u/Smartermeter

Hi everyone,
I am really delighted to see the EV community growing so much in Ireland. More power to us all 😀😀 pun intended!

As electric car owners are forward thinking, interested in sustainability and often tech savvy, I want you to have your say in what tools you would like to see added to smartermeter.ie.

Ideas to get the ball rolling:

- You’ve left the immersion on alert (or other unusual high usage)

- tips for saving money on your current plan (no switch needed)

- actual accurate CO2 emissions from your electricity usage (sorry, but there’s no such thing as 100 % renewable electricity in Ireland yet)

Check out what we have built already. It’s already the best tool out there for finding your cheapest plan based on your measured usage patterns.
Works on mobile too!

Any more ideas?

I just closed the windows after getting some nice cooling last night - outside it’s already warmer than inside since about 9:30!

Any more tricks you have?

Today, Electric Ireland and Yuno Energy have raised their unit electricity rates across the board, by 9.5 % .
Don’t get caught out - time to shop around to get the cheapest deal for your usage patterns!

https://www.independent.ie/business/money/one-million-households-will-pay-up-to-300-more-for-annual-energy-bills-as-costs-rise-from-today/a/158049137.html?__cf_chl_f_tk=NooTsVCl_cMYswuIgCx4WI2W_QyX9W5Z0cVoWGvsZgY-1782900016-1.0.1.1-LOyKj7_d71whjrZw_UuLu7Gd8aADpN9lsb3BaLW8Shw

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0529/1575915-yuno-energy-prices/

We’re a 2 EV household for 3 years now, but the oldest one has been in the garage, awaiting a couple of parts from Nissan (nothing electrical!)
Anyway, we have borrowed a friend’s second car that was sitting idle. Needless to say we’re very grateful for the loan of the car ❤️.

With many people here making the change from ICE to electric, I thought it might be of interest to hear from someone going the other way (temporarily 😀)

It’s a ‘sporty’ diesel, if that can be a thing. But by god is it sluggish compared to what I’m acclimatised to now. Pulling out from junctions where you need to get the timing right and be quick, it feels like I’m torturing the car! Revs, clutch slip, smoke and diesel rattle 🤪. I like to think of myself as having good ‘mechanical sympathy’ and I’ve always been a car guy, really enjoying my driving. But this time round, Opels 1.7 turbo diesel is just a machine that’s impossible to enjoy. It just feels like I’m driving something between a tractor and a slow delivery van, dressed up as a sleek car.

Since my first drive in an EV back in 2010, I’ve always found them to be vastly superior when it comes to starting from a standstill, particularly compared to a cold ICE engine. It just feels like the EV wants to go, and it’s enjoying the experience! Petrols are fun to drive still, but Diesels generally just feel like they are being coerced into doing something they don’t want to, getting worn down in the process.

I’ll be so glad to get the old Leaf back, and so will the kids, as they keep saying when we’re in the borrowed car 😀. Again, don’t want to come across ungrateful. My friend is an ev convert too and completely understands the contrast.

Here’s to a bright future folks, I’m delighted to see so many new people on here experiencing the joy of electric motoring for the first time !

Hoping to order an ID polo trend and it seems that it comes with vehicle to load as standard, rated at 3.6 kW! That’s pretty decent, enough to boil a kettle 😂. What are the most interesting uses you’ve heard of for V2L?

Currently looking at replacing our old Leaf. Nice range of cars in ireland, but I always loved the selection and value of cars in England. Has anyone braved it lately? Would love to know what car you got, what VAT / import duty you ended up paying in total …

I know there’s a good pinned post on this very issue, but some real world examples would be great 👍