Random EV thoughts.....

Mmmm

Already posted on the Ecars thread but figured I'd mention here too

Ecars prices going up, 50kW now costs 65c/kWh for the privilege of an SPOF

HPC now costs 68c/kWh to have to park across the pavement because it's the only way the cable reaches

I think Ecars competitors are going to spring out of the woodwork everywhere at those prices. Even if they price match but offer a better service they'll do well out of it

I guess the argument for Tesla and Ionity is that they're propped up by their owners who want to sell cars

Also they're international businesses, so they don't need to be profitable in all regions. It may be worthwhile to prop up some countries to ensure that there is a good network

However, I can turn that same argument around on ESB and point out they don't report Ecars revenue separately to the rest of the group.

So if they're happy to scavenge any revenue from Ecars then it follows that they can also prop up Ecars as well if they want

To a large extent, I think the increase is partly justified by price increases and partly justified "because they can"

Price increases will help esb competitors particularly those who can be flexible like easygo.

The talk of "money next year" from the government will probably put a lot of sites on hold, waiting on tender details and probably lobbying to get the tender wording to suit their needs.

There has already been lots of reports, the setup of a new quango. They really need to get going on any tender and see how well it works. Simply copying places like Scotland or Norway is not hard.

The faster project in border counties has already identified sites and is going to tender soon for someone to plonk a charger on these council owned sites. They have already said ease of payments (touch to pay) will be a requirement.

I really can't recommend to my friends to buy an EV now even with a home charger at public charging on longer trips can be a right pain. I would not advise anyone to buy a new ICE either but prices of new cars combined with fuelling even at home costs for EVs is making the sums of EV better than ICE hard to justify.

Maybe if you had a 1+ hour daily commute each way and could home charge it should make financial sense. I have an ICE from the better half for long trips and often pass in use chargers on trips to Donegal and Sligo etc at peak times.

I would be happy to pay ionity rates or higher if I could be guaranteed a charge when I need one.

So were they free or did you have to pay for them? 😂😉

I get what you're saying, but I think based on your own logic you'll end up avoiding most ESB sites for competitors sites to avoid charging queues

I'd do the same unless the competitors were charging a ridiculously higher price. If that were the case then I would probably check any Ecars sites of they were on the way

But back to the original point that Ecars increasing prices benefits the competition, I think the point is still valid

Ecars have consistently been unable or unwilling to offer a charging experience that meets their customers expectations. Their competitors are in many cases doing a better job, or planning a better offering (by which I mean Ionity, Applegreen, Circle K and SSE)

That better offering is likely not going to be cheap, but with Ecars raising prices then the gap will be much smaller, and so I think a lot of people will go with competitor networks because it's a better experience for a smallish extra costs

Of course I could end up eating my words if Applegreen or SSE come out with €1/kWh prices, or Ionity increase their prices

But for the current situation, Ecars have pretty much destroyed their only competitive advantage

Sorry!!

No more charging at no cost.

When I left they were all available.

I'm totally on the same page. Some pan European suppliers have generic prices for AC or DC and they are unlikely to change because of ecars. After December hike they might be substantially cheaper than ecars at ecars units. Like 37c/kWh is few c more expensive compared to ecars subscription prices now, but in December it will represent 0.73x ecars prices

Merc lock the full motor performance of EQ models behind a $1,200 annual subscription

The costs for charging away from home are always going to be higher than at home. The costs of installing and maintaining the charge equipment fall completely on the homeowner for home charging, but have to be added to the electricity cost when away from home. The same is true for the ESB networks charges. They are included in your home connection but that cost has to be split over all the users for charging away from home. There may also be rent or some form of revenue split with the landowner for charging away from home. The electricity cost has to also reflect the times that chargers are being used. Fast chargers tend to be used primarily during the day and alot of them are busy at peak times, when the wholesale electricity cost is high, whereas most home charging occurs overnight when there is more likely to be a surplus of renewable electricity on the grid and is therefore much cheaper. If there was time of use tariffs on public charging, the day and especially peak rates would be much higher than even the new ecars prices.

@AndyBoBandy - "I pay Tesla €120 a year for premium connectivity"

And in fairness you get a lot of functionality for the money. I am allergic to subscriptions, have had it for free so far with my Teslas, but will pay up when my next one comes without it

And other manufacturers have been charging more for less useful features for years. I think someone I know paid about €300 per year to BMW for what is essentially map updates for his sh1tty satnav.

Yeah, I lived without it when the trial expired for about 3-4 weeks, and then subscribed in summer 2020 and have kept it ever since!!

Love it, love the satellite view, love the traffic visualisation, love just always being connected (we use Spotify 80% and TuneIn the other 20%, and watch YouTube every morning waiting for the school gates to open).