Time is the enemy of an EV. Whereas with a combustion-engined car, you know you can find a filling station and be on your way again in a few minutes, with electric cars that’s not always the case – hence the need for careful planning when it comes to finding charging on a longer journey.
However, things are getting much, much better. The original network of sparse 50kW fast chargers has been steadily supplanted by a growing network of 150kW, 200kW, and 350kW ultra-fast chargers which, in the right circumstances, can have you back on the road in less than 20 minutes.
In fact, Chinese brand Xpeng is about to introduce an updated G6 electric SUV, which can charge at an astonishing 451kW, allowing a potential 10-80 per cent charge in as little as 12 minutes. The only problem? There aren’t any 451kW chargers in Ireland yet, but charging group Fastned has recently opened a hub of 400kW chargers in Banbridge, between Newry and Belfast, so clearly there’s hope. Equally, another huge Chinese car maker, BYD, is plotting a roll-out of incredibly fast 1,000kW (that’s one megawatt) chargers across Europe, although we’d not be holding our breath for one of those just yet.
When it comes to public charging, there are essentially three choices: slow, fast or rapid. Slow charging comes in the form of 7.4kW charging points, running on AC (alternating current) power, which you’ll usually find in car parks or as “destination chargers” at places like hotels.
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Then there are 11kW AC chargers, which are a little quicker obviously, and then there are kerbside chargers – most commonly the ESB ones – which can potentially charge at 22kW if your car can accept such AC charging power. Not all can, but there are several Renault, Nissan, and Audi models that can, and 22kW AC charging is on the verge of being fast – you could fully charge a Renault Megane E-Tech, with its 60kWh battery, in as little as three hours, which is a long lunch for some of us.
For the most part, these slow AC chargers are “untethered” – they don’t have a built-in cable, so you’ll have to use the Type 2 charging cable that’s supplied with your car.
Next up are the first stage of DC (direct current) fast chargers, which start at 50kW power and stretch all the way to 150kW power. These are reasonably prevalent, although, as with all charging options, you’ll find more in the immediate environs of Dublin and fewer as you head westward and out to the disparate points of the compass. 50kW charging really only barely qualifies as fast charging any more, but a 150kW charger is usefully powerful, and most EVs will be able to go from 10-80 per cent charge in around 30-40 minutes on one of these.
Do remember, though, that many charging operators will hit you with an “overstay” charge if you linger longer than around 45 minutes, and those can substantially add to your charging costs. They’re also something of a tacit admission that there simply aren’t enough fast chargers, but perhaps that’s an argument for another day.
DC fast chargers are all “tethered”, meaning that they have built-in cables and connectors, with the double-decker CCS (combined charging system) plug, which is the European standard for fast-charging and which is compatible with all but a handful of older EVs. Those older models – chiefly early versions of the Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, and Lexus EX300e – used the CHADEMO plug, a chunky round connector, which is limited to 50kW. There are still CHADEMO chargers available throughout the country, but they are being replaced by CCS chargers, so if you have one of these older models, it’s well worth investing in an adaptor.
Finally, there’s rapid charging, which is generally 150kW power and above, and which is best exemplified by the likes of IONITY chargers, or the top-spec ESB e-Cars units, which can pump out 350kW of power. In cars set up to cope with that kind of charging speed – certain Audis, bigger Hyundais and Kias – you really can trim your charging time down to under 20 minutes.
Of course, you don’t necessarily need to charge from 10-80 per cent every time. More experienced EV drivers will know the cruising ranges of their cars, and will know how much they need to get home, and with home charging being as much as one eighth the cost of public rapid charging, why would you not do that? The trick to keeping costs down is to have a home charger with a good night rate tariff, and then only use the fast and rapid chargers for a quick five-10-minute top-up to gain enough range to get home.
Cost, of course, is a big factor when it comes to public fast charging, and it’s becoming more expensive. ESB recently raised its prices to as much as 64c per kWh on a rapid chargers, and IONITY charges more than 70c per kWh if you’re not signed up to one of its subscription services. Then again, do that and the IONITY rate drops to as little as 43c per kWh, which is far more reasonable.
Even so, at standard ESB public charging rates, which are likely to go up again soon with the reinstatement of 13.5 per cent VAT on electricity prices (up from 9 per cent VAT now), running an EV using only public charging can actually be more expensive than putting petrol or diesel into a tank, which is not a good position. Certainly, for those living in houses or apartments where home charging is not an option, this needs a serious rethink.
Then there’s the issue of interoperability. In theory, EU rules state that all public charging points must have tap-and-go facilities to allow instant and easy payment by credit or debit card. Which is a good thing, and it saves lots of messing about with specific RFID cards, or trying to turn on a charger in an underground car park using a mobile app for which you’ve suddenly no signal.
However, there’s a drawback. The EU regulation only applies to newer charging points, which means that if you don’t want to get caught out, you still need to have those stacks of RFID cards and multiple apps on your phone, some of which make you deposit money in a “wallet” for future charging.
The charging network in Ireland has improved out of all recognition since the far-off days of trying to get charging for a 160km-range first-generation Nissan Leaf. Chargers are more reliable than ever, and both the chargers and the batteries in the cars are becoming ever more capable of seriously quick charging, with genuine five-10-minute charging a realistic prospect in the next few years.
However, for mass EV acceptance with the car-buying public, we still need to leverage the fact that if electricity is everywhere, then so too should charging be. Until there’s a slow charger in every parking space and a bank of rapid chargers in every service station, there will still be nagging doubts among many about making the EV switch.
