The number of electric and battery powered cars in Ireland is rising. Sales of Electric Vehicles are up by almost 50% in the first few months of this year. This is in keeping with our own experience here at Peter Hanley Motors. Electric vehicles sales and the public interest in battery powered cars continue to grow. With the increase in electric driving, there is an added need for public charging points. Much has been written about the lack of fast chargers’ points in Ireland and we know that the Government has promised to invest in the system from July 2023 onwards. For now, public charge points are in constant demand. A few independent companies provide electric vehicle charge points. The cost of a charge differs for each provider and there can be big differences in cost depending on which county you live in. The variations in prices of public charging for your EV’s can be more marked than it the differences we see in petrol and diesel pump prices.
Public charging points are usually a combined charging system, or CCS, which can charge at either a faster or slower rate. A Combined Charging System can deliver up to 50 Kilowatts and give as much as 120 kilometres of range. Home charging is still the cheapest way to charge your electric vehicle. Usually type 1 and type 2 connectors are used for slower home charging. While this charging is nowhere near a fast car, they are easier on battery life over time. The grant for chargers are still available. On average, Irish drivers pay less than €5 per kWh per charge as they shop around and use home charging. Electric vehicle drivers in Denmark pay around €8 per kWh, making it the most expensive EU country while the Netherlands charge just 80cent per kWh. Ireland is the 7th most expensive country in Europe to charge an EV.
A number of companies offer public charging facilities on the 800 public charging network sites with different price rates and with rapid chargers costing a bit more.
The ESB or Electricity Supply Board have over a thousand public charging points where you can pay as you go or avail of the monthly fee option. The monthly standing charge will give a cheaper charging rate at the unit. Ecars have three kinds of charging stations. A Standard AC (up to 22kWh), Fast Chargers (up to 50kW) and a High Power (up to 150Kwh). The high-power charging hubs are typically located in and around the national road networks and can accommodate a number of vehicles simultaneously. These fast chargers boast that they can give up to 100 km of electric driving range in under 10 minutes. At the time of writing the costs for the monthly sign up is €4.79 per month and this gives you 50.9 cent per kWh for a Standard charging and 58.6 cent for the Fast Charge point and 61.7cent per kWh. It is more expensive with the pay as you go option, and the same charging systems cost 56.3 cent per standard, 64.7 cent for Fast charging and 68.2cent for the High-powered option.
EasyGo are Ireland’s first private electric vehicle charging company or eMSP network (eMobility Services Provider) and have over 2,000 charge points in the country. These are typically situated in garage forecourts and supermarket car parks. There is a monthly subscription rate and a pay as you go option. It is difficult to say how much they charge as the price varies from site to site, with different costs for peak time charging. EasyGo are also managing charging units belonging to other companies. The website offers clearer information for those who are signed up and signed member. For motorists availing of these charge points, they can see the pricing information displayed on the unit when they plug in and select the correct charger and before the charge begins. EasyGo have an average cost of about 27cent connection fee and a rate of 50c per kWh for use (including VAT), but this varies quite a bit from location to location.
Ionity are the new kids on the block and are more expensive than other providers. They charge around 73cent per Kwh. Ionity have just five sites with fourteen charge points all located in and around the east coast motorways.
This are another private company that are growing their presence of public DC and AC charge points across the country. You can access their chargers through their ePower EV Charging app or the Plugsurfing app. Prices vary.
Tesla operate their own supercharger hubs exclusively reserved for Tesla vehicles. SuperChargers are exclusively reserved for Tesla vehicles, but area often paired with destination which can be used for any EV.
New charge points are being added to the network all the time and going forward, this will include charging bollards, induction mats for wireless charging and the more usual plug-in charge points. We will be welcoming the long-awaited Electric Vehicles Charging Infrastructure Strategy 2022 – 2025 where the Irish Governments plan to roll out the ambitious delivery of a national EV charging network. The plans include a pool of high-powered chargers stationed every 60 km on our motorway network and more home/apartment charging, residential neighbourhood charging (including new mobility hubs). They are planning destination charging and en-route charging. It will be interesting to see if this will have any effect on the pricing. No matter what the various companies are charging, the cost of powering up your electric vehicle is still hugely cheaper than running a diesel or petrol car.
Here at Peter Hanley Motors, we are always happy to advise on anything related to electric vehicle driving, charging and the associated costs.
Peter Hanley Motors is a registered
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