ESB Ecars

Reports from meetings with ESB Ecars

AC Charger Pricing Survey and ecars Meeting – September 2020

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By Simon Acton – October 5th, 2020

In early September 2020 we asked our members for feedback on their experiences with the standard AC charging network since paid for charging was introduced in early August.

Please find the Survey Results here

Thanks to the contributors. The response rate to these surveys we’re sending are high and therefore significant. They are really important and help ESB Ecars and the charging infrastructure players to understand what us consumers need/want.

IEVOA-ESB Ecars meeting

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The IEVOA met with ESB Ecars on Thursday 19th March 2020 to discuss about its contingency plan during the COVID19 pandemic, but also the current and future infrastructure.

Contingency planning

o    Maintenance and operation of the network is continuing as normal, the situation will remain under review

o    Customer Call Centre is business as usual and have the ability to work remotely also

o    ESB will stay in communication with IEVOA as the situation develops

o    IEVOA will assist with messaging their members to ensure compliance with HSE guidance in relation to Covid 19 when using chargers. ESB to share planned posts or communications.(Done)

Climate Action Fund Project

·         AC replacement programme

o    130 chargers replaced since October – replacements will continue as issues arise with the chargers

o    Uptime significantly improved with the replacement programme (≥ 95% network uptime)

o    Some issues with a small number of new chargers and this is being investigated with the manufacturer

o    Dublin Port first trial unit of new ‘compact’ fast chargers – these units will be used to replace up to 50 existing AC chargers over the next three years

o    The first of these installations are planned for the coming weeks

o    Focus will be on routes and large towns such as the M/N3

o    As they will be using existing electrical supply they will prioritise connector power based on the number of vehicles connected – this will be clearly labelled on the online map

·         Multi charger site hubs

o    Galway Plaza, M6 and Kilcullen, M9 are the first multi charger sites but the current set up is temporary. – One of the existing fast chargers will be replaced with a charger which can charge one car at 150kW or split the charge between two cars. Meaning three cars can charge simultaneously at those locations. We expect delivery of the 150kW chargers in the summer

o    These type of sites (50kW + 150kW) will be quicker and require less infrastructure to build than the 4-8 vehicle hubs and so it is expected that more of these will be delivered in 2020

o    Once final commercial details are worked out with site hosts an announcement will be made on the first phase of hub locations. IEVOA will be issued with these locations in advance of them being published. ESB to confirm likely timing

Introduction of pricing for AC charging

o    As stated previously, ESB had intended to introduce pay for use of the Standard AC chargers following a replacement programme, given that over 130 chargers have been replaced to date and that availability levels on the network have improved significantly, ESB had intended to introduce pricing in the coming months. However, these plans are now on hold in light of current COVID-19 situation. ESB are reviewing IEVOA’s feedback on the service and potential pricing options, and will provide at least a month’s notice of the introduction of pay for use of the Standard AC network.

o    Given the number of locations and types of use case for the Standard AC chargers it is not intended to introduce an overstay fee. However, the option will be retained to introduce one if the network isn’t being used appropriately.

Overview of the results of the IEVOA survey

o    IEVOA provided an overview of the results of their member  survey (c.200 respondents)

o    IEVOA to provide a distilled version of the comments  for written response by ESB

o    ESB to provide a written response for each of the chargers which were identified as having an issue

o    ESB to look at issues around the accuracy of the information being provided on the map, particularly availability   

IEVOA Press release – Introduction of charges on ESB Ecars fast charging network

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23rd October 2019

On Wednesday (23-Oct-2019), ESB ecars announced details of the arrangements to be put in place for paid charging on their Fast Public Charging infrastructure.

The full press release can be found here: https://esb.ie/tns/press-centre/2019/2019/10/23/esb-ecars-introduce-pricing-to-support-ev-network-expansion

In summary:

  • Paid charging on 50kW fast chargers will commence on 18th November 2019
  • Users wishing to avail of this service will be required to sign-up from 29th October
  • Charging will be priced per kWh used with two price plan options:
    • ‘Pay As You Go’ at 33c per kWh
    • ‘Membership’ with a €5 monthly subscription fee at 29c per kWh
  • A limited time introductory offer (available from 29th October until the end of November) will provide the ‘Membership’ rate with no monthly subscription for 12 months
  • A €5 overstay fee will apply for charging sessions exceeding 45 minutes
  • Standard 22kW AC chargers will continue to be free to use for the time being
  • Pricing for High Power Chargers (150kW DC) will be announced once the first high power hubs are installed in early 2020
  • Fees will not apply to the network in Northern Ireland at this time.

The IEVOA is broadly supportive of the measures announced having long held the view that the introduction of paid charging will be positive for current EV owners and will also support on-going EV adoption in line with the objective of the Climate Action Plan. Further, we commend the ESB in taking on board feedback from our members during the consultation process as the measures announced very much follow what the majority of our membership indicated they would like to see when surveyed earlier this year.

The advent of paid charging will allow expansion of the existing EV infrastructure in line with ESBs plans announced in late 2018, including the much needed introduction of high power charging hubs at key locations. It will also allow for the network to be fully maintained and upgraded as required into the future. Furthermore, paid charging opens the way for competition allowing other charge network operators to bring their plans to fruition. This can only be positive for EV owners with more chargers, more choice and competition on pricing. Meanwhile, the price point selected will still ensure that EVs are cheaper to run than their ICE equivalents, whilst encouraging those able to avail of home charging to do so as a preference. Finally, overstay fees should help discourage blocking of chargers for excessive periods, hence the network should be more available to those who need it.

Feedback so far from our membership indicates that they may have liked to have seen a higher overstay fee and also measures to ensure that the overstay fee isn’t easily avoided by unplugging and restarting another session, but we are assured that these trends will be monitored.

We must also acknowledge that this is new territory in Ireland and a starting point. The ESB are open to revising these measures should this prove necessary. To this end the IEVOA will keep close contact with ESB ecars over the coming months following introduction of paid charging, passing on feedback from our members and ensuring their voices are heard.

Contact : pr@irishevowners.ie

IEVOA meeting with ESB Ecars – 23-Aug-2019

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You may have seen elsewhere in the press today that ESB eCars will commence pay charging shortly. So this announcement is just to confirm the details shared with the IEVOA Committee when we met with eCars today.

Firstly, the announcement relates to Fast charge points ONLY. Pay charging for Standard charge points will come later, likely in 2020. So an announcement is to be expected during the next one to two months regards when pay charging will commence, how much this will cost and on what basis it will be costed. There will then be a short period, likely 3-4 weeks, to register for the service before the pay charging service will commence.
We understand that existing RFID cards can be used after being re-registered, and/or a new app to avail of the service.

This is all the information we can provide for now but hope to be able to share some more details early next week.

Fast charge point unit with Chademo, CCS and Mennekes type charge connectors.

ESB FCP Charging Fees Survey Summary

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Dear members,

This is a summary of a survey conducted amongst registered members of the Irish EV Owners Association about the planned introduction of fees at the ESB Ecars Fast Chargers in 2019. The survey applies to the Fast Chargers only and does not include any questions about the standard AC chargers.

This summary report contains the results of all the questions with the exception of the open response question 10. This is for IEVOA committee use only.

78% of the respondents indicated they had access to a home charger.

About 45% of the respondents use an Ecars Fast Charger every week. Most respondents (123) only use one a few times a month but that’s closely followed by a few times a week (117).

Most respondents are in favour of the introduction of fees on a per kWH basis (56%), though over 20% of the respondents would like to keep the chargers free to use.

Most members are in favour of per kWh pricing, (331) would like to keep the cost per kWh at the average Irish home rate (49.9% of those in favour of per kWh billing) with €0.20/kWh and €0.30/kWh the next highest percentages.

Of those in favour of per minute pricing (139), most would like to keep the price at less than €0.20/minute.

Only 21.5% of the respondents are in favour of a flat session fee, around half of those (48.5%) would like the session fee to be less than €3 per session.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (90%) would like to see an overstay fee applied but the response to when this would be applied is very mixed. 1/3 appear to want a per minute fee from the start.

36% of those in favour of a overstay fee would like the price to be more than €0.50/minute.

84% do not want a connection fee to be applied.

In summary, based on the results of this survey, if fees are to be introduced for the use of ESB Ecars Fast Chargers in Ireland the majority of users would like to see per kWh billing at an average home energy rate, without a connection fee, but with some kind of overstay fee.

The summary results of individual questions can be seen on this document.

Thank you to all who took the time to answer this survey.

The Irish EV Owners Association Committee