Charging an EV is quite different from putting fuel into a combustion car. So we take a look at the nuts and bolts of charging an EV.

For anyone new to Electric Vehicles, it can be a daunting task getting to grips with charging. There is a lot of new terminology, and it takes a different way of thinking. So we’ve broken down the basics of EV charging and some of the terminology that you need to know!

What happens when charging?

Let’s take a really simple look first. We know that you put fuel into a petrol or diesel car to drive it. And with EVs, you put in electricity. We do this by plugging a cable into the car. This draws electricity from the grid and puts it into the car’s battery. The principle is just the same as charging up your mobile phone or laptop. But there are a whole host of variables in there, so let’s continue on with the places that you can charge an EV

Home charging

Most people who own an EV at the moment have some form of off-street parking either at home or work where they can charge. Although people do run EVs without this off-street parking, it takes a little more planning and flexibility.

You can charge your EV by plugging it into a 3-pin socket like you would a laptop. But we wouldn’t be recommending that as a long-term solution. It’s also very slow. The car will typically charge at about 2kW. So in something like a Hyundai Kona, that’s 30 hours to go from 0% to 100% charge!

Most people will have a home charger fitted by a qualified electrician. In Ireland, very few houses have a 3-phase supply of electricity that you might get in a commercial building. So your home charger will likely be limited to about a 7kW supply. In the vast majority of cases, this is enough to get someone fully charged by the time they wake up the next morning. You put back in about 50km of range per hour, but of course, that depends on the car you have!

Public Charging

It gets a little more complicated when we talk about charging in public. So we’ll break this down into two sections. The first is slower AC charging. The other is much faster DC charging. There are a handful of exceptions, but we’ll keep it simple for now.

AC stands for Alternating Current. This is the type of electricity that we have in our grid and that our homes use. There are thousands of AC charging sockets littered around Ireland. You see them in supermarket car parks, office car parks, and a good few placed on streets. A good portion of these posts can charge at up to 22kW. That sounds great, but the majority of modern EVs can only take in the region of 7kW to 11kW on AC. So you’re looking at adding about 50km to 80km per hour plugged in depending on the type of car you have.

DC stands for Direct Current. These DC chargers are the fast ones. You’ll find them littered around in places like motorway service stations. They will charge your car much faster than you can on the AC chargers we just mentioned. Pretty much every DC fast charger in Ireland will be capable of at least 45 to 50kW. But more modern infrastructure is being rolled out, and we’re starting to see some 150 and 350kW chargers being installed. It’s worth mentioning that how fast your car will charge on these units depends a lot on what car you have. For example, the Mazda MX-30 has a very disappointing peak rate of 37kW, even if you’re connected to a 350kW charger!

Cost

Let’s move on to cost now, and we’ll start off with the cheapest and work our way up.

There are still a handful of free chargers littered around the country in some places like hotels and shopping centre car parks. But in general, you have to pay for the electricity you consume.

So let’s just look at the cost of home charging for a moment. Of course, if you have solar panels on your roof, then you will be able to charge for free. There is even a home charger called the Zappi. It’s a smart charger that knows how much solar you are producing, how much electricity your house is using…and then diverts the excess into your car instead of sending it back to the grid!

A lot of EV drivers with home chargers will get a night-rate meter. A lot of tariffs offer discounted rates for nighttime use of electricity. So let’s say you have a Hyundai Kona with a 64kWh usable battery. You’re really low on charge. So you tell the car to start charging automatically when the night rate kicks in at €0.10cent per kWh. You’ll go from nearly empty to full by the time you wake up the next morning. And what will that cost you? About €6 in total, and you’re good for another 400km driving! But even if you don’t have a night rate meter, you’re still only paying about €12 or €13 for that full charge.

On the public network, it’s more expensive. ESB, and EasyGo are the main networks used. But you will also see a few IONITY units, and of course the famous Tesla Supercharger network. Each company has different pricing levels, so we’ll stick to some generalisations. ESB have a Pay As You Go or a subscription model. On AC, you’ll pay €0.23 to €0.27c per kWh. On DC that’ll go up to €0.27 and €0.31 for the Fast chargers. ESB’s High Power chargers can be up to €0.37 per kWh. So it is significantly more expensive than charging at home. EasyGo chargers have a small connection fee and then charge at €0.35 per kWh. So a full charge on a Hyundai Kona would theoretically cost you about €23.00. IONITY are hugely expensive for those that do not have one of the car brands associated with the network.

The future of charging?

EVs are starting to become more than just a box on wheels. The future of EVs is bright, largely due to their functionality. In terms of charging, there are numerous technologies that are on the cusp of being rolled out. Chargers are getting faster by the year, and the cars themselves are able to charge at rates unimaginable when the LEAF came out a decade ago.

Wireless charging is undergoing successful trials. Although not as valuable for private cars, they will be great for buses and taxis that are on the road all day. Charging speeds are comparable with a lot of the current infrastructure. The one thing holding technology back is the cost of installation, but that is likely to change over time.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of charging your car in the future is that it will be bidirectional. So you can charge your car at night on cheap electricity, then sell it back to the grid at a higher price during peak hours. Or, you could charge up at night, and then use your car’s battery to power your house during the day when prices are more expensive. Successful trials are already in place, and we can’t wait to see more of it!

Summary

There was a lot of information in there to give a general summary of EV charging in Ireland. The reality is that only a small amount of the information will be relevant to you. Some people almost never use the public network. Others have access to a charger in work and never pay for their electricity. So it’s important to research how an EV would fit into your lifestyle. If you're interested in finding out more about charging at your home or place of work, reach out to us on www.nevocharging.ie and we'd be happy to help.

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