ESB eCars

ECars aren’t profit oriented, the staff receive no incentive for a profit , the shareholders don’t push or apply pressure.

Had a horrible day when it came to charging yesterday. Yet again!

Frankfield in Cork. I needed to get a charge to finish my trip. Only other chargers on my route were SPOF.

Ended up queuing on the roundabout for 20 mins to get to the charger. Chargers on the app were available. Pulled into the chargers to see a dpd van just plugging in & the other charger had been in use for 15 mins or so. I thought feck it I will just have to wait, the other option was to go to Rochestown but only one hi speed charger there & a 50kw & knowing my luck they would be taken when I get there.

Omg! It was a brand new 24c range rover charging with no one sitting in it. I asked the dpd driver after 30 mins did he think he would be much longer & he said he needed at least an hour in total!

There was a guy in a helly hansen could be seen occasionally on the phone so I approached him eventually & asked him if the RR was his & did he think he would be much longer as he had been charging almost an hour at that stage. He reckoned he had only been charging 35 mins & wound too much longer that his RR was at 88% last time he looked. He was they almost an hour as I could see from the app. He eventually went & disconnected as I stayed hovering near him.

I was so polite everytime I asked either driver but it was horrendous.

Its ridiculous that there is no hub near Cork. 2 at frankfield is pathetic. It's normally full of taxis but at least they move off quickly enough.

Another dpd van pulled in behind his mate waiting to take his spot after about 30 mins. there needs to be a much heftier overstay fee.

From the time we took the ramp to the charger & left again it was at least 100 minutes for a 17 minute charge. It was appalling in a city the size of Cork.

I will have to think about reverting to the diesel for any trip outside the range

do you want proof that the government own 95%

do you want proof that the unions would not allow a handful of people receive incentives for making a profit from ECars ?

do you want proof the earth isn’t flat?

It is 95%. ( actually higher at the moment ), that’s. Typo.

Cork Airport another option. 2 x 50kW chargers (one for taxi but public can us it). My Weev app or ePower work and only 30c per kW. FYI

It’s effectively a state body which inevitably explains most of it’s shortcomings.

To stay in the job and possibly get promoted etc. it looks good tombe making theoretical long term profits rather than losses. I think it's also structured so it could be sold off at a later stage. The provided a service at no fee for many years so it's a strange set up. The are the default and only provider to many in terms of lots of people have no idea if non esb options and queue at ESB sites while similar easygo etc sites are not in use today. I saw only today one car on ChaDeMo and another car on AC while probably a nearby 50kW lidl easygo site was probably unused less than 200 metres away. As a result they may have a monopoly mindset, with no serious competitors. They may also be more holistic have sites scattered all over the place with many sites in unviable locations, rather than cut throat commercial operators kicking ESB out of their sites and providing expensive basic services at motorways that are sure to be busy a lot and highly profitable.

It may be a measure of incompetence, commercial realities, taking the mick on pricing to justify more expansion. Remember if sites are profitable on paper based on today's profit margin it may justify expanding existing sites and building new sites (e.g. Blanchardstown), while if prices were lower it might make no sense. It helps staff job security, makes their CV look.good and possibly hiring more staff adding middle management promotion prospects etc. It's easier to get paid well if you are in a profitable expanding division. There may even be overtime, weekend work, on call rates etc.

You're right. Cork city is a nightmare for charging. I often grab a fast charge at fermoy and again on the way north. Otherwise it's what you experienced, or a walk to a 11kw charger, costing nearly the same as a fast charger.

Cork really needs 3-4 hubs around the outskirts.

It's not really free if one provider got massive help 10 years before anyone else, access to public parking spaces at possibly zero rent, access to motorway services for free, and is running not as a commercial model proving charging for nothing for years, and probably has more sites than anyone. Free market is not exactly how I would put that.

Of the overcharging/profiteering by ecars, is what I'm looking for proof on... I have supplied my evidence of such and all you're doing is calling me names

How lovely

There is none, we’re being ripped off unless you have some sort of manufacturer deal like Polestar (and others I presume) with IONITY which is in the Tesla price range but there’s no IONITY south of Tipp or west of Athlone

They did not own the network then, it was funded by direct state subvention. This was a mismatch of multiple projects including the ten-t project which also received EU funding. Ownership of the "network" was only transferred to them in 2018 as they were not making a profit when they were not pulling any revenue as charging was free. Other costs (customer support, billing etc) was funded direct from ESB group. I met with the then CER to debate the removal of the charging network from the RAB (regulated asset base) and essentially giving it to ecars. I wasnt in favor of it but the CER decided it was not in their scope to regulate charging.

Ecars providing free charging from 2011 to 2017 is not the same as ecars operating a for profit network now.

Ionity is 2X the price of supercharging and they (ionity) also received taxpayer funding.

They set the market rate for fast chargers as the biggest operator in the country. The argument being made is they've set it too high, which you haven't denied

If you intend to run an EV only on public charging it does not make sense.

Yes, this is the problem, and the reason why we need a not for profit publicly owned chargepoint operator

not going to happen, same reason we don’t have publicly funded not for profit supermarkets

I pay 35 cents per KW on IONITY, 65 per KW on ESB equivalent fast charging.