Charging in Ireland: Rain, Range Anxiety & Why Simplicity Matters

This weekend I went home to Ireland.

My sister picked me up from the airport in her EV and informed me that although she had charged at home, we’d need to stop again on the journey home.

Problem Number One: CHAdeMO charging‍

Now, her EV has a CHAdeMO connector, so straight away we had the first challenge: finding a charger that actually worked for her car.

When we pulled into the charging site there were already three EVs parked in the charging bays — but only one was actually charging. One driver appeared to be using the charging bay purely as a parking space, so we had to wait for them to leave before we could even attempt to charge.

Eventually, we got access.

Problem Number Two: Signal

Signal.

Or more accurately… the complete lack of it.

My sister opened the CPO app and attempted to start the charger. Nothing. We tried again. Still nothing. The charger repeatedly attempted to initialise and then failed.

Again.

And again.

And again.

After several frustrating attempts, I pulled out my trusty Paua card.

Instantly, it worked.

Unfortunately, by the time we got connected, we had already lost so much time battling with the app that we didn’t have enough time to charge properly before my sister needed to leave for an important meeting.

Range Anxiety Becomes Very Real

So now we had another problem.

We were 12km from our destination with only 4km left in range.

The sweat was rolling down our backs as we mentally prepared ourselves to be stranded somewhere on the ring roads while simultaneously trying to get my sister to her meeting on time.

Honestly, at that point we were running purely on hope, panic and a small amount of battery percentage.

By some miracle, or perhaps because the EV gods took pity on us, we rolled into the hotel car park on a song and a prayer.

There, shining like a beacon of hope, stood an EZO charger.

And thankfully, unlike the previous charger, this one worked first time.

Not only did the hotel have destination charging, but the charger actually did what chargers are supposed to do: charge the car.

My sister made her meeting just in time while myself, the kids and the dog took a taxi to our destination, huge thanks to the taxi driver who kindly agreed to transport both children and a dog who definitely believed he was the main character of the trip.

“Wouldn’t It Be Great If Everything Just Worked?”

Later that evening, my sister said something that perfectly summed up the entire experience:

“Wouldn’t it be great if all chargers worked on one card and one app that just worked?”

Amen, sister.

Because that’s exactly what we do at Paua.

She genuinely couldn’t understand how the Paua card worked so easily, first time, every time, while the individual CPO app completely failed her.

And honestly, that simplicity matters more than people realise.

Because charging shouldn’t feel stressful.

Unfortunately, our Irish charging adventures weren’t over yet.

Stop Number Two: The Applegreen Adventure

On the way back to Dublin so I could catch my flight home, we needed to stop and charge again, this time at an Applegreen charger.

Thankfully, my sister already had the app and uses it regularly, so this stop was simple. She plugged in, got back into the car, started the charge through the app and everything worked perfectly.

No drama.

No stress.

No panic.

Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for the older lady parked beside us.

She explained that she had only ever charged her EV at home before. She was travelling to visit her sons and had never used a public charger in her life.

When we arrived, we could already see she was struggling to get started. There were several Good Samaritans trying to help her, so initially I stayed out of it.

Absolutely Lashing Rain

Now let me properly set the scene.

It was absolutely lashing rain.

Her dog was sprinting around the forecourt living his absolute best life while our dog sat in the back seat barking furiously at her dog. Meanwhile, the kids were laughing, arguing and causing general chaos in the back of the car.

Stress levels: activated.

Around the charger stood a small group of soaking wet strangers all trying to help this poor woman figure out how to start charging.

After about 15–20 minutes, they gave up.

At this point, the lady knocked on my window.

Now, because of the barking dogs, noisy children and rain battering the side of the car, I couldn’t even get the electric window down properly, so I had to open the door.

Instant regret.

The entire left-hand side of my body was immediately drenched.

I tried helping her set up the app properly so she wouldn’t have the same issue next time, but between the dogs barking, children shouting and rain hammering around us, I could barely hear what she was saying.

Internally, I was silently begging everybody to PLEASE. STOP. MAKING. NOISE.

Forget The App. Let’s Just Charge The Car

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, we reached the payment section…

And she changed her mind.

Honestly, after ten minutes of this, I nearly cried.

At that point I thought:

Forget the app.

Let’s just get this woman charging.

So out I got into the rain, no jacket, already soaked, and asked her to remove the charging cable from her car.

It was stuck.

Internally, I am now fully crying.

I asked her to unlock the car so the cable would release.

She locked it.

I politely asked her to unlock it.

Eventually, I took over, unlocked the car properly, released the cable, reconnected everything and started the entire process again from scratch.

Tap. Plug In. Wait.

This time we simply followed the instructions carefully.

Tap the card.

Plug in the cable.

Wait.

The lady kept repeatedly tapping her bank card against the payment terminal while I stood there explaining:

“You’ve already tapped it… we just need to wait.”

And then…

HEYPRESTO.

The charger started.

I told her it was working and she literally jumped into my arms shouting:

“THANK YOU!”

Then she told me that if I ever ended up in hospital, she’d send me a get well soon card.

Honestly, I was just as shocked as you probably are reading this.

Off she happily went into the shop while my sister rang me from the comfort of the coffee shop crying laughing because she had watched the entire soaking wet disaster unfold from indoors.

Apparently, watching me wrestle charging cables, barking dogs, confused payment systems and Irish weather was “the funniest thing she’d ever seen.”

Good to know.

The Reality of Public Charging

This weekend perfectly summed up the reality of public EV charging for so many drivers.

When charging works, it’s brilliant.

But when it doesn’t, poor signal, multiple apps, unclear instructions, payment confusion, blocked chargers, connector compatibility issues, the experience quickly becomes stressful, especially for people who are new to EVs.

And that’s exactly why simplicity matters.

Drivers don’t want ten different apps.

They don’t want unreliable signal stopping them from charging.

They don’t want to stand in the rain trying to figure out which button to press while range anxiety kicks in.

They just want charging to work.

First time.

Every time.

One Final Lesson

Which is why I’ll finish with the single most important lesson from the entire weekend:

Always carry a Paua card.

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About Paua

‍Paua is a UK EV charging payment platform for fleets. We help businesses pay for electric vehicle charging across public networks, home charging and shared depots, giving fleet managers control over time, cost and data as they electrify.‍

Read more about out EV charge card here.

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