EV Charging Station Providers Northern Ireland / All Ireland

[Cooper]

Calling our resident EV owners, what subscriptions to which charging networks do you have and thoughts on price/apps/fobs etc?

Have a Nissan Leaf temporarily in my possession and I have realised its something I know little about.

 

[Cooper]

I'll answer my own question. Signed up for ECars run by ESB energy. €5 yoyos a month and has a large number of charging stations North and South. Took the leaf on a test tour and hooked up the Type-2 connector at my local council offices carpark. Worked perfectly from the app, hard to beat.

ecars Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network | ESB

Discover ecars price plans and use our real time charge point map to locate and see availability of ESB electric car charge points in Ireland

www.esb.ie

 

[Marc]

I have an ecars card, that works for the North and is free for the moment.

I also have a shell fob, that took a few weeks to arrive and is quite expensive to use, but it works europe wide should i ever need it.

 

[Mark Irwin]

You can also sign up for the Easygo.ie fob for free which will allow you to use the chargers at Lidl.

 

[michelinman]

My ecarni card should still work. It was free and was free to use (I think Marc has the same card). I can post it to you if you want as I have no need for it.

 

[Cooper]

It worked earlier direct from the phone- no need for a card or fob. Thanks for the advice folks.

 

[mike150]

What do you think of the Leaf?

 

[Apis]

Occasionally ecarni (free) but only the Chademo ones.

 

[Cooper]

What do you think of the Leaf?

It’s absolutely grand. Nippy around town, runs out of legs a bit out of motorway speeds but even then perfectly usable. Showing 142 miles range at 96% battery.

If I get my hands on it for longer will do a full road test in it and post it up.

 

[Cooper]

The leaf got an 80% charge at applegreen. 50 minutes for just over 100 miles for €9. Hard to beat

 

[Apis]

The leaf got an 80% charge at applegreen. 50 minutes for just over 100 miles for €9. Hard to beat

You mean hard to beat on a motorway service maybe, but otherwise that would sound expensive at €3.46/kWh surely?

 

[Cooper]

You mean hard to beat on a motorway service maybe, but otherwise that would sound expensive at €3.46/kWh surely?

Yes hard to beat when you have 10 miles range left! I guess it was a 40kwh fast charger and I have no idea if that carries a big surcharge. So you are 100%. Expensive in that case.

Without a doubt the cheapest way to charge is at home on some sort of E7 type tariff otherwise you are at the mercy of your route and charging network (availability and price).

The Leaf isn’t mine- it was bought as a short run car - it’s the smaller range one, so a trip to Dublin in its 2nd day wasn’t the best idea. In fact that’s the sort of thing you hear a lot. “Bought a car with 100 mile range. Discovered I had to charge it every 100 miles” LOL

 

[saxo_man]

You mean hard to beat on a motorway service maybe, but otherwise that would sound expensive at €3.46/kWh surely?

29c per kWh? You’ve worked out kWh/euro.

 

[Apis]

29c per kWh? You’ve worked out kWh/euro.

Lol, duh. You're obviously right.
Not actually bad value for a motorway but certainly not as absurdly expensive than I would have had you believe.

 

[saxo_man]

Lol, duh. You're obviously right.
Not actually bad value for a motorway but certainly not as absurdly expensive than I would have had you believe.

I read it twice, thinking something wasnt right but I wasn’t sure what was going on

Compared with 18.5p at home it’s not too bad, although x3 expensive as E7, which is 9p at home

 

[Cooper]

Takes a bit of talking through and will be a hard sell for the dyed in the red diesel wool folks who just want to upgrade to another, moderately aged a rav4 diesel.

In related news I was in a Prius taxi last night, worse for wear, and was totally entranced by the 90s energy display. I could hear a wee voice in my head “regen, battery only, ICE POWER... oh hill, more arrows...”

 

[Gavlar]

I drove one of the new plug in prius and was pleasantly surprised by it

 

[saxo_man]

@Apis

Seen this on an ecar email:

I am travelling to the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland. How do I fast charge my electric vehicle?

The following options are available to you payable by most credit or debit cards:

1. Pay As You Go (PAYG) is 33c/kWh with various options such as prepay, auto top up or pay via an anonymous one-time credit/debit card payment which can be done via the updated ecar connect app.
2. Membership is for people who use the network frequently. It is 29c/kWh with a €5 monthly subscription.
3. An Introductory Offer is available if you sign up before 30th November which offers Membership per kWh rates with no monthly subscription for 12 months.