EV general discussion

b0rn2sk8 said:
Am I the only one that sees a slight flaw in Octopus’ plans for limiting car charging to 6 hours?

Say you get home empty ish and you need a decent charge for the next day. If you plug in at 6-7pm, set a ready time of 4am and request 100%, the car will start charging immediately.

Before you go to bed you could unplug the car, disconnect smart charging by flipping the toggle in the app, set a schedule in the car to 2330-0530, plug it back in and hey presto you’ve probably got a good 10 hours of car charging.
Click to expand...
But surely going that much out of your way to game the system will be against their terms, just as how people are currently gaming the system with granny chargers?

I don't understand why people are so *&^% bent on saving at most a couple of quid and in the mean time screwing over everyone else to the extent that Octopus need to change the rules like this :( I guess this is a prime example of why we can't have nice things
 
sovietspybob said:
But surely going that much out of your way to game the system will be against their terms, just as how people are currently gaming the system with granny chargers?

I don't understand why people are so *&^% bent on saving at most a couple of quid and in the mean time screwing over everyone else to the extent that Octopus need to change the rules like this :( I guess this is a prime example of why we can't have nice things
Click to expand...
Of course it will be against the terms but do you really think those abusing it are going to stop when there are obvious workarounds?
 
sovietspybob said:
But surely going that much out of your way to game the system will be against their terms, just as how people are currently gaming the system with granny chargers?

I don't understand why people are so *&^% bent on saving at most a couple of quid and in the mean time screwing over everyone else to the extent that Octopus need to change the rules like this :( I guess this is a prime example of why we can't have nice things
Click to expand...

Its a very British trait, we queue but always thinking how to get one step ahead.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Of course it will be against the terms but do you really think those abusing it are going to stop when there are obvious workarounds?
Click to expand...
am I reading it wrong. I thought it was a max of 6 hours EXTRA per day. I am not sure it can be gamed any more than the current system, only now you won't be able to encourage it to give you 24hrs over granny charger speeds.
 
I read it as 6 hours car charging per day.

Read the FAQ at the bottom and it comes at lot clearer.

Also why else would they be talking about adding an option to limit your charging to 6 hours if it’s actually 12, that makes no sense.

octopus.energy

Upcoming changes to Intelligent Octopus Go

Intelligent Octopus Go has always offered super-cheap power for your whole home every night and smart charging to let you charge cleaner for less.To keep our off-peak rates as low as possible, in 2026 we will be updating Intelligent Octopus Go to automatically apply the 6 hour limit for...
octopus.energy octopus.energy

Per my post above, if you disconnect your car after smart charging or have more than one car/charger, you can of course probably get more using the standard off peak element of the tariff.

Edit:

Will I be notified if my charging is going to exceed the 6 hour limit? Will Octopus force my car to stop charging if it exceeds 6 hours?​

×
80% of charging sessions last 6 hours or less. You will continue to see your charging schedule after you plug in. If more than 6 hours are scheduled, you can always reduce your charge target in your Octopus app. Shortly, we’ll introduce an option to either limit your smart charging to 6 off-peak hours or to prioritise reaching the charger target of your vehicle.
Click to expand...
What if the charging session lasts more than 6 hours, for example 7 hours?

That’s unusual, but if that’s the case, the first 6 hours of smart charging will be at off-peak, and the last one billed at peak rate regardless of what time of the day it is scheduled.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
actually yeah he.is.not wrong (tho I would say it's poorly worded). that is a bummer but I can work around it I guess for the most part and just charge 6 hrs for consecutive days if I need a big charge.
........
If we need to schedule more than 6 hours to reach your target charge, only the first 6 hours of charging will be at the discounted rate – extra half-hours will be charged at your Bump rate

(even if they’re scheduled during the off-peak window).
 
Last edited:
so I guess it means I will have to limit my daily charging request to 45%. its not a deal breaker for me but will mean a bit of a juggling act when both our cars need charging on the same day.
 
actually it will affect me when I visit my mates or my parents I get there on usually around 10% or less charge.
I wonder when the clock resets? ie if I need a 100% charge and plug in at 6pm requesting it to be done by 6am would that be 6 hrs discounted and 6hrs full bubble

or would that be the 2 discounted sessions over 2 days?
 
Octopus happily put people on IOG if they specified they had a 3-pin charger but a compatible car so there will be a number of people who were quite upfront about their setup who will be targeted for "gaming" the system.
 
I have mailed octopus and asked for clarification on when the 6 hrs resets. if it is at midnight and I can still do a rare 12hr charge spanning over 2 days then the change to me will be incredibly limited.
if it's a max 6hrs in any single plug in event AND a max 6 hrs in any one day combined I will have to be careful esp when visiting mates.

I will post here if they reply.
 
Last edited:
I expect the timer will reset at 11am which is the latest ‘ready time’ you can set on IOG.

It would be ‘odd’ if it reset at midnight even it’s meant to be an overnight charging tariff but the timing is dynamic.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom