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.
Yeah, so a huge improvement for anyone travelling the M7 and M8 to Dublin. I find J14 can be quiet busy at peak times. Also, an increase of 2 new Ionity charges at both Cashel and Kill North have now made the route to the big smoke (and back) so much easier. ESB networks are really ramping up their high powered charges tbf.
It was. They've used the new type of prefab substation so I'd expect the new ones deliver the full speed
*ecars, esb networks is a regulated business that can’t support anyone EV charging company
Great to see indeed, been keeping a casual eye, they are a long time under development at the site.
I think 2 of the four units actually offer Chademo. So 6/2, 7/1 or 8/0 CCS/Chademo simultaneous.
Seems about right balance to me (assuming parking layout allows 8 cars, of course).
I have never stopped at Portlaoise Plaza, I presume the facilities are comparable to other Plaza sites?
Basically identical / formulaic. Spar, Macs carvery style bar, Supersubs, Papa John's, Moo'd, Supermacs, Bewleys. As boring as the motorway you drove in off.
Just on your last point I use Kinnegad routinely when doing a Sligo to Dublin trip. The last time there, there were 4 cars already there charging using the rhs (as you face the charger) of all 4 chargers. As a result I couldn't charge by driving front in as the cables are not quite long enough to reach the port on the back panel of the car. I finally managed to parallel park to the kerb on the LHS of the 1st charger positioned on the left and was able to charge on it. Of course after all the kerfuffle of getting sorted within a few minutes one of the 4 cars left leaving a free space! Maybe someone can point out a better solution. To me one solution would be to stagger the kerbing back further by half a metre or so which would allow you to drive further in past the charger in which case the cable would reach no problem.
Longer cables 😉
Size doesn't matter, except when talking about charging cables
This will be a consideration when buying my next EV. The majority of cars have the charge port on the drivers side now, which is fine until you rock up to an Ecars hub and find half the cables are unavailable to you because the cables won't reach.
Could be helpful for both cable reach and queuing if there were spaces available behind the chargers.
I find I can just about stretch to the other side of the car if I park a little forward of the cable exit on the charger. Tend to stay with the car as means it is slightly too far forward of charging bay. Don’t understand why cables can’t be just slightly longer. Would only need another half metre or so to make it accessible both ways. Seems like penny pinching.
Barry
Applegreen have 2 180kw units with 4 plugs with really long cables at midway across the road. Portlaoise is really well served with high power plugs now
What's the story with phevs plugging into public chargers? I'm seeing a lot of them clogged up lately. Seems a bit of a w@nker move when it's not needed and probably not even saving that much money.
Don't mention the war 😉
It's frustrating but they're paying for the electricity so are entitled to use them the same as EVs. It's possibly also better for the environment for them to be driving on electricity as much as possible
Of course it could also have something to do with some AC chargers being in prime parking locations or offering free parking. Train stations were a good example for this
At the end of the day the solution is more chargers, EV drivers shouldn't be forced to argue over scraps
Most of them are well able to defend their turf too, so don't make it a charger-side discussion point unless you brought backup. 😝
The longer the cable, the easier it is to damage. High powered chargers have fluid filled cables
In fairness nothing wrong with them plugging in. But you have to say it defeats the point of buying a PHEV in the first place.
They have tiny batteries, they should have heavy over stay fines on DC chargers anyway.
I assume it was an AC charger, they'd be hit for 50c/min if they used the AC plug in a DC charger for more than 45 mins
I'd hate to be the PHEV driver who saw that bill 🫣
Pretty sure it's down to cost
Shorter cables can also be thinner, so cheaper overall
Some HPCs have passively cooled cables, they tend to be beefier to carry extra current and can be quite heavy as a result
The water cooled ones are often lighter
Ecars definitely had an issue with long cables getting damaged and plugs falling out of the holders. A decent cable management system and locking holders fixes that, the newer model HPCs have options for both
At the one and only DC charger in Enniscorthy I've seen PHEV's parking in the CCS spot blocking it completely and then stringing their AC cable over to the side of the charger to plug it in…
Lol
You're right of course but in terms of difficulty/cost/paperwork I was thinking it could be easier to shunt a bit of the kerbing back or remove some of it altogether. 👍️Mind you I hope this issue is resolved in future installations especially as charging hubs are likely to get much busier.
I think some the newer PHEVs have 50kW DC charging, nothing wrong with them using DC chargers in that case.
Maybe. What's the point of PHEV?
This is exactly the point, buy a Bev if you're going to use public chargers, all you're doing is occupying infrastructure that someone else needs more. I think it was in Italy I saw a sign at a chargepoint that said no hybrids, a bit of common sense being applied.
The Outlander PHEV had DC charging from day 1, was a great addition to a PHEV
You're right there's PHEVs now that have DC charging and around 20kWh batteries. They're a great idea for 2018 😜
A phev doesn't make sense using a public charger from an economic perspective. Public charging is so expensive that it makes more sense to run on petrol than electricity.
It's only when you have access to cheap domestic electricity does it make sense to plug in
It definitely doesn’t make sense if you have any value on your time. In terms of cost though it’s probably about the same as petrol. As PHEV’s get bigger batteries it’s probably going to become more prevalent. Just another reason to avoid public chargers if you can.
But this is it. You buy a PHEV so you don't have to stop and thus no range anxiety. Stopping at a public charger makes no sense.
It's like buying a diesel with 1000km+ range and only putting €5 worth of fuel in it everytime on a 1000km+ journey.
The only place it makes sense to charge a PHEV is at home.
Or am I missing something.
You’re 100% correct but you’re average PHEV driver may think they are saving a few Polar Bears every time they plug in..,,
Correct but some folks are absolute bellends. I won't use public chargers for my PHEV. Cable is still in its wrapper.
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