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Tesla in Ireland

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Hi folks,

I've just ordered mine and it's due for delivery in July. As I'm Irish, I'm looking forward to taking the ferry home for a visit. Dad is desperate to drive it.

I have a few questions about running a Tesla Model S in Ireland. Can you advise me, please?

1. Are there any mechanics in Ireland who could help me if I break down during my stay? I reckon I'll probably need a recovery truck to take my car to Tesla in Birmingham on the ferry.

2. Where would I get an up to date picture of Tesla's Supercharger openings in Ireland? Tesla's 2015 plan (Supercharger | Tesla Motors UK) hasn't been updated with specifics.

3. Is my Model S likely to be aware of the various types and locations of charging stations in Ireland?

Thanks for your help!

Stuart.
 
Hi Stuart,

I'm not Irish, going to Ireland, or know anything about Ireland, and I'm also not a Tesla owner and don't expect to be for a few years at least! But I found your thread because I'm trying to see if Tesla has a plan on my similarly sized island in the southern hemisphere - Tasmania!

I notice on the "end of 2015" plan it shows Galway, Cork and Dublin marked (as well as Belfast). From observing the rollout in other parts of the world, they are pretty good at sticking to their plan. A supercharger station only takes a couple of months to build from start to finish.

Superchargers is a good site to find info but they do rely on local knowledge. If you can search development and planning permits online that may find something, otherwise there is likely to be a local EV association/club/forum/website.

Regarding servicing, they offer a remote service where they will fly someone in to you, but that is probably only countries where they legally have a presence - which may not be Ireland. Getting the vehicle to Northern Ireland may be easier than Birmingham! Best to double check with them directly. Before Tesla were selling in Australia, there was one guy in New Zealand who had his shipped over from the Netherlands. I have no idea how his support contract would read :)
 
1. Are there any mechanics in Ireland who could help me if I break down during my stay? I reckon I'll probably need a recovery truck to take my car to Tesla in Birmingham on the ferry.

Although Tesla are not yet operating in Ireland, the list of emergency phone numbers for roadside assistance includes one for Ireland. It probably connects you to Tesla in the Netherlands, but if they publish the number presumably they intend to help you if you call it...

2. Where would I get an up to date picture of Tesla's Supercharger openings in Ireland? Tesla's 2015 plan (Supercharger | Tesla Motors UK) hasn't been updated with specifics.

This was mentioned at one of the recent 'clubhouse' presentations. Timescale is a little behind for Ireland and they don't yet have an operating entity there; it was suggested that early 2016 for Superchargers was more likely than 2015.

The dots on the 'future' maps tend to be aspirations rather than specific locations; somewhere closer to the time they try to find sites to fit the map - sometimes very close, sometimes circumstances force different locations.

3. Is my Model S likely to be aware of the various types and locations of charging stations in Ireland?

Your Model S is unlikely to be aware of of charging stations anywhere (apart from Superchargers) until you've visited them and it remembers.

For UK, see here http://www.teslapedia.org/model-s/tesla-driver/61-uk-charging-networks for detailed discussion of the many options.

For Ireland, the main option seems to be: http://www.esb.ie/electric-cars/electric-car-charging.jsp
 
I wouldn't be worried about breaking down, in the VERY unlikely case the car can't continue the journey, just call the number and let the Europe wide breakdown kick in.

Effectively you are off grid (as were the early UK guys), and it is certainly not impossible to use the car. You will just find out how shambolic general public charging is :(

You don't say where in Ireland you are heading to, but I'd recommend doing your research, getting the relevant RFID cards for your destination / route, and being prepared that some points on whatever map may or may not work, so build in contingency. The Mantra I used was to stop early and often to keep a decent buffer to reach my destination.

A CHAdeMO adapter certainly would be helpful, as well as a UMC or other portable 13A EVSE.

I'm sure you'd get some more local intel on the non Tesla sites. I'm pretty sure one of the Leaf guys from Speak EV - Electric Car Forums drove to Donegal, so it's certainly not impossible in a Tesla.

HTH

Si
 
Hi Chuq,

I'm a Tesla owner in England but my parents live in Launceston (Tasmania). When I was out there a few years back (for the first time - I lived in WA with them as a youngster before I moved back to England and they moved to Tas) and it struck me then how well suited Tasmania would be to EV ownership - especially a Tesla - as there is no-where you couldn't get to on a single charge... and all that hydro, too. Were I younger, I'd seriously consider moving there and starting up an EV business. Hope Tesla arrive in Tas soon!
 
Effectively you are off grid (as were the early UK guys), and it is certainly not impossible to use the car. You will just find out how shambolic general public charging is :(

I did a road trip around Ireland in my Roadster last summer. Generally speaking, I was impressed with ESB's network. I found one dead one in Northern Ireland but that was it. Only disappointment was that many of the hotel chargers were only 16A when I expected 32A. However public car parks are 32A and often 22kW three phase and there are many CHAdeMOs.

I recommend you join the Irish EV Owners facebook group. Some very knowledgeable guys on there. There is also a website Irish EV Owners | The Irish Electric Vehicle Owners Association Website

On there you will also find a chap called Joe McCarthy. He was helpful to me and I believe also a Model S owner. He's been rolling out an independent, card free network along the lines of the ZCW one in the UK. I won't put his phone number on here but he runs MCC Energy | Green Energy Solutions | Dublin | Ireland
 
Hi Chuq,

I'm a Tesla owner in England but my parents live in Launceston (Tasmania). When I was out there a few years back (for the first time - I lived in WA with them as a youngster before I moved back to England and they moved to Tas) and it struck me then how well suited Tasmania would be to EV ownership - especially a Tesla - as there is no-where you couldn't get to on a single charge... and all that hydro, too. Were I younger, I'd seriously consider moving there and starting up an EV business. Hope Tesla arrive in Tas soon!

Hi Martin,
It would be perfect wouldn't it! Almost every combination of routes between the three biggest cities (Hobart, Launceston and Devonport) and three most remote tourist destinations (Strahan, Cradle Mountain, Freycinet) is under 300km apart (only exception - Strahan to Freycinet, which is 390km and not a typical single day trip!). I think RACT should partner with Tesla to have superchargers at the hotels they own at the latter three destinations :)
 
Thanks for the link. Good to know Tesla is generally on track.

I hadn't thought of NI. I guess you're saying NI would be covered for a call out because it is in UK... Great idea, I'll ask my delivery specialist.

- - - Updated - - -

@Chuq I meant to respond directly to your comment there ^
*noob
 
@arg I must look out for those "clubhouse" meetings. I haven't heard of that before. Thanks for the advice and info.

@smac great to hear your confidence in the car. I'm a bit windy because I haven't had a new car before, so I'm used to breaking down. I have a CHAdeMO sorted but O haven't got a 13A EVSE. I'll look into it now. Thanks.

@dpeilow what a great trip. Thanks for sharing. I'm really impressed by the ESB network. I'll probably not go much further than Dublin - Portlaoise, so I should be well covered. I've just requested membership of the Irish EV Owners Facebook group. Great website too. Thanks!
 
If you are buying an EVSE, I really like this neat all-purpose one EVSELECT 32A Type 2 (V3 Memory) | EVSelect.eu

Then just make a little adapter for 13A to 32A and it covers all scenarios.

Interesting. I've seen people making Type 1 adaptors of this type (with all the control electronics inside the car plug) but not a Type 2 before.

They violate various of the safety requirements set down for such cables (in particular the fact that the entire cable from the wall to the car is unprotected because the electronics are at the car end of the wire when they're supposed to be within something like 30cm of the wall connector).

So for example as soon as you plug one of these into a commando socket there's live mains voltage all the way along the cable and inside the Type 2 plug so if it gets dropped in a puddle, or driven over, or damaged there is a serious shock hazard and potentially no RCD protection, whereas with a "proper" mobile EVSE with a lump in the cable near to the wall connector end there is no mains voltage in the cable or connector until the car and EVSE have done their handshaking, and any earth fault downstream of the lump will immediately trip the power.

But they certainly are neat. Shame that despite being fitted with red 3 phase commando plugs they seem to be single phase 7kW only.
 
I just arrived in Ireland driving all the way from Switzerland with my P85D. So far I had no issues. To charge I use CHADEMO mostly with the tesla Adaptor..
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Shame that despite being fitted with red 3 phase commando plugs they seem to be single phase 7kW only.

Well, the reason is probably down to the size of the one thing that is crucial and yet bulky (especially for 32A, let alone 3 of them for 3 phase) - the relay/contactors. You would think they would get an extension to the Ceeform plug to fit it all in there. Easy enough to do - they could even 3D print them cheap enough. Then they could get all the electronics at the right end and probably squeeze in 3P relay(s), too.

I can't help feel that the, obviously very small, relay they do use is not going to last very long at 7kW. Also, there is no blurb on there (unless I missed it) and the option list is a bit misleading as '3P' is almost universally recognised as an abbreviation for '3 phase' where here I gather it means '3 pin'. MW
 
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