Random EV thoughts.....

True, and I wouldn't a buy an Apple product as a result.

These companies have responsibilities, there're allegations against Hyundai/Kia for slavery in their supply chain too, BYD not alone here, but it's easy to do the pr shite when you've been rumbled. Just imagine what happens inside China.

Cool, do you use an Android phone because unless you're on a Fairphone or Shiftphone then there's a high chance that some of the components are made in China

Also literally every company in China is subsidised by the government to some degree. That's pretty much rule #1 of socialism; the means of production are owned by the people

I wouldn't call the boogeyman out every time someone mentions China. It's impressive to see a country with strategic vision beyond lurching to the next ballot box

I would say the issues stem from their horrifying history on workers rights, and human rights in general (which ironically is about as free market as you can get, it's practically Ayn Rand's dream world). I'm not surprised this happens when you create an environment where it can happen, it's like how drink driving laws were hardly enforced here in the past and everyone drove home drunk

Companies will no doubt take advantage of a situation like that, they're profit driving engines, nothing more and to pretend any large enterprise has some moral compass is just delusional. If I said to any company "would you like to make more money, you just need to engage in some morally questionable behavior" they'd probably have already said "yes" after you mentioned money

New year ahead, confusing media narratives continue.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41542387.html

Not exactly EV related but there was a talk in Germany (in German) related to VW EV range where they accidentally left unsecured lots of data they had collected on their EVs sold, with position data accurate to within 20 centimeters and it was possible to identify some owners such as Hamburg police who owned some of the EVs.

More of a general concern as all modern cars ICE or EV are required to have an emergency SOS button with position reporting and as a result all manufacturers are fitting mobile data sims to all cars and collecting the positions of all cars and anything else they think they can use or resell such as charging data or speeding etc.

Is there a database of public ev charger providers in Ireland and how they are activated?

Or does anyone have sufficient knowledge of which ones need apps and accounts or which can be just activated by debit/credit card?

New guy in work getting enyaq 85 2nd week of January so want him to get up to speed quickly and just realised I public charge so infrequently I forget which ones are out there. I used to charge on M1, M7, M8 on my trips to our own Northern Ireland and munster offices but destination charging at them now, this guy will be out and about visiting customer sites so doesn't have the same predictability that I have, plus he's busier!!

All I can think of is ionity, applegreen, circle k, esb.

Which others are there?

I have shown him ABRP too.

The main ones that can be found in pretty much every town that has them would be ESB and EasyGo (small towns and Lidl supermarkets). AppleGreen, Ionity and Circle K are less plentiful, but will be on main routes and motorways.

ESB, get the card. EasyGo can work from the app or get a fob for €6. AppleGreen, use the app and save 5c/kWh. Haven't used Ionity or Circle K yet.

Also if he's likely to use ESB fast DC (above 100kWh) get the Freshmile card. Costs 30c/minute plus 30c/kWh which will be a good bit cheaper as long as you're charging above 100kWh.

Plugshare for charger locations.

There is no db of which chargers are activated certain ways. Even the individual providers own apps don't give this info AFAIK.

EasyGo and Tesla are two main ones other than what you've mentioned. Maybe Weev too if he's going to be around the border counties/north-west.

You would think that 2025 should be a better year for EV sales- partly because 2024 was a low point (hopefully) but also because 2025 seems to be the year when a raft of more affordable EVs will hit the market.....

Kia ev3 Citroën eC3 Dacia Spring Hyundai Inster Renault 5 Renault 4 Fiat 500 Fiat Panda Grande VW ID2 Cupra Raval Chinese XYZ.

Hopefully a much more positive year for EVs

I'm not as anti phev as some here, it dont want one myself as I never want an engine or a gearbox again but I think they are a good solution for many, once they do cover the usual day to day stuff. I've about 60kms a day routinely and I'd say I'm the high side of the median at that. So a realistic 70/80kms range would suit so many people.

Then tax the bollox out of petrol even more to encourage people to plug in.

Good stepping stone for people too, I went ev because I had a pain in the hole plugging in after every journey, my range was terrible though in an early 530e and that was one of the big reasons to go full electric.

I love EVs but realise I'm part of a minority. Large minority but minority all the same.

The problem with PHEVs was never the design, it was the drivers not bothering to plug in

There's a bunch of them around me, I'd say half of them get plugged in once a week and the other half never get plugged in

I'm not sure small hatchbacks are going to cause a massive sales boost

I love that there's finally options out there, but if you look at ICE world the top selling cars are mostly crossovers

Obviously the same was true in EVs, mostly because they were the only option until now. But I think they'll still reign supreme for the foreseeable future

Fair point but petrol prices and public DC charging rates are too close to encourage anyone plug them anywhere other than home or work. PHEV’s could also be nightmare cars when they’re 8-10 years old. Double the trouble with so much trickery to go wrong out of warranty.

Yeah but you also can't force a market trend, if everyone hated crossovers then nobody would buy them and the estate car would still be the top choice for family cars

(I miss estate cars ☹️)