HERE THERE & EVWHERE
How does electric vehicle cope with lengthy roadtrip?
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan wants to see us all switch from petrol and diesel motors to EVS, but critics say there are few incentives to make the switch as there are not enough fast charging points on our motorways and the cost of fast charging is prohibitive.
Our technology writer MARK KAVANAGH is an EV enthusiast, so we sent him on a return road trip to Tralee to see if such a lengthy journey was feasible in an electric car.
I SET out from Dublin at 3pm on a Saturday in an EV en route to Tralee where I had arranged to meet friends for dinner at 7pm.
More importantly, I needed to be back in Killiney in south Dublin by noon the following morning for a family Christening.
I was driving a Skoda Enyaq IV 80x which has a battery range of up to 400km so I knew I would need to refuel at least once.
Research revealed that my overnight accommodation was situated minutes away from an ESB fast charging point in Tralee town centre.
The journey time to Tralee from where I departed was, according to Google Maps, three hours and 26 minutes. And the same app rated the distance to the Kingdom at 289km.
At the start of the day, the Enyaq’s battery had been fully charged to 100% – as it would be if you were an EV owner with a home charging point. Most EV users recharge their car overnight at home as it’s cheaper than using public charging points.
But after running a few errands, by the time I was ready to drive to Tralee the battery was down to 93% with a remaining range of 362km.
Theoretically this was still enough power to get me to Tralee, but I made the decision at the outset to refuel en route.
However, a search on Google informed me that there were only two fast charging points on the direct route to Tralee – one in Moneygall at the Barack Obama Plaza and one at a service station in Newcastlewest.
Google can make mistakes, however, so I checked the app ABRP (A Better Route Planner) which will detail all charging points on your particular route.
And if you input the make and model of your vehicle and the battery percentage when leaving, the app will advise where you need to stop and for how long.
The bad news was that ABRP confirmed what Google had told me – there were only two stops on the direct route with fast charging points.
And from the outset, ABRP was advising that I would need to stop in Newcastlewest and refuel for 20 minutes. I didn’t mind that at all as it’s good to take a break from driving on such a marathon trek for a coffee or a Red Bull.
However, I made the rookie mistake of driving at the maximum permitted speed on the motorway and about 100 minutes into my journey (after a quick pitstop) the battery was down to 44% and the range had plummeted to 142km remaining. I stopped off at the Barack Obama Plaza to recharge. But to my horror, even though this is one of the biggest service stations in the country – on arguably the busiest motorway, the M7 – there is only one 50kw fast charging point and there was a queue for it. There is a slow charging point too, but these are almost pointless at a motorway service station unless you have hours to spare. I didn’t. I decided to drive on to Newcastlewest and keep my speed as low as possible to ensure the 142km range lasted for the distance from Moneygall of 97km. For the first time on the trip, I was worried. I cancelled my 7pm dinner appointment as I knew the combination of lower speed and refuel time meant I wouldn’t land in the Co Kerry town until close to 8pm. This was still time for us all to catch a show later that evening at 10pm.
The next hour and a half of the trip was stressful as I wondered what the hell I would do if I ran out of power before I got to my Co Limerick charging station. And what if the charging point there had a queue too?
To be clear, there are fast charging points in M7-bypassed towns such as Nenagh, Monasterevin and Abbeyleix but diverting to any of these added on travel time while depleting my battery with no guarantee the charging points would be free. When I got to Newcastlewest, I had 62km range left and the battery was at 14% and warning me to recharge.
Thankfully I was parked at the charging point bay just seconds before another EV driver pulled in hoping to charge their vehicle. After 30 minutes, I was on my way again with enough power to get me to the fast charging point beside Supervalu in Tralee. When I arrived at my Kerry destination, after 8pm, I set the fast charger in motion and went for a quick dinner with a close pal. By the time we had eaten, the car’s battery was back to the default 80% charge recommended by the in-car system with an estimated range of 273km. I moved the car and parked outside my B&B and off we went to our show. I knew I’d have to stop at Newcastlewest on the return trip next morning. I departed Tralee at
Most EV users recharge their car overnight at home as it’s cheaper
7am which gave me five hours to get to Killiney.
The trip was 310km and Google Maps informed me it would take three hours and 15 minutes.
Even allowing for the 30-minute stop to recharge I should have plenty of time to make the Christening.
I wasn’t stressed on the return leg. I was in Newcastlewest by 8am and as you’d expect at that hour on a Sunday, there was no traffic and the fastcharging point was free.
I gorged on a breakfast roll as the car recharged and I stayed longer than anticipated, boosting the battery back up to 93% and giving myself a range of 314km.
I left Newcastlewest at 8.42am with two hours and 26 minutes and 240km remaining on my journey.
By the time I got to Moneygall at 9.50am I needed a coffee and gave the battery another little boost as this time around the fast-charging point in Barack Obama Plaza was free.
Somewhat relieved, I arrived back in Killiney in ample time for the special ceremony.
This trip cost €60 in fast charging fees, about the same as a trip in a petrol-fuelled motor would have set me back. And while the prohibitive cost on a long journey like this is likely to put people off switching to an EV, it’s worth remembering that many motorists would only make a handful of such trips a year.
For everyday city driving and short commutes, EVS have been proven to save motorists a tidy sum in fuel expenses.
However, Mr Ryan and the department need to remove battery range anxiety as the chief reason most drivers remain reluctant to switch from a fossil fuel powered car that damages the environment to a cleaner electric vehicle.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport admitted to the Irish Sunday Mirror that “the network definitely needs to improve”.
He added: “This is why Minister Ryan established the Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) Office in 2022 to accelerate the switch to EVS. On
January 12, 2023, Minister Ryan launched the new Electric Vehicles Charging Infrastructure Strategy 2022 – 2025, which will see €100million spent on public charging infrastructure over the next three years.
“The strategy presents an ambitious pathway and practical steps for delivery of a national EV charging network which will see a pool of high-powered chargers every 60 km on our motorway network as well as home/apartment charging, residential neighbourhood charging (including new mobility hubs), destination charging and en-route charging.
“Minister Ryan also recently launched a €15million fund for the roll-out of publicly accessible, fastcharging stations for sports clubs and communities across the island of Ireland.”
EVS have been proven to save motorists a tidy sum