EV New owner basics

[Big Pimp]

So I've done a bit of reading in the rest of this thread, picked up a few hints and tips, but thought it might be a good reference to have the a sticky highlighting the basics for people new to EV ownership in one handy place.

As the title may elude, I am new to EV ownership with next to zero knowledge on them. I intend on updating this as we go along and get advice in this thread.

Starting off with the basics. What are the must haves, the could haves and the should haves?
Home wall charger @ 7kW is a must i'd assume
what is the situation with public charging, and what app do i need to make it work? I see that ESB own most of them but a couple of others have charging points too. do i need to download an app for these too? All of these are now chargeable I'm guessing as I dont see the same cars hogging spaces how they used to.

Anything else i'm missing out on?

Thanks in advance

 

[Rocko]

You definitely want a home charger. Ideally a smart one so you can take advantage of EV tariffs if you so wish. Otherwise, the newer EVs usually allow scheduled charging.

ESB Cars app. Make sure you're on the Irish one, not GB.
It's here: ecar connect - Apps on Google Play

Just go PAYG, it'll auto top up.

ABRP - Route planner showing chargers along the way, if you need to do a huge journey.
Plugshare/Zap Map shows available chargers in your area.

Then there's apps for the other charging networks, BP Pulse, Weev, Ionity, EasyGo but when you pull up at a public charger it's all laid out for you. As you said, with ESB now charging you'll very rarely see both chargers occupied.

Don't get caught with overstay charges. The BP ones are a tenner for 90 minutes, 20 quid for 150+ minutes. And they're already a fortune.

 

[dufunk]

Anyone know if 80 amps is enough for a electric charger at home? How much you talking per unit on those chargers about towns now?

 

[Rocko]

Anyone know if 80 amps is enough for a electric charger at home? How much you talking per unit on those chargers about towns now?

49p + 25p connection fee on the ESB ones.
85p on the BP Pulse fast chargers.

 

[Cooper]

Anyone know if 80 amps is enough for an electric charger at home? How much you talking per unit on those chargers about towns now?

7.4kw typical single phase home EV charger is about 32 amps. GCSE Physics kicked in, y0.

 

[StevenMc29]

EVANI website and FB page are decent resources.

 

[big cyril]

Re charging, coming from a petrol or diesel a change of mindset is needed ie you’d never just top up the petrol tank every day but with an EV its just easier to plug it in every time it’s on your driveway so it’s always fully charged next morning. If you’ve got a home charging point you may not need to use a public charger much if at all eg I’ve used public charging once in three and a half years of ev use.

 

[dufunk]

49p + 25p connection fee on the ESB ones.
85p on the BP Pulse fast chargers.

Jesus expensive, can't be far of a diesel cost to run. If I get the charger im hoping for that economy 7 tariff around 17p a unit.

 

[Big Pimp]

After almost a month of EV ownership, I will detail some observations.

I have a 7 kW charger in work which has been perfect for easily plugging in and charging. And on a decent day for charging, it’s practically free as we have a lot of solar panels.

At home. I still only have the granny charger, but that will be remedied in the next couple of weeks.

I am very lucky that beside me and Downpatrick EasyGo have installed several chargers in the leisure centre and other convenient locations.

The biggest benefit to these chargers are the speeds with 50 kW and 180 kW being offered . This has made charging effortless once a week, albeit at a cost , but as I’m still on a normal PowerNI tariff, there is a difference of around 10p per kilowatt hour, so nothing particularly dramatic involved in the cost of charging. Plus the speed makes it worthwhile. And still a lot cheaper than filling my X5

Biggest change is the mindset in EV driving. I am happy to plug in at home on the granny charger, or if I take it to work to give another boost whilst washing it etc.

Range anxiety isn’t so much of a thing, knowing that it has at least 200 miles even on a cold day is more than adequate for the kind of daily driving that my mrs does

 

[Coog]

I treat ours like I treat my phone. Just plug it in at night and wake up to a full battery every morning. Have spent much much more time waiting & filling the ICEV's than EV's in the past 4 odd years.

I use E7. One thing I did notice that with the larger battery, even 7kw can't fully refill it during the offpeak hours. Not a huge deal if doing it daily but would need some thought if we were doing 2 x 200+ mile runs one day after the other (we've never actually done that). And by some thought I mean going into the app and extending the charge time by a couple of hours. Roughly 20 seconds of my day.

Haven't used a public charger in 2 odd years now and haven't actually needed one for 3!