They have some bizarre parking regulations in America (US in particular). There's something like 6 parking spaces for every car in the country
I remember doing the walk of death around the Disney world car park in Florida while the parents were trying to find the rental car in the sea of parking spaces
Some shade from solar panels would have certainly made the experience a bit easier
I thought I had been to large car parks until I went to DisneyWorld, hold crap Batman! That's 11k but there's a shopping mall in Canada that can take 20k!!!!!
The Dublin airport carparks combined would be the largest.
Not sure if its been mentioned before, but we went to Disneyland Paris this year. They have completed a third of a their carpark solar array project . When completed this will be one of the largest solar canopys in Europe.
Short video below worth a watch.
North Antrim is vague.
Below is your CCS options. Beware esb chargers in NI are free to use but crazy busy or broken, so avoid charging in NI.
Try fill up to 80% in castlebellingham, if it's busy check in app to see if other side of motorway charger is in use or if Dundalk town 50kW is free. I would not head north of Dundalk without 80%+ charge.
There are a few options in NI and ai would take a charge if passing in case you need it later. Lidl on shore road Belfast is 50kW and pay to use but you may need to set up easygo app. Other busier options nearby. If you did top up there it may save stress later. Other 50kW chargers you pass may be worth checking on the app or stopping to check. Charge more than you really need to and it will reduce stress levels and if next charger is busy no panic.
Not specifically an EV story, but if you have the panels you can have the chargers…anyone know what the largest car park is here?
ESB card works the same in the north with the exception that it doesn't cost you anything to charge.
I've found the charger in Armagh car park works fine. Also the charger in dungannon in Sainsbury's car park is also reliable and the charger at the Glenavon hotel in Cookstown also works fine. There is a 50kw charger at a petrol station near Maghera but I'm not sure if it's reliable or working.
Edit. The petrol station in Maghera is Crawford's and it's a new easygo CCS 50kw charger that's installed so you should be grand.
Also depending on how far north into north Antrim you are there is a new 50kw charger at the maxol station in Portrush but as it's ESB and free it will likely be busy.
And if you are looking like your falling short simple rule is just go slower.
Dropping from 120kmh to 100kmh on the motorway for 100km will only cost you 10 minutes, but it will be way more efficient giving you extra range.
Ionity City North is a more reliable option, but it's too close to Dublin to be much use
Best plan is to juice up at Castlebellingham if the queue isn't too long
Failing that, go for IKEA Belfast. It's a paid charger so less likely to be blocked. Or a 22kW AC charger
Hit Ionity on the way home for a quick top up if needed
On a different thread somebody else was recommended to check out Gridserve at IKEA Belfast. Might be a useful plan B.
Download Plug Share and have a look at where you're going to see what sort of chargers are available.
I've no idea about chargers near where I'm going but it's northern Ireland so I'm not sure what accounts I'd need etc...does esb e cars work in NI?
Youre prob right about max range at this time of year but not achieving 300kms doesn't really bother me in the scenario above I'd only have to do 200kms between hitting castlebellingham on the way up and way back....Once I'm not missing any easier way to do this. Happy enough to spend am extra hour or so on each leg charging I'll grab a coffee and something to eat
You will not get 300KM driving in wet miserable weather at motorway speed.
Is there no 22KW/50KW chargers where your going that you could pop over to? Or do you have an option to throw the granny charger through the window and charge overnight?
My first trip coming up outside range of car so looking for some advice...is this the correct thread, couldn't find any other more suited.
Cupra Born 58kw, range on motorway going to be about 300kms, maybe less if its cold and I give it a bit of welly.
Going from Dublin to North antrim, will be leaving with full charge at approx 3 pm Monday afternoon. Returning tuesday evening.
204kms apparently so 408km round trip will be well outside range. No destination charger.
Plan is to charge at castlebellingham approx 100kms into journey back to full then do trip to antrim and back to castlebellingham on Tuesday (200kms) then charge again to get me the final 100kms home.
I can't see how to do this comfortably without stopping twice. Its mainly motorway so im not going to drop below 120 kms speed.
I'm not going to chance it with range. Is this my best bet for the journey? Will there be a good chance I'll get charger straight away in castlebellingham on Monday about 4pm and Tuesday about 7pm?
If you see some of my posts in the solar for dummies thread there's a risk of that being me too!
"dont breathe this"
Why does this pic remind me of @unkel ? 🤣
Next experiment: Will it blend? 😂
Yes of course I wired it correctly 😂
There was nothing to wire anyway, have you ever opened a Pylontech? Both positive and negative terminals have a double thick cable coming out of them terminated in a double XT90 connector. The cables are more than thick enough for the current they will ever carry
The Pylontechs are rated for just C/2 continuous and I probably pushed them to a bit beyond that at about 1C (but nowhere near the limit of the cables). And the pack was already badly compromised. So it couldn't take no more and started venting like a maniac after about an hour on full load 😂
Did you wire it incorrectly? (presuming you've seen the YT videos about problematic pylontech issues and the youtuiber being accused of that)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/07/business/ev-shift-japan-auto-industry/
Was an experiment to see how an already very bloated Pylontech pack would behave under full load. It didn't end well 😂
Its not for us to restrict Unkel's Only Fans income Genre.....
Stop cutting batteries open to see how they smell! 😉😂
It's the cobalt in most lithium batteries that can cause combustion. No cobalt in LiFePO4 cells, no combustion. Just venting. Smells nasty though 😁
The report seemed to say that under the right circumstances LFP batteries could vent explosive gases. Not really sure what those conditions were and if they're ever likely to be met in real world conditions
Not with LiFePO4 batteries. They just vent, you won't get any fire or explosion. That's why all EVs really should have this chemistry.
Thanks @Gumbo - interesting read as this is an area that is still evolving - as the article states - by the amount of research this is currently underway.
Certainly challenging for Designers and Fire & Building Control authorities alike around the world, knowing that the design of compliant buildings today, especially multi-level & basement carparks, may not fit for purpose in the an all EV future (with regards to fire safety).
I agree, EV fires are very very rare in comparison it when they do occur they are long lasting, hot and very unforgiving.
Technology, Training and awareness on how to deal with them is badly required.
Very interesting, didn't know about the potential explosion risk of Lithium batteries
I do still think that EVs are safer then ICE cars in terms of fire risk, and I believe the statistics still back this up
However there's definitely a gap in training and equipment to deal with an EV fire. Hopefully it gets addressed soon as we're seeing more and more EVs on the market and even at a lower risk per car that will mean more EV fires.
And since every EV fire becomes a national sensation, there needs to be very clear safety messaging around it
There was a bit of talk last week about EV fires etc
I just got this months copy of the IFE journal and there’s some interesting reading.
Thought you might be interested.
