SSE Energy Solutions

Red Silurian · 20-08-2024 11:46AM #1

First charge hub (8 X CCS, 2 X Chademo) from energy supplier SSE Energy Solutions opens today (20/08/2024) at Lough Sheever Corporate Park near Mullingar

Activation of the chargers and payment seems to be via the app which shows a price per kWh of £0.69 (~€0.80)

https://www.plugshare.com/location/455013

MrMusician18 · 20-08-2024 12:25PM

No one will use it at that price unless towing. CircleK on the bypass is both faster and cheaper

ELM327 · 20-08-2024 12:31PM

Completely pointless at that price

kabakuyu · 20-08-2024 12:38PM

Very pricey,just got ev,put 55kwkh into it for a grand total of 6.87e ,home charging is unbeatable.

Red Silurian · 20-08-2024 12:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122523288#Comment_122523288

Yeah home charging will always be cheaper than on the road charging, a good rule of thumb I find is 3kWh should cost less than 1L of ICE fuel although there can be variation

The price they are charging is the equivalent of €2.40/L if ICE fuel

MrMusician18 · 20-08-2024 01:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122523240#Comment_122523240

Exactly. I know the aim for the hub in mullingar is commercial vehicles more than private cars but I can't see this hub being a success sadly. Lough Sheever hub is well off the N4 so the likely users commercial and private will have to divert into mullingar.

EVs owners I've found are surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly price sensitive when they are presented with a choice. Say at portlaoise midway, the ESB chargers are always preferentially chosen over applegreen. It's the same at Fermoy, ESB at inver is always in my experience more busy than circle K and that even requires a small diversion.

If they'd built that hub down the road at say at Longford where there are currently no chargers >50kw then they'd have something of a captive market for north mayo and sligo. They could charge what they like really there.

I doubt more than single figure number of vehicles will use the hub on a daily basis. A ten bay hub would need at least more than five simultaneous vehicles for substantial parts of the day to make sense.

Given it's location requiring a diversion 55c/kwh is where pricing needs to be imo.

joe1303l · 20-08-2024 01:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122523240#Comment_122523240

Maybe company car drivers won’t care once someone else is paying ? Little chance of having to queue at those rates.

Red Silurian · 20-08-2024 02:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122523480#Comment_122523480

Not sure how commercial vehicles will benefit from the higher price over non-commercial. They'd save the VAT which would make it 65c/kWh but they'd do that on all chargers one would imagine?

MrMusician18 · 20-08-2024 03:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524005#Comment_122524005

The pull through chargers are designed for e-hgvs. Maybe they are planning commercial partnerships but on price as indicated at the moment they aren't competitive for commercial either

ELM327 · 20-08-2024 03:01PM

They would but a) commercial drivers may have a company issued card or rfid for charging so are not price sensitive and/or b) would pay the increased price for lack of queue

CivilEx · 20-08-2024 04:30PM

It's free vend - no charge at the moment

zg3409 · 20-08-2024 04:48PM

Solar canopy, 2 x Chademo cables, 8 x CCS cables 150kW headline rate, charging bays for trailers or hgv or caravans.

Its free today, but I think main issues are location and the fact that 99.9% of EV drivers won't know they exist and will queue at other nearby sites. Price is a factor too, but personally at this point in time I value availability and multi charger sites over cost.

SSE will open further hubs at Blanchardstown Business Park and the Greenogue Industrial Estate in Dublin and at the Ashbourne Retail Park, Co Meath, in the coming months.

I assume no food offering too? Touch to pay by card? No toilets?

https://www.plugshare.com/location/455013

CivilEx · 20-08-2024 07:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524493#Comment_122524493

I charged there earlier. There are no services on site (not today anyway) and nothing within walking distance either. The site itself has plenty of space, pull through charging bays for those with trailers, cable lengths are good and even though it's not adjacent to the N4, I'm glad to see multiple charger sites like this being built. 3 minutes extra of driving is better than a queue any day.

the_amazing_raisin · 20-08-2024 09:32PM

Great to see a site catering to trailers or trucks, but the lack of services isn't great

I wouldn't be too happy hanging around there at night with nothing around there

the_amazing_raisin · 20-08-2024 09:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524133#Comment_122524133

Independent drivers would probably be price sensitive, but they're probably not buying electric trucks yet

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a few corporate discounts offered for larger operators

If SSE were being clever they'd partner with a leasing company to offer discounted charging to anyone who leases a commercial EV

ted1 · 21-08-2024 08:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122525405#Comment_122525405

or a discount for residential customers

Red Silurian · 21-08-2024 09:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122525405#Comment_122525405

Do SSE need to be clever here? Most CPOs are still charging 65c-70c… All they need to do is match that and they'll get the business

joe1303l · 21-08-2024 10:17AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524989#Comment_122524989

Someone will probably move in with an old horsebox selling overpriced tea and coffee to a captive audience if the place takes off.

ELM327 · 21-08-2024 10:30AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122526787#Comment_122526787

if it were near me I'd consider it!

Red Silurian · 21-08-2024 11:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122526787#Comment_122526787

Easy money for anybody who does this

MrMusician18 · 21-08-2024 11:30AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122526424#Comment_122526424

They are a good bit off the beaten track, down at the arse end of an industrial estate so they need to have a draw.

While no queues and long cables are one draw, EV drivers I've noticed tend to choose speed of charger over price and price over queues. It's illogical I know but for example:

At cashel, Ionity will be busy but the ESB charger will be free. At fermoy, there will be a queue at inver but CircleK, closer to the motorway will be free, and midway there will be a queue at ESB but applegreen will be free.

They will need to be a bit cheaper than the competition and they will need signage on the bypass to let people know it's there.

Red Silurian · 21-08-2024 11:58AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122527169#Comment_122527169

Ionity can be as low as 42c/kWh for somebody with a subscription, this means a faster speed and a cheaper charge than the ESB 50kW charger at Cashel. In both of your other examples people will choose price, but also, the ESB chargers are not much further from the motorway at midway so not much in it and in Fermoy by going through the town you also avoid the toll booth, hilbillys is also at the Inver there, so there's a double saving and potentially a preferential food offering.

I think we can agree though that price is a factor. A sign on the bypass displaying their (significantly cheaper) price would be a major benefit

Another small benefit with Ionity and ESB over Circle K is you can see on a web browser or mobile app if there is a free charger before you arrive, this gives confidence to many that they won't be queuing

ted1 · 21-08-2024 11:58AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122526787#Comment_122526787

Would the turnover be enough ? Wouldn’t be more than 15 cars per hour.

Stick in vending machines.

ELM327 · 21-08-2024 12:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122527169#Comment_122527169

That;s an interesting observation. It doesn't tie in with my observations around dublin, meath and wexford though. Perhaps it's different in different places. There are often queues for the ecars 50kW at gorey, while the 4 (now 6) ionity chargers are available. Cashel is an oddball location, been there many times over the years and I hate the place.

Personally, I would pay more to avoid queues and also pay more for speed. So if there's a queue at a free vend 350kW and an available Ionity 350kW, I'll pay for the ionity. If there's a price delta for 50-150-350kW increasing speeds then I'll pay for the max of what my car can take.

The SSE place should have been cheaper as its their first site in ROI market located in the back arse of nowhere and it would do them good to get the name out. Like Ionity did with the 8 quid one fee.

Red Silurian · 21-08-2024 12:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122527324#Comment_122527324

In all of the above examples the only place where queuing is likely is Cashel. Never had to queue at any of my other examples. Important to note also that you have Balcolla and Fermoy not massively far away from Cashel

Generally I would also pay more to avoid queues but it would also depend on the length of the queue. As an example there are 4 charging locations in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

One location has 2 x easygo and 1 x ESB side by side, all 50kW but I think the easygo ones share as they usually cap out at 25kW for me. If the queue for the ESB ones wasn't too long and if I wasn't in a rush I'd join because it's 70c at the in easygo stations

2 of the other locations are easygo single chargers so I usually avoid due to the SPOF rule and they're 70c

The final location is a 4 charger circle k, which if I'm stuck I'll head to

the_amazing_raisin · 21-08-2024 12:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122526302#Comment_122526302

Yeah, I mentioned commercial because SSE seems to be aiming for commercial customers given the location and layout of their sites

It would be good to offer a discount or subscription to residential customers as well. They could do a spot price deal where the price updates every 30 mins. That would be handy for people who live in the area to grab some electricity when it's cheaper

Buffman · 21-08-2024 02:33PM

Not much down that end of the estate alright, you'd probably walk back to the Centra/Texaco in about 10mins if you wanted to keep your steps up. And there are plenty of main dealers in that estate if you wanted to peruse your potential next purchase. 😂🤣

zg3409 · 28-08-2024 03:22PM

Was free for first week, now 65c/kWh

Red Silurian · 28-08-2024 05:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555100#Comment_122555100

Not bad, still a bit high but going in the right direction. Not sure if the price is enough motivation to skip the Circle K and save €3 on a 60kWh fill

the_amazing_raisin · 28-08-2024 07:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555611#Comment_122555611

I've known people who will drive 20 mins out of their way to save less than €5 on petrol (full disclosure, that was me 😅)

So I can guarantee it'll get some use

This is where decent motorway signage would make life easier. If there was a sign up before the Circle K with a live display if the number of free chargers then it'd be easy to spot if it was worth pushing on to Lough Sheever

Yes I know there's an app but checking your phone while driving is a bad idea

Red Silurian · 28-08-2024 09:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122555961#Comment_122555961

That is the other thing, availability of chargers somebody queuing to plug in at the CK might check their phone and see 10 free chargers 5 minutes away

Or somebody towing something might see the benefit of adding a few minutes to the trip so they don't have to detach, the cheaper price is just another benefit

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