Random EV thoughts.....

The esb app has a peak time feature but I would not bet anything on it working correctly and I don't think it shows how busy the site actually is

Plugshare app has user comments and lists of esb and non esb options. Mon esb options are typically quieter and certain towns like Athlone have loads of ESB, loads of ionity etc. Typically I would try stop at one stop and have another later stop as a backup option, ideally with multiple chargers on the one site.

Above is a site specifically designed to collect open data and provide some insights.

In reality it may be easier if you mentioned your car, battery size, planned route, time of trip, if you will start off at 100%, if you intend staying overnight at destination etc and we can give advice.

Generally try stay somewhere with a charger for overnight refill and stop plenty early and allow for busy, blocked and broken chargers.

231 Skoda enyaq EV.

What makes you think they get a discounted rate? I don't think VW can do that and still have a reasonably profitable sale.

If true it can only be more evidence to suggest that car manufacturers, incl VW, make a decent margin selling EVs to non commercial buyers who unfortunately pay through the nose for everything car related in this country

Got a good laugh out of that video alright, other than being 2 years newer his car is pretty much the exact same as mine. 9 bars, original non lizard chemistry battery and no heat pump.

I'd have no interest really in doing an irish version because we simply dont have the charger density like they have in Norway to stop every 30-40km for optimal charging performance and thus I wouldnt have a hope of getting near his time!

If I were an irish youtuber though I would consider it for sure, people love catastrophe and clickbait when it comes to EVs and 23 charging stops over 1k km is both!

Yes, it was a mix of comedic and testing for sure. But being fair, he did the test to the best of his and the cars ability and I doubt anyone else could do it much faster. I loved the bit where he was double charging, the car and the ecoflows. I love the kempower hardware. The cable and the display is best in business, I know he's sponsored by them but I dont think its propaganda or anything, the UX is just that good,

Compare the kempower experience to the likes of ABB, DBT or Tritium units that are used by the non tesla hardware units. Theres no comparison.

Not a single charging point in Terenure or Rathgar but we did get this installed.

I've not queued for a charger for years - with one exception being the Tesla supercharger recently!

If you're queuing you're probably at the wrong location. Even in dublin now theres sites that dont have just one charger.

This happened in the Netherlands. I presume this is a poor translation / interpretation of what the Dutch media are reporting. Namely that they do NOT KNOW what started the fire. It might or might not have been an EV.

The ship was en route from Germany to Africa. With 3000 cars on board, of which 25 EVs. It's not reported what sort of vehicles these are, but if I were to speculate, I would guess old / end of life cars that no longer pass the safety tests in Europe and that are dumped into third world countries in Africa

I'm sure the firefighting systems on the ship were fully operational and the crew were well trained in emergency procedures. It definitely wasn't registered in Panama to avoid various taxes and safety or employee protection laws 😬

Easygo did a deal with eir to swap a few payphones for 50kW chargers and I have seen some photos of dual branded eir/easygo 50kW chargers like below in mayo.

Looks like BT in NI are looking to do similar. I don't understand how a payphone translates to a good site for a 50kW charger but maybe they have good contacts with the council and maybe old ducting could be used to drag high power cable. Maybe eir put in new ducting to allow easygo to install the charger.

DC only, and to be absolutely clear the 80% rule isn't a rule, it's a very very broad recommendation

Under ideal circumstances the charging speed of the car will have slowed to the point where it's better to move on to another charger

However there's plenty of circumstances where that isn't true. For example if you have something like an ID.4 plugged into a 50kW charger, that'll pull everything the charger can give right up to around 90% SoC

So if you're fully using the charger, and you need the juice then is there any point moving on?

Yeah it's probably quicker overall to move on to a more powerful charger, but sometimes it's simpler to just grab a few extra kilowatt-hours and not break up the journey too much

The 80% recommendation was created to stop people pulling 10kW from a 50kW charger when they didn't need to. In my view, as long as you're using a reasonable amount of power the charger can provide and you need the charge then you can go beyond 80% at your leisure

I also haven't found many situations where I need or wanted to go beyond 80%. Last couple of times I used fast charging I unplugged before 70%, I had what I needed and since DC charging costs around 5x the cost of home charging (or infinity times if charging from solar) I didn't really see any reason to take on more than I needed

I tend to think of DC charging like a water seller in the desert who charges €10 for a bottle of water

Yeah, you're gonna buy some water rather than die of dehydration. But you probably won't buy more than you need to get to the next stop

Same logic for charging, it's the most expensive option so you'll probably only use what you need and no more

We're in a position at the moment where we have EVs that can pull a lot of power beyond 80% SoC and the number of chargers is increasing dramatically

The rollout is still slower than I'd like, but chargers aren't quite as rare as gold dust as they were a few years ago

So I think the 80% rule is slightly outdated nowadays. I understand if there's a queue it can be incredibly frustrating seeing another car trying to charge to 90% or more, but if they need the charge then they have a legitimate reason to be using the charger

Not really EV related but the seat in my car is wet. I'm going to buy one of those Unibond dehumidifier yokes for €15 in Woodies but I'm wondering in the mean time is it worth using remote AC or am I better off using heat?

I would just park the car with the sun on the wet seat outside my house with the doors open (If we get the sun again..😋)