ESB ecars Introduce Payment for Charging in RoI

This morning ESB ecars published details regarding the introduction of payment for charging in the Republic of Ireland. This gives us a valuable insight into what lies ahead for Northern Ireland.

There was no mention of fines for over staying so we asked ESB what the plans were for this and they told us…

There will be a €5 over stay fee after 45 minutes.

Here’s the full press release from todays announcement…

ESB ecars introduce pricing to support EV network expansion

• Pricing to be introduced for EV drivers from 18thNovember
• Drivers can sign up via www.esb.ie/ecars from Tuesday 29th October
• ESB ecars continues its national upgrade work as part of €20m investment programme

As part of an overall €20m investment programme to meet Ireland’s growing demand for electric vehicles, ESB ecars has today announced the introduction of pricing on a phased basis for the public electric vehicle charging network. The pricing structure supports the current upgrade programme of ESB ecars’ national infrastructure, with plans also afoot to roll out its first High Power chargers in 2020.

Pricing is to be introduced for existing Fast Public Chargers (50kW) in Ireland from 18th November. This will be followed by the introduction of pricing for High Power Chargers (150kW) once the first high power hubs are installed in early 2020. These fees will not apply to the network in Northern Ireland at this time. The standard (22kW AC) network will continue to be free to use while it is upgraded over the coming months.

Two price plans introduced:

Under the new pricing scheme, there will be two price plans available for the fast chargers – Pay As You Go or Membership, the latter designed for drivers who typically use the network over five times per month:

• Pay As You Go is charged at 33c per kWh
• Membership is a €5 monthly subscription fee and a reduced charge of 29c per kWh

Electric vehicle drivers can avail of an Introductory Offer for a limited time (from 29th October until the end of November) that provides the Membership rate with no monthly subscription for 12 months.

Savings on driving costs:

Savings for electric vehicle drivers can be summarised as follows:

• Through the Introductory Offer, the average electric vehicle driver could save up to 35% on driving costs compared with a diesel driver over 100km.
• For the Pay as You Go customer, the savings for an average electric vehicle driver could be as much as 27%.
• If you are a typical EV driver and charge most of the time at home (85% of charging) and the remaining 15% of charging through public fast chargers, you could save up to 71% compared with a diesel driver.*

Commenting, Niall Hogan, Head of ESB ecars, said: “For Ireland to meet the growing number of electric vehicles s on our roads, we need to ensure we have a reliable, accessible, country-wide public charging network. The introduction of pricing to fast public chargers is a natural step in ensuring we improve the network and maintain high standards into the future for electric vehicles. Today’s announcement of investment in the public EV charging network is another milestone in ESB leading Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy.”

ESB is assessing suitable sites on motorways and the national road network, to deliver over 50 High Power Charging Hubs on motorway and national road sites. These hubs will be able to charge between two and eight vehicles simultaneously and can provide up to 100km of electric driving range in as little as six minutes. Final sites will be based on a range of factors including current charge point usage, traffic volume, accessibility, amenities and grid capacity.

The €20m investment is 50% financed by the Government’s Climate Action Fund with the remainder funded by ESB.

Pricing scheme for public EV charging infrastructure

Under the new pricing scheme, there will be two price plans available for the fast chargers in operation through a:

Pay As You Go option – Charged at 33c per kWh

An ongoing membership subscription (recommended for those using the network over five times per month) – Charged at 29c per kWh and a €5 monthly subscription.

Existing electric vehicle drivers can avail of an Introductory Offer which is available for a limited time from now until the end of November which offers membership rates with no monthly subscription for 12 months. Customers signed up for the introductory offer will be rolled onto the Membership model after the first 12 months.

*To drive 100km, it will typically cost:

*Most electric vehicle drivers charge their car at home or in work and use the public network to top up for 15% of their charges. Taking a 100km drive (85% night rate home charge and 15% public fast charge) the Introductory Offer will typically cost:

*Assumptions for Calculations:

• 2019 Ford Focus Diesel consumption is 4.90L per 100km
• Diesel price: €1.36 – adding 2c onto the AA Roadwatch September 2019 price average because of the budget price increase in diesel.
• 40kWh Nissan Leaf range: up to 270 kms (WLTP 2019)
• Introductory Offer price: €0.29 PAYG price: €0.33
• Electric Ireland night rate €0.1040 (August 2019) Inc. VAT
• Rounded to the nearest %