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.
I think they did some math and figured out it doesn't make sense as a commercial service. AC charging services usually make money by being paid to operate the service on behalf of a site owner. Contrasting with DC charging where the operator is paying a site owner for use of parking space.
And I still firmly believe their policy of no new 22kW AC chargers is bonkers…. yes there's a few others coming in and doing it in dribs and drabs, but eCars were (and still are) the most known of of all the charging operators.. they own the branding/association to EV charging in Ireland…. (I'd still see the odd posts online of folk being completely unaware of chargers outside of the eCars network)… They could and should be cleaning up in the AC charging space… installing them fcuking everywhere!! Discounted off peak rates to encourage overnight charging, thus helping balance the grid..
Between them and ESBN, figure out a way for 1 meter/mprn to feed 10-12 AC chargers and just get it done.. Does that hotel in Kerry have 25 separate meters for their 25 AC chargers? Do the 8 EasyGo chargers at Decathlon all have their own meter?
@Red Silurian "55 minutes charging a M3 on a 50kW charger, presume you're looking at a max of 45.83kWh. You are now paying €31 or 68c/kWh" True, but that irks me a heck of a lot less than a flat 8 euro fee. Per minute means if I need an extra 3-10 minutes I'm more than likely to wait for it. Finish my coffee instead of rushing back. Most other providers that have 50kW units (eg the weev unit I used in Navan a few days ago) have overstay after 1 hour not 45 minutes.
55 minutes charging a M3 on a 50kW charger, presume you're looking at a max of 45.83kWh. You are now paying €31 or 68c/kWh
Still easily worth it if it means not needing another charging stop further down the road…. Being limited to only 37.5kWh from a 50kW charger before incurring an overstay fee is fcuking bonkers in 2024…. this per minute system is much better for anyone that might need a little bit more than the 37.5kWh that can get in 45 minutes.
I also don't have the ability to do anything you mention while away on holidays etc.
I'm not sure what the exact figure would need to be, but you'd want to be spending a lot of your time away from home on holidays for it to have an impact on the savings of home charging vs public charging/filling up with petrol/diesel…
Well, to be fair, there's not going to be that announcement. My comment, while firmly tongue in cheek of course in its tone, was to indicate whether the fast/public chargers work out at 1.70, 2.70 or indeed 3.70 per litre equivalent makes little difference to the current userbase who for the most part charge infrequently en route and don't use these as a daily option. The ecars polls have shown this repeatedly. I don't think a 0.70 per litre equivalent is realistic, even in france when I was on holiday they had approx 40c per kwh and using rough back of the mind maths that's about 1.25 per litre equivalent. So to get to a sub 1 euro per litre equivalent you'd have to be literally cheaper than most day rates and then we're back to the bad old days when it was free and the network was clogged.
Fast charging has to be more expensive than domestic electricity. AC charging on the other hand, should be on a similar rate to the standard day rates. ESB have said they are not interested in more AC charging. One of the AC chargers I use a lot (chargepoint in rathfarnham) is a tethered 3 phase unit and is approx 35c per kwh. Realistically that's as cheap as being free, when you consider the costs of the unit, the support, and the electricity.
There are two completely separate products and use cases here, AC and DC charging. I've grouped them like that for simplicity, in actuality I think there's a big market gap for banks of 20-50kW DC charging at the likes of short term carparks, cinemas, shopping centers etc. A lot more cars can take 20kW DC than 20kW AC for instance, so there's more profit to make. DC charging (realistically >50kW DC) is for on route charging, should be expensive like motorway service station petrol. AC (and slow DC charging) should be competitive with but not cheaper than the standard electricity tariff.
If I had a few million I'd invest in two things (other than property of course), solar farms and a job lot of 25kW DC chargers. Like, buy 200 of them and work with someone like a network of kids playparks, or shopping centers network, or cinema chain, or an owner of short term carparks. Put like 20 per location, charge per kWh with no overstay fee. 25kW DC hardware is much cheaper than 50+, I could use battery backup to minimize peak demand, I don't know why the likes of easygo don't do this. With 20 per location it's aimed at local users as well as customers of whatever business is colocated. They would be like destination DC chargers. Not the type where you buy fast food and coffee to wait on the car, and instead one where the car charges when you're at a film, a meal, or the mrs is draining your bank account at new look or rituals!
Welcome to my ideal world of EV charging utopia!!
I understand this to an extent, there's clearly more profit to be made in putting electrons into cars at faster rates. Lets take a nissan leaf for example you could charge most of these to an acceptable level in 30 minutes, that's 8 cars in 4hrs instead of 2 in the same 4hr timeframe if you had them on AC chargers. Obviously when you take into account the newer cars that can charge faster these margins can increase quite vastly
What I can't understand is why they haven't converted them all to DC yet, yes they've started converting some, peoples park in Limerick being the most recent example I've witnessed but there's still far too many AC based on the above
Yes Tesla, Easygo Lidl, and Ionity with a passport and I think some others like Brite and Weev are cheaper options depending on the time of day etc
For a better comparison when charging was first introduced AC was 28.6c, DC was 30.5c and HP was 37c. The first increase brought them to 39c, 45c and 48c respectively so we haven't even gone back to those rates yet
They have stated that they have no interest in AC charging. This is just sweating those assets while they’re still operational. I suspect most will be replaced by a low speed DC charger or removed when they reach end of life.
AC charging is still way too expensive.
thanks, good comparison
so essentially when all is said and done, Tesla is still a better option (very limited I know)
I don't to be fair, but I also don't have the ability to do anything you mention while away on holidays etc. There are also many many people who are interested in going EV who do not have the ability to charge at home. Not sure today's announcement would help them make the jump
Interesting. Do you have the ability to produce this liquid fuel at home for free, or to fill up at home from your home tank at 1/10th of that cost for 90+% of your driving?
That's a fair point, not sure I understand why they cap it at €22.50 either
Nowhere near 20% I'm afraid
Todays prices
AC - 56.3c
DC 50kw - 64.7c
DC 100kW+ - 68.2c
Tomorrows prices
AC - 52c (7.6% reduction)
DC 50kw - 57c (11.9% reduction)
DC 100kW+ - 59c (13.5% reduction)
Average EVs will do 15kWh/100km and average ICE's will do 5L/100km so on a 3:1 average ratio of EV:ICE fuel costs this equates to 156c, 171c and 177c per liter of liquid fuel
Thanks, that's still problematic. They should have a time period such as 11pm - 7am where the overstay counter doesn't apply. There's a big difference between blocking a slow charger at 7am and 3pm.
maximum overstay fee is €22.50
The overstay fee is maxed at €22.50
That new overstay fee is a huge improvement, however I think it's a bit ridiculous to add it in the same way on a slow charger. It seems daft to me that a person who plugs their car in at 9pm is expected to move it at 7am. If they wait till 8:30am to head to work they are looking at a €45 overstay fee.
The overstay fee is great, means I don't have to worry about moving after 45 minutes anymore! (if I'm charging the model 3 on a 50kW it takes about 55 minutes)
The story going around, which seems to match the on ground experience was that Applegreen refused to allow eCars to deploy charging hubs on their sites as part of the upgrade programme. That's why we were left with a single eCars 50kW charger at important locations like the M1 service stations. They did similar to charging operators in the UK at WelcomeBreak sites.
Dear EV Driver,
Thank you for being a part of an exciting transition to a low carbon, greener future for all. We have been working hard to improve and expand the ESB EV public charging network and the service we provide.
We are writing to let you know that we are decreasing our charging prices across our public charge points in the Republic of Ireland, which will be effective from Friday, 21st June. We are pleased to announce that we are reducing our unit rates across membership and pay as you go while also introducing a contactless payment option on our high-power chargers.
We are lowering our prices following reductions in wholesale energy costs while continuing to upgrade and improve our charging infrastructure across the country. We keep our prices under constant review and are committed to providing value to our customers with competitive prices.
What are the new prices?
Membership Pay As You Go
Standard Chargers (<22kW)
€0.47 /kWh €0.52 /kWh
Fast Chargers (50kW-100kW)
€0.52 /kWh €0.57 /kWh
High Power Chargers (150kW-300kW)
€0.54 /kWh €0.59 /kWh
Monthly Subscription €4.79
There is no change to the membership subscription.
Contactless payments will be available on our high-power chargers from the end of this week. We are continuing to rollout this payment feature on our fast chargers over the coming months.
Changes to overstay fee
Thank you for your valuable feedback. Our recent customer survey found that 76% of respondents support an overstay fee to reduce queuing, so we have listened to your suggestions and have made some changes to the overstay fee to reflect what we have heard.
The existing one-off overstay fee of €8 has been replaced by a more progressive, incremental fee to further encourage drivers to free up charge points for other drivers when finished charging. The new overstay fee structure is 50c/min and kicks in after 45 minutes on fast and high-power chargers and after 10 hours on our standard chargers. This will also come into effect from Friday, 21st June.
To ensure you are notified of when overstay fees would apply, we encourage all drivers to turn on notifications on the ESB ecar connect app. This will mean you will receive push notifications as a reminder about the overstay fee when you start your charge..
How long before Applegreen/CircleK follow suit? I won't be holding my breath - there's not enough eCars chargers around to give genuine direct competition.
Out of curiosity. What are Apple green antics? The charging on the M1 puzzled me. Seems to be ok for people coming to Dublin.
But for people heading North away from Dublin you seem to have to leave the M1 the further north you go. Most people will have home charged so won't want to charge until close to the border.
In a ICE AG used to be my pitstop at castle Bellingham. Now there's little point as it's poorly served for CCS.
disappointing overcharge fee. Would have been nice to see €5+ 50c/min. You can know seat 1hr 2 minutes for the same price as what was 47 minutes
I think it's 10c across the board, although AC chargers still look very expensive
Nice. About time. What is the rough reduction? About 20% cheaper is it.
New prices, finally getting a decrease
Also new overstay fee, now 50c/min instead of a static fee. That should be a dramatic improvement
the poster said “unwilling” to use it. Nothing about been CHADEMO. Although when people are still buying cars with CHADEMO is unknown
I wonder if we'll ever get a response from @SharkMX…
There's still plenty of Leaf 40 and 62kWh models in sale which are fine for longer journeys if there's a Chademo charger available
That's unfortunately a bit of a big if at times
Nissan really should have been forced to change the Leaf over to CCS years ago
