Random EV Thoughts 2 - The Jimnying

Sounds like you wouldn't want to or the car would be ready before you were halfway around the shop.

I find on motorway trips the car is usually charged too fast.

If you are DC charging full time, you may need to consider what car and battery type you want in order to minimize battery degradation.

Fleet management company Geotab published a recent largescale study confirming "if you use DC fast charging more often, your battery will lose capacity faster, on average". Highspeed DC charging in this case is referred to >100kW.

But as always, this is an over-simplification and its probably more nuanced than this. But one of the key take aways:

Where appropriate, prioritize AC charging or lower-power DC charging, only using high-power DCFC (especially above 100 kW) when operationally necessary. This strategy helps minimize battery stress, as unchecked, high-power charging can lead to an estimated 76.0% SOH after eight years, compared to 88.0% SOH for those who prioritize lower-power charging.

There are so many more variables to this topic and I am defo no expert in battery techonology. I would suggest reading the report.

I know! Just shows you how people can get so obsessed about one issue they can’t see the bigger picture. In the case of the aforementioned YouTuber he even mentioned that he sometimes charges at 6amps if he has the time!! 6 bloody amps??

I’ve recently made this jump so thought I’d give my feedback, as others have said it depends on your circumstances. I live in central Dublin so don’t have access to my own charger, but I’m 200 meters away from an ESB charger and there is a Circle K only a kilometre away with a fast charger if I’m in a pinch. I also work from home, but have to go to the office in Limerick once a month. In general I’m a very low mileage driver.

I went for the new IONIQ 6 as it has a big battery and fast charging (plus I really loved the car from the second I sat in it). So far I’m delighted with my decision. Yes it takes a bit of planning, and wherever I go I’m always looking for chargers to keep topped up, but it’s not been a hassle. Been up and down to Limerick twice and with a quick stop at the fast charger each way I was never in any danger of running out of charge.

It definitely won’t work for everyone, if you do a lot of miles it will be a pain and you won’t get any of the cost savings that home chargers would. However the slight change of mindset around charging has been absolutely worthwhile for me, I love the car and would find it very hard to go back to an ICE now.

Also thanks to everyone who contributes to this board - I’ve been lurking for months as I knew next to nothing about the practicalities of an EV before, it’s a great resource.

I didn’t buy the car just to travel to Limerick once a month, I obviously use the car for other purposes. I just wanted to share my experience so far, and it could change. But there is a lot of negativity around not having a home charger, and to be honest it almost put me off making the change. And so far I’m really happy with my choice.

Polestar 4? That's just how it looks

It definitely won’t work for everyone, if you do a lot of miles it will be a pain and you won’t get any of the cost savings that home chargers would..

Still savings to be had over ICE if you are doing high miles. Cheaper rates can be accessed though subs or manufacturer plans, which then become worth while.

For example, of my approx 40K km a year, around 2/3 is on the road. I subscribe to Ionity's most expensive plan (cost me €100 as sign up special, normally €120) which gave me 44c/kWh (just gone up to 46c) and as a Tesla owner I get Tesla Superchargers between 30c-50c/kWh (depending on time of day) although these have just gone up also.

These two suppliers alone cover most of my routes. With the Tesla Supercharger expansion currently this will get better still.

But still good rates comparatively. Plus I haven't had any servicing costs in 2 years other than a new set of wheels. Still on the original brake pads after 5 years. And lowest rate of Motor tax at €120.

🤦‍♂️

LOL. Yeah. But takes a serious hit on efficiency.

not sure where to post this so mods feel free to move it if needs be….

eon chargers not working properly in Arnotts car park - <1kwh charge. only found out about an hour later when i checked the car app.

This was after waiting an hour to get a space with a charger - when i arrived the 6 spaces were occupied by 4 evs -but none of them charging! - and 2 ice cars.

had to move to the APCOA car park on jervis street.

i don't usually go into Dublin city centre - where are the best charging points to go to in terms of availability and speeds?

Most of the Q-Parks have Blink AC chargers in them - ranging from 7kW to 22kW depending on the car park and the charger.

They can be somewhat flaky, and are often located in areas without signal or WiFi so it's a pain to get them started. Also they are not cheap - usually around 65c per kWh.

However, there's usually a lot of them in each car park, and I think you can get a keyfob to avoid the signal issue.

Not sure if you can start a charge with any other network cards for a cheaper cost.

Yeah it's definitely worth having a card around for those Blink chargers, a lot less faff to start than with the app.

The Q-Park Setanta in particular the chargers are on Level -2 so there's basically zero phone signal (something I think charger operators should think about when installing - maybe throw a simple WiFi network into the chargers)

Question, hope this is the right thread. Obviously petrol and diesel prices have shot through the roof, I'm wondering has the EV charging network seen any increase. There were news stories a few months back that the cost you pay to fast charge was roughly the same as filling up with diesel, if charging prices are static, haven't risen that must be a selling point.. I very very rarely use the network all home charging so just wondering

Sort of covered already on the Ionity thread about a week ago. 69c gone to 77c or something like that. Others likely to follow I expect. Household electricity rates probably won’t escape either in the long term.