Any advice for Ireland Roadtrip?

[NewbieT]

Just a note- Gridserve Holyhead look liike 120kW machines but they only charge at about 50kW.

 

[DJP31]

For anyone else considering a trip, I've just done a 10 day trip: Holyhead-Dublin-Galway-Killarney-Cork-Rosslare-Fishguard

Much like @WannabeOwner I look at hotels I want to stay in, but start with those with Tesla destination chargers as they are generally of a good standard anyway.

1. Trearddur Bay Hotel Holyhead - we stayed there the night before the crossing. 3 x Tesla chargers, 3 phase and free to use.
2. Merrion Hotel Dublin - underground parking and 2 x chargers - I didn't use them.
3. Glenlo Abbey Hotel Galway - 3 out of 4 working EasyGo 3 phase chargers. I echo @WannabeOwner's experience with the app. Counter intuitive but once you've worked out to ignore the instructions on the unit and use the app to select the charger you are attached to it works very well. Usual pricing, 40p ish.
4. Killarney Park Hotel - 2 x Porsche destination chargers. As you'd expect they look very nice, were 3 phase and free to use.
5. Montonette Hotel Cork - 2 x EasyGo, same as at Glenlo. 3 phase and 40p ish.

As a consequence of the above, and adding in my start/return point in Surrey I only used the Supercharger network twice, both splash and dashes largely required due to bladder anxiety - Oxford on the way up and Sarn on the way back.

We had a fantastic time and the 1500 ish miles cost me £75 in fuel - which I do enjoy mentioning to my ICE friends

I still have 8 Euros on the EasyGo app, @WannabeOwner did you manage to close you account or at least get a refund?

 

[mnobleuk]

For those that have travelled on a ferry in their Tesla, is there any special settings you need to turn off/on while on the ferry i.e. Tilt/Intrusion off?

As per previous respondents - turn tilt off. Also its been a while since I ferried but one thing I noticed was the range estimate when you are navigating in the car sees the ferry miles as driven miles so the estimated charge state on arrival figure will be inaccurate.

 

[Gwgan]

Can anyone speak to fast charging options for Teslas in the Northwest? Want to get a car in Dublin and have two nights to spend in Donegal and drive all over the place. Would prefer to rent a Model 3 over an ICE. The ESB chargers have chademo and CCS but Teslas cannot use the CCS directly, correct? Is there an adapter like there is for chademo?

 

[Bantam]

The ESB chargers have chademo and CCS but Teslas cannot use the CCS directly, correct? Is there an adapter like there is for chademo?

With the exception of the early Teslas, all Tesla over this side of the pond (EU) come with type 2/ CCS ports (not Tesla’s own NACs

 

[Jason71]

With the exception of the early Teslas, all Tesla over this side of the pond (EU) come with type 2/ CCS ports (not Tesla’s own NACs

Its almost like its called the "North American" Charging standard for a reason

 

[WannabeOwner]

Is there an adapter like there is for chademo?

Model 3/Y have always had CCS in Europe.

For old MS/MX cars (that didn't already come with CCS) then YES. However, older cars need a service upgrade to enable the CCS adaptor to work.

So only MS / MX need adaptor (even Raven models). I doubt you would need Chademo (and unlikely to find one in a rental either ...) but I took my Chademo adaptor when I went to Ireland - charging was sparse, and plenty of it was abysimally slow - see the review of my trip to Ireland upthread

 

[Bantam]

Its almost like its called the "North American" Charging standard for a reason

I never knew that is what NACS stood for... every day is a school day

 

[Jason71]

Model 3/Y have always had CCS in Europe.

For old MS/MX cars (that didn't already come with CCS) then YES. However, older cars need a service upgrade to enable the CCS adaptor to work.

So only MS / MX need adaptor (even Raven models). I doubt you would need Chademo (and unlikely to find one in a rental either ...) but I took my Chademo adaptor when I went to Ireland - charging was sparse, and plenty of it was abysimally slow - see the review of my trip to Ireland upthread

And for the benefit of the Op please note its CCS2 not the CCS1 that you have in the US. Yes its still bulky and heavy ( maybe even more so than CCS1) but its more reliable and importantly does not have the latching mechanism on the plug where it can be easily damaged by careless users. And most importantly its what is now fitted to 99%+ of new EV's sold so its virtually universal.

 

[Gwgan]

So a Model 3 can use a ESB Combo-CCS plug and get 50kW? 200kW?

 

[Jason71]

So a Model 3 can use a ESB Combo-CCS plug and get 50kW? 200kW?

The rating on the M3 is the same as it is in the US which is I think about 250kw but as I am sure you know you only get that with a warm battery on a low state of charge but yes you can plug into any CCS (CCS combo as called above) 50kw, 200kw does not matter. what speed you actually get is hard to predict.
Some of the chargers are 800v capable. you can still use them but you will be lucky to get half of the say 350kw rating on a 400volt Tesla.


Edit you can also use any "Type2" charger for 7-11kw overnight charging

you might find an app like zap-map useful if you don't have one already:

Map of electric charging points for electric cars UK: Zapmap

UK-wide map of electric car charging points allowing EV drivers to find EV charge points and plan electric journeys to the nearest charging point.

www.zap-map.com

 

[thewishy]

So a Model 3 can use a ESB Combo-CCS plug and get 50kW? 200kW?

The Tesla supercharger walled garden does make things very consistent and easy.

In general, anything over 100kW will be 100kW for 800v architecture only. The cables will have a current limit which will roughly halve the power available to a typical EV (including Tesla). It's something of an irritation.

So the 200kW mentioned will fit fine, and likely charge well, but you'll often have a 100kW charge limit.
A 50kW charger is likely to active give you 50kW, assuming it's in good shape (They're generally a modular architecture with multiple power boards. Individual boards can fail and reduce the output)

Overall the experience is less consistent, but it has resulted in access to far more chargers. (And you can still use superchargers, most Tesla owners would use superchargers out of preference on a road trip, but it's definitely convenient when the supermarket you're stopping at has a 150kw rapid)
I'd also say that Electrify America has left everybody in NA with a terrible impression of CCS, even if the standard itself has nothing to do with the problem.

If your coming from the US, FYI, European autopilot is the "highways only" autopilot from a couple years ago. It will randomly freak out when going through towns/villages.

 

[Gwgan]

Where I’m going (Donegal region) there are no Superchargers yet. Even one 50kW charger will get the job done. Sounds doable. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Gwgan]

Turns out it is over $1k to rent the Tesla and one tenth of that to rent an ICE so I won’t be worrying about charging after all.

 

[Overworked]

Can anyone speak to fast charging options for Teslas in the Northwest? Want to get a car in Dublin and have two nights to spend in Donegal and drive all over the place. Would prefer to rent a Model 3 over an ICE. The ESB chargers have chademo and CCS but Teslas cannot use the CCS directly, correct? Is there an adapter like there is for chademo?

Wrong way round. Teslas use CCS2, which is standard throughout all of Europe. It is not the CCS1 used by a few vehicles in the USA.

Think of it like NACS, which will soon be the standard in the North America region. Although we have had CCS2 as standard for all EV’s Throughout europe for many years so find it amusing that some Americans think that this new-found “all over” standard is something they will graciously offer to the old world

The chinese market also already has a standard - and considering their EV market is about 4 times that of the USA, finally the North American market has caught up!!

Chademo is only now used by a few old Japanese vehicles - probably Leaf’s, and old cars since EU regulation made CCS2 standard many years ago. I don’t think I have ever seen a car that had Chademo plugs

 

[Jason71]

Turns out it is over $1k to rent the Tesla and one tenth of that to rent an ICE so I won’t be worrying about charging after all.

Given that we established that there are no superchargers where you are. Why does it have to be a Tesla? have you looked at other EV's? there are often some cheap deals on things like Polestar 2's but tbh you are probably still going to find ICE cheaper at present.