ID.3 Irish road trip report

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3twins
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:39 pm

Post by 3twins »

Hi Folks I wasn’t sure where to put this but I though I’d share my recent experience of a mini tour to the west coast of Ireland with my missus to celebrate my recent retirement (at 60 so I’m not completely decrepit……yet!).

We left Belfast on the 27th of March with an 80% Charge as our first stop the Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell Co. Cavan was only about a 100 miles away. It was a lovely sunny day and I decided to take all the back roads I could to get there and enjoy the scenery. It was a warm sunny spring day with temps about 14-15 centigrade when we left and up to 17-18 as we drove west. The car temp was set to 21 centigrade an there was no need for aircon. By the time we reached Ballyconnell the efficiency shown in the car was 4.6 miles per KWH at an average speed of 35mph. The B, C and R roads I mostly used have a speed limit of 50mph and on most of those you’d be hard pressed to average that!

Day1.jpg

The Hotel has a two outlet Go Charge 22KW AC charger in the carpark. Its around 30 cents per KWH and it took 19.8 KWH and about 1:50h to get the car back up to 80%. So enough time to book in and have a quick dip in the pool before an evening meal and a few bev’s😊

On day two we had planned to travel a few miles to Killashandra to do the 3.6 mile loop walk. Again the weather was warm and efficiency was high at 4.6 miles per KWH for that journey. We did not do any more exploring that day after travelling to Belturbet for Coffee as we had planned to play a bit of Golf that afternoon at the Hotel. The Car used about 10% of the battery so no need for a top up charge.

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Day2.jpg

Day three we headed to the Clew Bay Hotel at Westport about 100 miles further west and departed with 70% charge The hotel is located beside the main town car park which has a combined 50kw CCS,Chademo, Type2 charger operated by the ESB. We arrived with 27% charge after another warm sunny run and 4.7KWH per mile efficiency on minor roads. I had intended to use the fast charger but it was out of action. Fortunately, I had no plans to drive that evening and the ESB two port 22KW AC charger was available on Castlebar road in the town. I plugged the car in and had a walk round the beautiful grounds of Westport House. We collected the car charged to 80% again and parked beside the hotel.

Day3.jpg

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Day Four was a slightly cooler day at 11-14 centigrade and we did a 126 mile loop around Connemara. The views are stunning.
This Photo was taken near the Doo Lough famine memorial.

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I’ve been in the area a number of times and there are a number of interesting sights to see.
https://killaryfjord.com/ For a trip up the Fjord
Kylemore Abbey is worth a visit
https://www.kylemoreabbey.com/
Alcock and Brown’s 1919 landing (Crashing!!) site is just south of Clifden and is near the Marconi communications site Looped walk. This is a very interesting place and a great way to spend a couple of hours on a good day.
Roundstone is on this loop and we stopped for good Coffee and Crumble at O’Dowds Café and returned to Wesport Via the Sheefry Pass. This is a very narrow hilly single track road (with grass growing up the middle in a number of places) which I’ve crossed a number of times by motorcycle. It’s a bit more of a challenge in a car 😊 Thankfully there is next to no traffic on it I think we met one car coming the opposite direction. Back in Westport the 50kwCCS charger beside the Hotel had been fixed and a 40 Min charge had us back up to 80% and ready for the next morning The Car read 4.7miles per KWH

Day4.jpg

Day five was a shlep back to Belfast. It was very frosty the night before -2 or 3 We left the Hotel about 11 and joined the main N5 Road which has a 100KMPH or 62mph speed limit. It was 4 Centigrade and we were heading into a brisk easterly wind. We had planned to stop at Lunny’s in Carrick on Shannon for a top up of electricity and coffee and scones. There are two chargers at this site a 50KW CCS Chademo/type 2 which is 30 cents a KWH and a 150KW CCS which is 37Cents a KWH. I stopped with around 50% charge and 40Mins at the 50KW charger while we had coffee and scones and a comfort break brought us up to 90%. It was more than we needed to get home but I had a trip to do to the Airport that night to pick my son up so was happy enough. We headed directly to the motorway in Northern Ireland and sat at the speed limit. The moving average for the trip home was 52mph and with the cold temperatures headwind and higher speed the efficiency for the Journey was 3.6 miles per KWH. On the motorway at 70 into the wind the instant readout hovered between 2.7 and 3.3 miles per KWH.

Day5.jpg

Not sure if this was useful or not but it was a good stress-free trip in an EV 😊 The Car Came in January with 2.3 pre installed and I dont believe it heats the Battery above 0 Centigrade battery temperature.
Id.3 Family Pro Performance East Derry's Heat pump and cycle carrier prep.

Bengeo
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Post by Bengeo »

Thanks for the very detailed report. Sounds like a great trip.
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vanb
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2021 11:51 am

Post by vanb »

Thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed reading this and seeing your beautiful photos. Had my ID.3 for 6 days now and loving it. No long journeys planned yet though!
Uphamid3
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Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:58 pm

Post by Uphamid3 »

A really interesting account of what was obviously a very enjoyable journey, thank you for sharing your thoughts and the wonderful photography too!
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Post by G43FAN »

Thanks for the write up and pictures.
duncsand
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Post by duncsand »

Thank you, that brings back memories. Conemara is wonderful. I believe I stayed in Ballyconneely when I was there - probably the hotel no longer exists, but at the time the head chef had just won a big award and the food was amazing. Roundstone also great - I'm sure there's a good pub there?
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colonelpurple
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Post by colonelpurple »

Great write up. Thanks for posting. We toured North Wales, Yorkshire and Mersey area last summer with the ID3 and had no issues. We also picked a hotel with a charger in the car park.
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SinglePointSafety
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Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2021 1:22 pm

Post by SinglePointSafety »

Excellent stuff, thanks: was planning a similar trip, so this is really useful
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sidehaas
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Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2021 7:04 am

Post by sidehaas »

Looks a lovely trip. You got great efficiency out of the car too.
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shabbyroad
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:23 pm

Post by shabbyroad »

Thanks for sharing. We retired our Leaf24 to the kids driving lessons and bought a 2021 ID3 last week.
I'll be driving Dublin to Westport this weekend to visit family and was interested to read your experience here.
Shame that the CCS charger in Westport was not working because I'm planning to use it this weekend rather than plug-in overnight. The ESB app says it's working - did you report the charger out of order?
DumfriesDik
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Post by DumfriesDik »

Looks great. Thanks for sharing.
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3twins
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:39 pm

Post by 3twins »

shabbyroad wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 7:54 pm Thanks for sharing. We retired our Leaf24 to the kids driving lessons and bought a 2021 ID3 last week.
I'll be driving Dublin to Westport this weekend to visit family and was interested to read your experience here.
Shame that the CCS charger in Westport was not working because I'm planning to use it this weekend rather than plug-in overnight. The ESB app says it's working - did you report the charger out of order?
The 50Kw charger off James Street in Wesport was only down one day. I reported it through the App and the day we did our little tour round Connemara it was repared and I used it that evening before setting off for Belfast.
Id.3 Family Pro Performance East Derry's Heat pump and cycle carrier prep.
3twins
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:39 pm

Post by 3twins »

duncsand wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 5:02 pm Thank you, that brings back memories. Conemara is wonderful. I believe I stayed in Ballyconneely when I was there - probably the hotel no longer exists, but at the time the head chef had just won a big award and the food was amazing. Roundstone also great - I'm sure there's a good pub there?
O'Dowds Seafood bar and Resturant is very good..........but only if your staying nearby. I've stayed in Roundstone a few times on motorcycle tours and I've found my legs a bit wobbly walking back up to my BnB :D
Id.3 Family Pro Performance East Derry's Heat pump and cycle carrier prep.
shabbyroad
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Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:23 pm

Post by shabbyroad »

3twins wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:18 am The 50Kw charger off James Street in Wesport was only down one day. I reported it through the App and the day we did our little tour round Connemara it was repared and I used it that evening before setting off for Belfast.
So good to read that 1. it was reported and 2. it was fixed. This gives me hope for the infrastructure :D
parkycat
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Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:31 pm

Post by parkycat »

Very interested to read your report. We toured Ireland a bit in the mid 1990s, with two small children in the back, (are we there yet.) Those Irish roads are a lot longer than they look on the map.
shabbyroad
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Post by shabbyroad »

I should have replied to this. I did the trip to Westport as planned and out of old-Leaf24 habit I stopped for one charge and a sandwich en route. I need not have as the still new to me ID3 was more than capable.
A pleasant surprise awaited me in Westport when I found out the hotel had several very capable Type II charge sockets that provided 11kwh to the ID3 which was fully charged for our return trip the next day. Kudos to the Westport Plaza.
3twins
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:39 pm

Post by 3twins »

Good to know I'm sure it won't be long until I'm back that way again :)
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Connolly
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Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:36 am

Post by Connolly »

I'm planning to go take a trip to Belfast from Sligo- staying for 2 days and am looking forward to it. However I'm a bit worried as I know I will have to charge my car somewhere on route. I normally charge with an ecars charge card but I see there seems to be very few charging options on route. Are there chargers available that I could use my credit card as I have no other charge cards? Any help from someone with local knowledge would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Boattrainman
Posts: 103
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Location: Ireland

Post by Boattrainman »

Hi Connolly,

Just did Dublin to Donegal via Carrick-on-Shannon and no issues whatsoever, passed plenty of charge stations and used my ecar card.

I didn't try to look up locations in advance, used the info screen to tell me where to stop. Topped up in Carrick on way up and Lahey on way back.

I know that's not the route you taking, but I think there are plenty of locations if you stick to main roads, plus at around 200km your total trip is well within a 100% charge, plenty of places in Belfast. Also no queues at either stop, thankfully not that many EVs outside urban areas (for now).

Enjoy the trip.

Rob

PS My trip was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable car trips in years thanks to the ID3!
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Connolly
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:36 am

Post by Connolly »

Thanks for this. Yes charged in Carrick myself a couple of times - usually stop in Ballinalack on my frequent trips to Dublin. My planned trip is 203km door to door so will need a splash and dash charge on one leg of the trip. Ideally I would like to charge on the way up somewhere like Dungannon and put in enough charge to arrive at the hotel in Belfast with say close to 80%. Then I could relax and not think about charging again until I return to Sligo and home charge. My problem is I'm seeing very few chargers on the route.
Hi Connolly,

Just did Dublin to Donegal via Carrick-on-Shannon and no issues whatsoever, passed plenty of charge stations and used my ecar card.

I didn't try to look up locations in advance, used the info screen to tell me where to stop. Topped up in Carrick on way up and Lahey on way back.

I know that's not the route you taking, but I think there are plenty of locations if you stick to main roads, plus at around 200km your total trip is well within a 100% charge, plenty of places in Belfast. Also no queues at either stop, thankfully not that many EVs outside urban areas (for now).

Enjoy the trip.

Rob

PS My trip was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable car trips in years thanks to the ID3!
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