Everything you always wanted to know about electric vehicle (but were afraid to ask)

About 2 years ago I got clamped while charging at the Stillorgan Luas Park and Ride for 30 minutes, while I went to the nearby shops. The chargers were on the eCars app as free (it was before they introduced charging) but seemingly that didnt include parking.

Any thoughts on the MG5? Seems some deals popping up in the last few days with the Exclusive showing up cheaper that the Excite list price. Haven't spoken to any dealers on it though - so who knows what the ONR price is.

Theres only 2 types of charger, AC (Slow) & DC (Fast).

Your ID.4 takes 2 different types of plug: Type 2 = AC (slow: up to 11kW) & CCS = DC (fast) (the CCS plug is a combination of an AC plug with an additional 2 DC pins at the bottom of it). When AC charging, you'd typically use your own charging cable you got with the car, but with DC charging, the cable/plug is attached to the charger itself.

You'll need an account/card for every provider, main ones are ESB eCars, EasyGo & Ionity (though I believe as a VW driver, you get a 'We Charge' card for use with Ionity). Currently paying by bank/credit card at the charger is not an option, and apps/cards/fobs are needed.

Go now and sign up with eCars & EasyGo, if public charging will be infrequent for you, pay as you go accounts will be fine, and just load €20-€30 onto each account (I have both eCars and EasyGo, and only really use eCars in the wild (outside of Tesla), EasyGo, I only use for the free chargers they have at some Lidl stores, so have never loaded money on that account).

The older eCars 50kW DC units (called Triple Heads as they have 3 cables on them (CCS/CHAdeMO/AC43)) can be used by you as they have a CCS plug, but only 1 of the CCS or CHAdeMO can be used at any 1 time. You can use the AC43 (43kW), but as its AC, you'll only get 11kW charging rate from it, but if the CHAdeMO or CCS was being used, you could use the AC43 while waiting to at least get something while waiting... The newer eCars 150kW DC units have 1 CCS & 1 CHAdeMO plug on them and both plugs can be used at the same time

The EasyGo DC units are twin plug CCS/CHAdeMO units, and I'm not sure if both can be used at the same time)

If charging at home, you'll be using AC, and charging at a rate of 7kW, if you charge in public on an AC charger, like at Tesco, you'll get 11kW from the charger (even though they are capable of 22kW). With AC charging, the max rate you can pull is determined by the cars on board AC charger, and not what the charger itself is capable of.

When travelling on a long journey, and you need a top up, you'll want to be (fast) DC charging using a CCS plug on a DC charger, as this will charge your battery of speeds up to 100-150kW, so you could go from 20% - 80% in around 20-30 minutes.. (that same 20%-80% on an AC charger at 11kW would take many hours).

Download the PlugShare app, it will show all public chargers in Ireland and beyond, and also shows recent user check ins, as well as photo's etc... its a very useful resource for scouting out chargers in areas you will be visiting or passing through etc.... It's user driven, so sign up, and contribute if you can by checking in, and advising if chargers are broken or any other issues arose etc...

When DC/Fast charging, the charge rate slows down as the batteries state of charge increases, so its a very inefficient use of your time to charge beyond say 80% at a DC fast charger.

for example it could take 35 minutes to go from 20% up to 80% when DC charging, and it could take another 35 minutes to go from 80% up to 100%, so when stopping off along a route, its advisable to only really take on board what you need to make it to your destination, or to the next charger (though you can always include some buffer in there) especially if someone is waiting to use the charger after you. eCars have a 45 minute limit on DC charging anyway before incurring a €5 overstay fee.

Also, the lower the battery %, the faster it will charge, so its better to arrive at a charger at a lower SoC (1-20%) to get the fastest charge rates, so plan your stops, particularly at fast 150kW+ chargers to be arriving as low as possible to get the fastest charging rates, and thus spending the minimum amount of time stopped.

Start watching some of the Bjorn Nyland videos on Youtube (TeslaBjorn). He tests all and every EV out there, doing many various challenges like range tests, and 1,000km challenges (the 1,000km challenge he drives 1,000 km in the shortest possible time, so he plans his charging stops to be fast etc....). He'll have done all of these tests in the ID.4

Tesla chargers are only for tesla cars. That however is changing and the network is being opened to all vehicles. These will be very busy.

Most of the destination charge points have two sockets and two parking spaces, so will allow most modern EVs to take 11kW even if another car there.

I don't think is Renault's doing. If you have to supply 32 A on a single phase, on 3 phase is the same current required. 32A 3phase is 22kW.

First would be better if we would call the AC "chargers" sockets, or maybe charging points. As you plug your 20W phone charger in the 2kW domestic socket the same would be when you plug the EV in the the AC (the difference is that the heavy part of the charger is in the car). The car demands the current to be delivered. As for the phone the charger would take the AC (alternative current) and rectify it in DC (direct/continuous current). A by-product of this process is heat which needs to be dealt with. Rectifying 32A 3phase is very rare and deemed uneconomical by the manufacturers. (except Renault which managed to rectify up to 64A hence the reason for the 43kW AC at the ecars triples. Here is Renault doing as these chargers are connected to 100kW supply but are rarely used at more than 50kW)

If all onboard chargers would be 3phase would be a case to have 4 sockets @ 11kW instead of 2x22KW but then the single phase would charge @ 3.6 kW. That is a solution which hotels, P&R and any other long stay facilities should use. I think most of the cars sold this year and last are 3phase so in few years time we would probably see this shift.

If you have really old electrics you may have to get your wiring brought up to regulations before an electrician can add a 32A load to your house. Only an onsite visit from an electrician can tell you whether thats required in your case or not, but it does happen.