EV general discussion

The interesting thing for me will be how this works for the API charging calls. We currently only have a slow charger because our faster charger isn't installed yet. Last night I got home at 00:30 at 12% SoC and set a schedule that would have charged till 08:00 (60% SoC target with an 08:00 finish time).

Octopus set a schedule that was 00:40 - 08:00. What they actually charged was 00:40 - 01:40, then 02:30 - 06:30. So 5 hours in total. The Intelligent dispatching API was set as on from 00:40 - 08:00 as per the schedule, so the house continued to grid run to 08:00 when it switched to batteries. Interesting to see how they'll bill that 06:30 - 08:00 time frame. I don't mind if they only want to schedule 6 hours, but it's going to be a serious pain if they just schedule long periods, then randomly cut it off (and bill you peak rate for it!). They might as well remove the API if they're going to do that!
 
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DarkBahamut said:
The interesting thing for me will be how this works for the API charging calls. We currently only have a slow charger because our faster charger isn't installed yet. Last night I got home at 00:30 at 12% SoC and set a schedule that would have charged till 08:00 (60% SoC target with an 08:00 finish time).

Octopus set a schedule that was 00:40 - 08:00. What they actually charged was 00:40 - 01:40, then 02:30 - 06:30. So 5 hours in total. The Intelligent dispatching API was set as on from 00:40 - 08:00 as per the schedule, so the house continued to grid run to 08:00 when it switched to batteries. Interesting to see how they'll bill that 06:30 - 08:00 time frame. I don't mind if they only want to schedule 6 hours, but it's going to be a serious pain if they just schedule long periods, then randomly cut it off (and bill you peak rate for it!). They might as well remove the API if they're going to do that!
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A big question for me was whether it's 6 hours of slots or 6 hours of charge time. Often they'll schedule a long spell like 21:00 to 06:00, but it will only charge for a few minutes in some slots. It would be a nightmare if it used up your 6 hours, hardly charging at all, then went full whack for the hours at the end when its full rate. They seem to have clarified its 6 hours total charging (not slots), so if the API says its a cheap slot then it always will be for the house and will only switch to peak rate for the car once you've had 6 hours total charging time.
 
Still haven't heard anything from them but it won't affect me anyway. My car and charger is listed as compatible but the Octopus app doesn't work with them. The last time I tried it the damn thing threw a hissy fit and charged the car during the day at 32.17p per kWh!! I have to use the OHME app so only ever get the 6 hours at night.
 
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My smart meter never sends meter readings to Octopus for some reason it has to be done manually when I ring up and moan. Everything is working fine and the smart meter is sending the readings it’s the useless third party company that handles all the meter reads not passing on the readings. I have no idea if my bills are ever right so this new system will be even more of a pain.

I even have the little pink box that sends all the data to octopus but due to government contracts they cannot use it for billing only what the smart meter sends through this 3rd party company. It’s a crap system but affects all energy suppliers the same.
 
I've just got the email
extra half-hours will be charged at your Bump rate (even if they’re scheduled during the off-peak window).
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That particular bit just feels petty. If it's in the off peak time anyway when they tell us wholesale prices are cheapest then why bill the full rate.

It also clears up the "does it mean we could end up with 12 hours cheap charging" the answer seems to be no unless you again start gaming the system killing your smart charge session and bump charging from 2330 but then would that still apply the bump charge rate even though it's not smart charging :confused:
 
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Looking at the language in the FAQs it sounds like they're differentiating between electricity used for home vs for car.

They're repeatedly saying 'always' about 'for your home'
You also get off-peak rates for your home between 11:30pm and 5:30am (you always do)
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But other comments/scenarios refer to 'for your home and for your car'.

I think if you did a 12 hour charge from 5.30pm to 5.30am then you'd still get cheap rate applied to household consumption overnight but they'd charge the recorded amount for the car at full rate for the second half of the 12 hours.
 
sovietspybob said:
Its interesting as as soon as they've had that they've jacked the price up by £500 and they've removed the £500 deposite contribution to the finance and bumped up the rate froms something like 2.7% to 4.9%

Sooooo yeah...

It's almost as if everyone with eyes saw this kind of thing coming a mile off, the manufactures use it as an excuse to pretend to give a discount and just pocket a load more cash for themselves..
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Spoke to the lease company (NHSFleet), they've spoken to the broker/dealer who said they will requote the order and they expect it to provide a smallish discount compared to the current quote. Wait and see i guess.
 
Kenai said:
Looking at the language in the FAQs it sounds like they're differentiating between electricity used for home vs for car.

They're repeatedly saying 'always' about 'for your home'


But other comments/scenarios refer to 'for your home and for your car'.

I think if you did a 12 hour charge from 5.30pm to 5.30am then you'd still get cheap rate applied to household consumption overnight but they'd charge the recorded amount for the car at full rate for the second half of the 12 hours.
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I think specifically they are differentiating between your home (i.e. not linked to Octopus directly) and either a car or charger that is linked (in the context of the charge being controller by IOG).

At least that is how I am reading it.
 
Kenai said:
Looking at the language in the FAQs it sounds like they're differentiating between electricity used for home vs for car.

They're repeatedly saying 'always' about 'for your home'


But other comments/scenarios refer to 'for your home and for your car'.

I think if you did a 12 hour charge from 5.30pm to 5.30am then you'd still get cheap rate applied to household consumption overnight but they'd charge the recorded amount for the car at full rate for the second half of the 12 hours.
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I read this the same way as you.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I read this the same way as you.
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from 5:30pm till 11:30pm you'll be on 7p for house and car, and then from 11:30 onwards you'll be at 29p for both house and car, as I read it. I've not seen them have a mechanism for splitting out car kwh vs house kwh. It's all on the same meter.

I don't like this change.
 
Sinbad2000 said:
from 5:30pm till 11:30pm you'll be on 7p for house and car, and then from 11:30 onwards you'll be at 29p for both house and car, as I read it. I've not seen them have a mechanism for splitting out car kwh vs house kwh. It's all on the same meter.

I don't like this change.
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It can't be this because they're very explicit that you always get cheap rate for the house overnight.

You also get off-peak rates for your home between 11:30pm and 5:30am (you always do)
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I would expect any differentiating between house and charging will be similar to how OVO do it with Charge Anytime - the app (or system behind the app) is tracking the total kWh delivered to the car.

They can no doubt already see how much charge is delivered to the car (or through charger) in each slot, it's not much work from there to identify if any of those slots were providing charging over the 6 hour limit and add an uplift to the bill to cover the rate discrepancy for charging use only.
 
Sinbad2000 said:
from 5:30pm till 11:30pm you'll be on 7p for house and car, and then from 11:30 onwards you'll be at 29p for both house and car, as I read it. I've not seen them have a mechanism for splitting out car kwh vs house kwh. It's all on the same meter.

I don't like this change.
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They know exactly how much is going into the car either from the charger or the car API.

If they couldn't you wouldn't get the charge history shown in your account.
 
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I wonder if crappy old 2nd hand "dumb" charge. points will suddenly go up in value ;)

(my mate has one. not been used in years but I suspect he will dust it off now for those times he needs a big charge (which as often as not will be for me when I visit))
 
Sinbad2000 said:
from 5:30pm till 11:30pm you'll be on 7p for house and car, and then from 11:30 onwards you'll be at 29p for both house and car, as I read it. I've not seen them have a mechanism for splitting out car kwh vs house kwh. It's all on the same meter.

I don't like this change.
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I don’t read it like this, it’s explicit that you always get 7p for home use between 2330 and 0530.

Car charging can be charged at a higher rate as it’s part of the IOG protocol, the know how much it has sued from your charger or car.
 
So does this mean I will need to setup the car to only charge between 23:30-05:30 because if it charges during the day it will cost the daytime rate instead of what it used to be?
If so Octopus have possibly shot themselves in the foot.
 
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bigmike20vt said:
I wonder if crappy old 2nd hand "dumb" charge. points will suddenly go up in value ;)

(my mate has one. not been used in years but I suspect he will dust it off now for those times he needs a big charge (which as often as not will be for me when I visit))
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You'll need to be integrated with IOG somehow though, if you use a dumb charger, you'll need a connected car - if you have neither, you'll surely not be able to partake in IOG at all anyway?
 
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