doing in the early days of ownership). I stopped at Castlebellingham supercharger and went from 19% up to 56% (enough to get me up and back home without further charge stops), then ploughed on North. While up there I used 1 of the 2 the Tesla destination chargers for about 90 minutes, and took on about 30%, before leaving for home, landing back with something like 45%.

I think long trips are definitely easier to do in a Tesla because you have the supercharger network (which will hopefully expand in the near future), but also the exclusive Tesla destination chargers, which are really great too (I used one in Clare, Limerick, Wexford & Down in the space of 4 days pulling about 180% in total from the 4 of them).

Going back to OP, 2 BEV's could be difficult so I'd say start with 1, for at least a year, and by then they'll know if adding a 2nd one will be feasible or not...

AndyBoBandy · 04-09-2020 12:33pm

Also another downside to the OP's plan would be most likely relying more on DC charging, which would be detrimental to the overall health and lifespan of the battery.

liamog · 04-09-2020 12:46pm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Also another downside to the OP's plan would be most likely relying more on DC charging, which would be detrimental to the overall health and lifespan of the battery.

Should be fine, the Tesloop vehicles were almost exclusively charged on DC and didn't really have problems.

Petetheroadie · 04-09-2020 10:58pm

Casati wrote: »

Where can you rent a Model 3?

Pm me for 30 euro off your first UFO drive rental

somedood · 05-09-2020 8:46am

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Pm me for 30 euro off your first UFO drive rental

Could i also trouble you for a €30 discount code?

Royale with Cheese · 05-09-2020 9:02am

I've put nearly 9000km on my SR+ Model 3 since picking it up last year, all public charging.

Absolutely do not do it. The car has a stated range of 385km or so but charging it to 90% and then dropping it off to be charged with no less than 10%, I would usually only get 200-220km of city driving over a week or so between charges. It will lose a little charge parked up overnight, this gets worse in the cold and when the battery is getting towards empty. I live between a few Luas park and rides where I can easily drop the car in on my way to/home from work, I would need to do this maybe once a week. I'm lucky in that there are 4 chargers at Carrickmines that are pretty much always empty in the evenings, and from my front door back to that car park is only around 10 minutes. There is a DC charger opposite Aldi in Sandyford I charge the car at while shopping sometimes.

I've taken the car on a couple of longer trips and you need to charge up the night before then go and get it, that would be a pain to do regularly.

It kind of works for me but only because I don't drive that much and have AC chargers nearby that aren't that much of a pain to use, but it's still a massive inconvenience compared to just filling up on petrol. I only purchased the car because I'm looking for a house anyway and will have my own driveway soon. I'd probably have even waited until I did but for the fact it was a business purchase and I wanted to take advantage of the BIK rules before they disappear in 2023.

...Ghost... · 05-09-2020 9:51am

If the OP can get off street charging, then it's worth going full EV. If he can't, then it's not worth the trouble. He would need to clarify the living situation. I have seen a couple of personal charge points outside houses with no driveway in new estates. Very neat and look just like a bollard.

Casati · 05-09-2020 10:17am

...Ghost... wrote: »

If the OP can get off street charging, then it's worth going full EV. If he can't, then it's not worth the trouble. He would need to clarify the living situation. I have seen a couple of personal charge points outside houses with no driveway in new estates. Very neat and look just like a bollard.

What the legal situation if somebody trips over a cable?

Gumbo · 05-09-2020 11:01am

Casati wrote: »

What the legal situation if somebody trips over a cable?

I assume the other poster is talking about managed estates where you have no driveway but you have designated parking spot so the charger can be installed in your spot on a post or grass verve alongside if there.

Very minimal cable trail then.

_dof_ · 05-09-2020 11:57am

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Pm me for 30 euro off your first UFO drive rental

Is that still working for you? Since they moved to the system of registering the person's mobile number it hasn't worked for me. The referred person never got any text. I had contacted customer support and they told me it wasn't working.

Petetheroadie · 05-09-2020 8:06pm

_dof_ wrote: »

Is that still working for you? Since they moved to the system of registering the person's mobile number it hasn't worked for me. The referred person never got any text. I had contacted customer support and they told me it wasn't working.

I've had a few people get their discount. Looks like they've actually changed back to using a link for referrals: This is what they provide under referrals in the app:

Click the below link to get €30 discount on your first ride. https://link.ufodrive.com/zmYGDLs3uH4yLr2v7

_dof_ · 06-09-2020 6:17pm

Petetheroadie wrote: »

I've had a few people get their discount. Looks like they've actually changed back to using a link for referrals: This is what they provide under referrals in the app:

Click the below link to get €30 discount on your first ride. https://link.ufodrive.com/zmYGDLs3uH4yLr2v7

Ah right, it was a couple of months ago when I last tried to refer someone and it was still using the mobile number at the time.

WildWestWorld · 07-09-2020 7:00am

Thanks for all the feedback some good points.I will check my office situation see what is available there. My neighbour also has a EV home charging set up this could be an emergency measure if I can work out an arrangement.

I downloaded the eCar Connect app. But noted on the breakdowns.

I have a few months to spare and do more research. To keep things simple I mentioned I live in D6 but I am not living there just yet - I move there early 2021. Any more tips on the practicalities in the local area would be appreciated or planned charging stations.

I see there is:
- Tesla charger at Camden Court hotel - 1 charger. Customers only!
- The Fitzwilliam Hotel - open to public - 3 chargers. <10 mins drive away
- EV charging at Chelmsford Road - Type 2 connector - <5 mins drive
- Only 1 supercharger in Dublin at Sandyford. It is surprising to see so few charging stations in the city.

Right now I am thinking I will start with one EV it looks very challenging due to the lack of public chargers.

Thanks for all the feedback.

AndyBoBandy · 07-09-2020 7:22am

WildWestWorld wrote: »

I see there is:
- Only 1 supercharger in Dublin at Sandyford. It is surprising to see so few charging stations in the city.

The Supercharger is not yet installed in Sandyford, it’s been ‘coming soon’ for a few years now, but there”could” be some movement in the next few months,......

innrain · 07-09-2020 10:28am

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I've put nearly 9000km on my SR+ Model 3 since picking it up last year, all public charging.

Absolutely do not do it. The car has a stated range of 385km or so but charging it to 90% and then dropping it off to be charged with no less than 10%, I would usually only get 200-220km of city driving over a week or so between charges. It will lose a little charge parked up overnight, this gets worse in the cold and when the battery is getting towards empty. I live between a few Luas park and rides where I can easily drop the car in on my way to/home from work, I would need to do this maybe once a week. I'm lucky in that there are 4 chargers at Carrickmines that are pretty much always empty in the evenings, and from my front door back to that car park is only around 10 minutes. There is a DC charger opposite Aldi in Sandyford I charge the car at while shopping sometimes.

I drove mine (Kona) 38k km (Mm for those who like units) since April 2019, about 4.5k km last month alone, all public charging. (appx EUR 115 @ ecars and 76 Maingau the bill for last month). No charging at home, but I still fight for it. No charging at work even though my workplace parking has 1400 spaces, no point of fighting as it is a civil service joint. It works for me. On commute drives (about 100km per day) I can schedule charging times when I can still work from the car. (the current situations shows us that we can work in unusual settings. For me being on the phone can be done in the car or in the office. Examples can pour. One thing is sure, more you drive more you benefit (not save). City driving is a bless. At the traffic lights you do not use your motor. Coming down from where you live (we're kind of neighbors) to Dublin 1, it takes less than 11 kWh/100km .

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I've taken the car on a couple of longer trips and you need to charge up the night before then go and get it, that would be a pain to do regularly.

Yesterday morning my wife said we need to go to Kilkenny. The car was at 37% approx 140km charged. We started, stopped 45 mins at M9 Kilcullen where we charged from 19% to 80% for free ( in fact we stayed longer as my family didn't finished the breakfast as quickly as the car charged to 80%. We did our business there, then we had a lovely late lunch at a restaurant, which turned up to be a Michelin start restaurant, for nearly the same price as we would have at some sandwich place in The Park Carrickmines and then head back. Everyone fell asleep the minute we got on the motorway. I felt tired so I stopped again on the same place for a coffee and a top up (25 mins). Got home with 250 km range, kids still sleeping.

So my take from this is that it works for me, but it depends on everyone's expectations. I would suggest a long time rental and see if it suits your lifestyle.

If I'm disappointment of something is not my car but the system. The politicians who don't care and after studying a lot around the subject it is proven true. All these press releases where you see them with a cable in the hand proved to be just photo ops that they did it just because they've been told to do it by some aide who crunched the numbers.

slave1 · 07-09-2020 10:48am

innrain wrote: »

...
If I'm disappointment of something is not my car but the system...

That's it in a nutshell

Tesla practicalities in Dublin

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