Thinking of getting an EV?

With so much talk at the moment surrounding EV infrastructure in Northern Ireland, we decided to ask our Managing Director Stephen Clarke his thoughts on the challenges that EV owners face currently, the benefits to owning an EV and some things you might need to consider before committing.  Stephen is passionate about EVs and could talk all day about the benefits they bring but don’t worry we told him to keep his answers as short as he could!

Q: What do you think the advantages are of owning an EV in NI at the moment?

The average commute for many in Northern Ireland would be approximately 50 miles round trip per day. As most EV’s are capable of doing 250 miles plus it means that most people’s daily commute can be completed easily in an EV.  Depending on distance to work or appointments during the week, sometimes 2 or 3 days can go by without needing to charge. Charging your EV at home currently costs around £0.09 per mile charging on a day rate and that falls to around £0.04 per mile on night tariff.  That compares to around £0.14 per mile for a 50 mpg diesel car so it could save you £1000 per year based on a 10,000-mile year.   It’s a very economical way of traveling around Northern Ireland providing you have access to charge points.

Q: Would you say there is a specific type of EV that would be better to own in Northern Ireland? I know you’re a Tesla fan…

Any EV that can travel to 220/230 miles plus would be fine for travelling around NI. To be honest with the infrastructure starting to improve in, you can easily drive anywhere in Ireland, certainly Southern Ireland with ease.  West of Ireland can be slightly hit or miss at the moment but certainly anywhere in Southern Ireland you can drive easily on a charge and get charging as you travel. The secret to owning an EV is to remember ABC - Always Be Charging. Whenever you can charge your car, you should.  This could be as simple as stopping at a shop for a coffee that has EV chargers available, because you don’t know when you could use the extra 30/40/50 miles range so always be charging.

Q: Many people would choose a Tesla over other EVs because Tesla has the Supercharger Infrastructure in Ireland. Would you say this is a bit of a barrier for example for non Tesla drivers who want to stick to brand, but the supercharging facilities aren’t available to them yet in NI or even in the South of Ireland?

It is, although Tesla are starting to open their services to all users, and this is currently available widely across EU and UK.  I suspect they will do this in Ireland as well, although I would think they’ll need to improve the infrastructure in NI before they allow that to happen.  So currently at the moment it is a bit of a barrier. Even in NI at the moment, Tesla don’t have many Supercharging stations due to infrastructure barriers.  If you want to travel to Cork for example in a EV BMW, you will have to rely on the current improving EV infrastructure on the route which can be hit or miss with getting access to an available charger and also charging at a high enough rate to get the miles needed to move on with your journey. 

Q: What do you think the biggest challenge is in relation to the infrastructure being the way it is in NI at the moment?

Connection charges and connections generally.  Both ESB & NIE have huge issues getting connections to EV charging stations simply because of the load they have to take. Where the superchargers are located creates a logistical problem for the utility operators.

Q: What do you think the solution is for this?

More investment is needed in the network.

Q: From NIE?

NIE already do this through their deep charging regime that they have at the minute. NIE need to invest more money in the network themselves and not rely solely on the charge point operators to be responsible for the network upgrades.  This is a substantial cost which is putting off investors.

Q: You’ve had some recent meetings with NIE what was the purpose of those meetings? What were the outcomes?

We met with the NIE to try and understand from them and the CPOs (that’s the charge point operators) what their issues were regarding the charging network.   It seems to be that NIE have a certain methodology for first of all having to do network studies and then harmonic load checks on the equipment.  Sometimes this can be hugely challenging to get NIE the information they require. The NIE were challenged on this, but they said it’s information that should be readily available. However, many of the chargers that are being installed are manufactured in Europe, America or the far east and they might have slightly different voltages, slightly different harmonics, and this causes a problem with the NIE because they can’t get the data sheets they are looking for.

Q: Do you think there is anything the government can do other than get their asses together to help the situation?

Certainly, if we had an assembly then there could be much more focus on the NIE to deliver what they need to deliver to allow charge point operators to come in to install the network.

Q: If you live in an apartment block or on a street with no garage or driveway, how do you think that’s going to work in the future, what is the solution?

That is a problem.  On street parking is an issue but there are systems in place in the UK where you can put a cable out on a gantry over the top of the footpath.  You can’t run the cables under the footpath or on the footpath but apparently the local governments will allow you to put a cable in the ground, but nobody seems to know actually quite how that would work with the local governments. The usual confusion! So certainly, swinging the cable out overhead on a frame or a house over to where your car is parked will mean the cables up and out of the way. There are plenty of those on the market – you can find those anywhere.

Apartments are a different ballgame, having said that, planning does require that there should be car parking spaces for apartment users and therefore CPO's should be allowed to come into apartment complexes and put in specific chargers for EV drivers. It could well be that eventually every car parking space in an apartment block will have an EV charger linked to it.

Q: As an EV driver yourself is there any tips or tricks you have that could help others with charging or saving money with EVs?

Yes, as mentioned before, ABC (always be charging). Charge even when you don’t think you need to be charging within reason - don’t hog public chargers.  You’ll get that phone call to say you need to go somewhere, or you have to take someone somewhere, and you go out and there are 30 miles on the car.  So always try and be prepared and plan ahead.  

Q: At home what are some tips and tricks for charging or in work? Are there any benefits of charging at night on the night tariff?

I’m not a big fan of charging at work with the employer paying for it. Employers don’t pay for diesel for employee’s personal use and getting in and out of work, so why should they be paying electricity for EV’s? However, if a CPO went in with an app to allow charging at a discounted rate, then yes absolutely. The employer could be putting in subsidised chargers in the office.

I don’t believe that employers should provide free charging for all employees with EVs as the cost of this will get pretty high in the future with so many people moving to EVs. Certainly if the CPO's provided a basic rate for the users equivalent to petrol or diesel (whatever pence per kW hour that would be) then yes I fully support that so it means people can get Into work (especially people who live in apartments or don’t have off street parking) then they can go into work, charge and then go back home again. Generally, if you’ve got 200 odd miles range you can leave your house, get into work and fully charge and then go back out home without any bother.

Q: As an employer we have two charge points in the office that are solely for Director use only, but they aren’t really used. What would you say to other employers about installing EVs into the workplace that could be subsidised to employees?

The reason why we don’t use ours in the office is because generally they’re on the day tariff which is quite expensive for commercial use.  If we were able to get an all day tariff for charging, then obviously we could charge in work for a lot cheaper. For all employers, possibly look at solar panels to offset the charge of that and look at battery storage.  Again, it would only be used for company car users that get their fuel paid for. Employees would be using at a subsidised rate through a CPO. 

Q: How would you go about charging them? Are some car chargers able to Q: bills for you?

You get an app on your phone from the CPO like EasyGo, or WEEVE so whenever you come and plug your car in you start it on your app and you get charged on your credit card through the app.

Q: So that could be located in a workplace?

It could be Yes.  If you are interested, get in touch with a CPO and they would be happy to provide advice and guidance on this. The CPO will come in and put chargers in your office for you which any employee can use as long as they’ve got the app.

Q: Should it be something businesses should look into providing to help improve the infrastructure? Especially around Belfast where there is maybe underground parking etc.

What that does is it reduces a need then for superchargers and other charges outside of the workplace so more people can park and charge in work.  There is then less reliance on the infrastructure network. Having said that obviously NIE need to be consulted to make sure that there is enough supply at the office. But generally, there should be for a couple of chargers.

Q: If you did want to check your supply, who would you go to?

NIE

Q: Would you get SCC MEP to do that for you?

Of course, you would.

Any offices really shouldn’t have anything more than possibly 7 or 11 kilowatts charger, because most EVs can’t take more than 11KW. Some can take around 22KW, unless you go to DC. DC chargers are really just for rapid charging where you just need to charge 2 or 3 hours, if someone is coming into the office and parking for 7 hours, 11kW chargers is more than enough. In fact, 7kW would do for a 7-hour day.

Q: Have you anything else to add?

EV’s are the way forward to help the environment, they’re coming like a train down the track, and we need to all embrace it and get away from using fossil fuels. We are all seeing the damage happening by fossil fuels being used in terms of climate change and air quality. People argue that EV’s aren’t as environmentally friendly because of the mining and use of materials, but batteries are reusable and at the end of their life they can be recycled and reused. Around 95% of the elements used in batteries can be recovered after their useful life and can be recycled infinitely.

I hear a lot of talk about the mining of lithium and cobalt, but oil is mined and produces waste products. So, getting oil out of the ground and processing has an environmental impact for a one time hit. Most EV car manufacturers use sustainable mining of lithium and cobalt results in the mined product being used multiple times for maybe 20 plus years. Cobalt is also used in oil refinement so if you are driving a petrol or diesel car you are using it. In addition, battery manufactures are working to engineer cobalt out of batteries and currently half of Tesla’s have no cobalt. 

Q: Should we also check our tariffs to make sure you’re on the green tariff or equivalent?

Absolutely - yes if you’re on the EV green tariff or equivalent then you’re getting your electricity from renewable sources.

Thanks Stephen for taking the time for this Q&A and huge thank you to EVANI for checking our facts and figures.