I got 10 panels (4.3kW), a 5kWh battery and an Eddi (hot water diverter - basically a smart immersion) last March. Saved loads over the summer months. Not so much since around October. Overall very happy with it. Only regret is not getting more panels. Also switched to a smart plan with Electric Ireland around June. Cost was €7600 after grant. Shop around for as many quotes as you can though, I had quotes of almost twice that from Electric Ireland’s “Solar Partner”. A lot of cowboys out there, would recommend joining Irish Solar Owners Group on Facebook, tons of info and recommendations there. I have a BMW i4 since January 2023, very very happy with it. It was in for its first service last month (€430), replaced rear tyres last August (€420), that is all I’ve had to spend on maintenance in almost 40,000km. Electricity costs work out at about €50 a month, 95% of charging is at home so benefits from cheap night rate (10c per kWh from 2am-4am), 16c from 11pm-8am. Next car will most definitely be an EV as well, probably a Porsche Taycan or a Renault 5 Turbo if they really do make a 500hp one.
I seen something the other day that in Feb over 50% of our electricity was generated from renewables. That's some going.
I'm looking to change the car in the next while and I was doing some digging around and EV. I drive a lot for work so it may make sense, the sales rep i was talking to reckons where I'm spending about €90 or so a week on diesel it would be about €35 to charge the car based on my electric rate. Just wondering if anyone is able to tell me how close to range in practicality the cars are when you get them on the road. I was looking at the Skoda Elroq and it has something like 576km of range, I'm assuming running radios etc shorten that?
Was looking into this recently. On average can lose up to 20% in winter https://www.greencars.com/greencars...inter range loss,240 miles when it's freezing.
I have a Kia Niro ev - max range advertised was 460km - I got this sometimes last summer, but 360 to 380 is more realistic for winter time, 430 to 450 in summer time- last couple of weeks back up to 410. Hard driving, over 100km per hour on the motorway and/or using the heating in the car, also impacts the range.
If the claimed range is 576km, you should comfortably get around 500 in Summer and 400 in Winter. You should also be able to reduce your €90 diesel to around €20 if you choose a rate or supplier carefully, assuming you do most charging at home. Bear in mind that installing a home charger might be quite expensive if you need any upgrade work done to your house, especially if it is old-ish. The range will depend on your driving style and the conditions. The weather at the moment is ideal, you don't need to have air-con blasting all day and the roads are dry. I find that cold air doesn't make a huge difference to range compared to having heat on. Heated seats and steering wheel are a lot more efficient than hot air too.
Thanks for the replies folks. Just wondering on a charger install do they take long and are they expensive? Been doing a fair bit of homework but i hadn't factored it in.
You'd be looking at around €1000-1500 at a guess, depends on the location of the consumer unit and where you want the charger fitted, and of course which charger you want. Kia are doing a free charger offer at the moment, but requires you to sign up to Energia which may or may not be what you want. It shouldn't take more than 3 or 4 hours, again depends on your circumstances.