The key elements include six high speed charging hubs on motorways capable of charging eight vehicles simultaneously; 16 high speed charging hubs capable of charging four vehicles simultaneously; additional high power chargers at 34 current 50 kW locations; upgrading over 50 22 kW chargers to 50 kW, and replacing up to 264 locations with 528 charge points at the pre-existing pilot grade of 22 kW to next generation high reliability models.
Yes, so the purchaser would go on the open market bidding platform for a part-buy based on their projected consumption over the next forecasted period. It could be 33% of the projected units for a period of 12 months and they might get a high unit cost due to the market fluctuations. Then later on the purchaser would go back out for a 20% buy and get a better price... repeating that again later on for the remaining 46%, but obtaining a much higher unit rate.
After each of these purchases you'd then leave the accountants to work out what the effective unit rate is to the consumer is for the future units. You're then locked in for a period of 12 to 18 months while you consume those units. You'd be under contract to consume the units too within the time period.
One way of breaking that pricing arrangement is by expanding the network so that you can go back out to the market for additional units at a much lower cost price, therefore allowing you to lower the overall price for all users. Except that can't happen if you're not rapidly expanding...
I don't agree with Red that it's a conspiracy, but I do think there's a significant lack of competition in the energy market at the moment, we've something like half as many suppliers as there were in 2020
This is probably leading to a reluctance to drop prices or offer discounts
The hedging wand gets waved a lot but I think the reasons are much deeper than that
First off, the wholesale price of electricity is back to 2021 levels, which is still pretty high. So I don't think 4c/kWh night rates are coming back
Second, the consumer price of electricity went up by something like 100% last year between all the price hikes, but the wholesale prices went up by 1000% in some instances
The means anyone selling energy into the market at a hedged price lost a load of money. So guess what, they want to make that money back now and aren't really in a hurry to offer competitive contracts
Third, a bunch of energy suppliers lost money last year. EI said they were forgoing any profits, and I think SSE did as well. Energia and Bord Gais both lost money
So again, they want to make that money back and aren't in a hurry to offer any deals because they don't want to get burned again
In summary, I don't think it's a conspiracy, but I do think this is the result of low competition and high input costs
Not quite right.
we also have a bilateral market. Wind energy etc wasn’t affected by gas prices the producer just benefited from higher market rates. So they could have sold outside the market at lower prices.
it’s a complicated system.
Competition isn’t an issue. The reliance on imported gas is the issue
Once the accountants have factored in the different rates for all of the different supply types from all the different hedging contracts, you then have to consider all the different rates (and their associated discounts) that your customers are on, both domestic, industry and wholesale.
Can a generator sell to another country if there's demand here? I thought the interconnectors only worked if there's an excess of power at one end
I agree on the reliance on imported gas, particularly considering we can only import from the UK and they have no gas storage so are susceptible to the spot prices
I'd expect not, national interests should take priority and it's all controlled by Eirgrid anyway so unlikely that a generator could unilaterally choose to do that.
They are not selling outside the country. Just outside the market
Again I don't think you're allowed to do that, pretty sure there's a condition of being a generator that you do all your energy trading through SEM-O
Some Companies can under Power Purchase Agreements
I used a new-ish 100kW charger in Claremorris yesterday and the app prompted me to enroll for Auto something. I tried twice and it failed both times so I gave up. Has it worked for anyone else? Is it based on Plug & Charge or something else?
Another new site being installed in a badly underserved location in Northside Shopping centre, Coolock. (There is a new charger across the road in the new Lidl, but almost a year later it’s still to be turned on)
@markpb I live in the area and have used this twice, most recently yesterday evening with no issues. Present the ESB card as normal and it initiates. Only went live last weekend.
Off topic but reports on plugshare nearby lidl is working but not shown on easygo map. Two different recent reports lidl may is working. Presume it's still testing.
I thought that was a fancy looking new design for the charger before I realised it was a cover 🤦♂️
Yup, the charger worked fine when I started it normally. I’m curious about the AutoCharge enrolment feature.
It’s a big unit and a small unit so I’m guessing the big one is 2x CCS and the smaller unit is the 50kW with CCS & AC.. and ‘maybe’ CHAdeMO?
that carpark is a sh1tshow though so expect serious ICE’ing issues at this site..
Ugh, just when it seemed Ecars had given up on that stupid layout 🙄
New chargers in Cahersiveen using that layout with 3 parking spaces. Often means only 2 cars can fast charge at a time depending on which side of the car the port is on. Such a waste.
I also used the 200kw chargers in Killarney on the way down too, and because the cables were so short and the available chargers were on the wrong side to suit the side my charging port is on, we had to wait for about ten minutes. Two available chargers and I'm sitting in the car waiting. 🤷
Designed by a committee, I wouldn't say any of those "designers" ever used an EV.
Kinnegad Plaza
Great stuff. That will be really useful for anyone heading from Galway or Sligo into Dublin.
The one competent Ecars designer has been at it again 🤣
I can’t wait for the day when the chargers are at the door and the fuel pumps are across the car park!
🤔
Are the existing Easygo chargers staying at Kinnegad?
So the ESB charger at Enfield services Eastbound is just gone? was there three weeks ago, today just the concrete square and four metal posts. Currently just the one! applegreen high voltage, awful.
Yep, ESB have been booted out of there, as well as Castlebellingham…
It's kinda shocking to have a measly 1 charger there, main motorway en route to Dublin - honestly kinda shocked.
I think the 4 added to kinnegad more than makes up for it. One in Enfield was temperamental anyways.
Tesla originally planned to have Superchargers installed on both sides, but Applegreen canned that so Tesla set up at the Johnstown Estate.
Expect Applegreen to have a number of their own chargers in there soon enough.
Good riddence to those those single point of failure ESB units. Before the Tesla units were installed nearby, I recall often RFID card reader especially on the east bound side often was non-functional. The units themselves broke down regularly. No point have a charger if it cant be relied upon.
I agree but it would have been nice to have the second AG unit in at least before the Ecars lease ended
Even two units is starting to look pretty inadequate these days, hopefully they reuse the existing space for the Ecars chargers as well. They had ducting and pedestals installed for two units at every site, so if they can connect back to the new transformer for the AG chargers then you can have up to 8 cars charging
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/da062963b749703a88f3d03ba7706479.svg)
