ELECTRIC DRIVERS PICK UP THE TAB
THE party finally is ending for electric car drivers who have been able to top up for free at hundreds of ESB public charging points across the country. From August 10, tariffs will be introduced for the 22kW chargers, following on from those put in place for the 50kW chargers last November.
Sales of BEVs (battery electric vehicles) are on the increase. In the first six months of 2019, 1,954 were sold and in the same period this year, even allowing for the near-total collapse of sales at the height of lockdown, 1,891 BEVs left the forecourts. Signs are that full year sales will exceed last year’s, especially as a raft of new models such as the Opel Corsa-E (from €27,338) and Peugeot E-208 (from €27,334 – that €4 is going to make all the difference!) is bringing fully electric driving within the price range needed for mass-market adoption of the technology.
While most owners have installed home-charging 7kW wallboxes (and some companies pay for them in part or in full as part of the sales offer), they also have for years been able to top up the battery for free at ESB ecars locations. Also, when Ionity entered the Irish market, it offered 100kW high-speed charging at a flat fee of €8, but later switched to a fee per kW that made charging the likes of an Audi e-tron cost as much as €70 from empty.
In short, running costs for BEVs definitely are rising. The cheapest way to charge still is from a home wallbox, especially if you have night-rate electricity, but when you’re charging out and about, the price gap is lessening all the time.
Now, at ESB charge points, it will cost 26.8c per kW on a payas-you-go basis, or 23c per kW if you join the membership scheme that costs €4.60 a month. Clearly, you would have to work out your mileage, because you could buy 159kW with the €4.60 saved if you didn’t subscribe.
The ESB says it needs to introduce the payment to fund the expansion of the network, and that is a good thing – but the cost of driving 100km in a 40kW Nissan Leaf is €3.97 on pay-asyou-go, and the same journey in a 1.5-litre diesel Ford Focus costs €5.68. The big difference is that the Leaf starts at €29,980, but the Focus is €3,935 cheaper. For most of us, that’s when we whip out the calculator to find out which is best in the long term!