Intelligent Octopus Q's

[DK1083]

I have a 22 plate Exclusive PFL and a Indra Smart Pro charger.
I’m currently on the Octopus Go tariff which means my cheap charging times are in the charger app and it automatically charges to 100% or until the cheap period ends whichever comes first.
I’ve been informed today that my charger is now compatible with Intelligent Octopus.
I would appreciate the thoughts of others as to how they find it.

• Am I right in thinking that I should always have the car plugged in when not in use?
• Does it automatically attempt to charge regardless of how much charge the car already has?
• Is it worth switching over from the Go tariff?

Just when I thought I had cracked the EV stuff something else comes along!

 

[Jomarkh]

What EVSE do you have?
You don't need to leave it connected and it only adds what you ask for by the time you set.

 

[DK1083]

MG5 22 plate Exclusive PFL.
I can’t see where I would benefit as at the moment I plug in and the charge starts at the scheduled time and ends at 100% or the end of the scheduled period, whichever comes first.
Unless I’m missing something..?

 

[Bam Bam]

MG5 22 plate Exclusive PFL.
I can’t see where I would benefit as at the moment I plug in and the charge starts at the scheduled time and ends at 100% or the end of the scheduled period, whichever comes first.
Unless I’m missing something..?

By EVSE they mean the wall unit.

I'm also curious what charger they have added to the service.

 

[DK1083]

By EVSE they mean the wall unit.

I'm also curious what charger they have added to the service.

My apologies. The charger is an Indra Smart Pro.

 

[Gomev]

MG5 22 plate Exclusive PFL.
I can’t see where I would benefit as at the moment I plug in and the charge starts at the scheduled time and ends at 100% or the end of the scheduled period, whichever comes first.
Unless I’m missing something..?

Cheaper off-peak and longer off-peak.

 

[DK1083]

Ok.. Thanks all for your advice! I bit the bullet yesterday and switched from Go to Intelligent. Plugged the car in and it seems to have charged as hoped for BUT... When on the Go tariff I could see, though a 3rd party app, the amount of kWh used to charge, and the cost and the time it took.
(I keep a record of my charging history!).
There doesn't seem to be a way of separating this information for the car from general household usage, from the Octopus app?
I have raised the query with Octopus but they didn't know if it was possible and have promised to get back to me.
Anyone know if it's possible?

 

[BROC]

As a novice MG5 owner of 3 weeks I am struggling trying to sort out my off-peak charging.

I have a new Trophy LR, A Hypervolt Pro 3 charger and have signed up for Intelligent Octopus Go.

I managed for a few weeks with the Granny charger, followed by the Hypervolt charger both at peak energy rates. I have just switched to Intelligent Go today.

I have the iSmart APP, the Hypervolt APP and the Octopus APP. If I look at the Octopus APP I can see how to set the smart control to choose an amount of charge and a 'ready' time.

If I look at the Hypervolt APP, it says it is in 'Octopus' mode and is 'waiting for car'

If I look at the iSmart APP it says the car is not charging. I have options for scheduled charging or start charging. If I choose start it begins charging immediately which surprised me, I expected it to wait until the schedule time.

What have I missed?

 

[DK1083]

As I understand it you need to rely solely on Octopus Intelligent. Plug your car in at any time of day and enter the % charge you want to add in the Intelligent section of the Octopus app and the time you want it ready by.
It will then charge at various times depending on grid load, at the “off peak” tariff.
If you boost the charge by using the charger app outside of the off peak hours, it will charge at the peak tariff price.
Hope this makes sense and is helpful.

 

[BROC]

As I understand it you need to rely solely on Octopus Intelligent. Plug your car in at any time of day and enter the % charge you want to add in the Intelligent section of the Octopus app and the time you want it ready by.
It will then charge at various times depending on grid load, at the “off peak” tariff.
If you boost the charge by using the charger app outside of the off peak hours, it will charge at the peak tariff price.
Hope this makes sense and is helpful.

Makes sense thank you. I assumed the car would just charge between 23:30 pm and 05:30 am.

Love the car by the way, I swapped it for a 3 year old Toyota Yaris Cross + £3000.

 

[Jomarkh]

Makes sense thank you. I assumed the car would just charge between 23:30 pm and 05:30 am.

Love the car by the way, I swapped it for a 3 year old Toyota Yaris Cross + £3000.

Between 2330-0530 your house is at the cheap rate, if the car is actively charging under IOG then the car and house will be at the cheap.

 

[DK1083]

Between 2330-0530 your house is at the cheap rate, if the car is actively charging under IOG then the car and house will be at the cheap.

Not according to Octopus. Car and domestic between 23:30 and 05:30 will all be at cheap rate. Outside of this time period only the car will be at cheap rate. The domestic useage will be at the normal tariff.
Unfortunately, so Octopus tell me, there's no way of being able to see how much the car has cost to charge as although the system can differentiate car from domestic it can't produce it in the form of user information.
Seems to be a bit of a fail for someone like me who likes to be able to keep an eye on costs.

 

[JohnV6]

i understand with a myzappi energi charge point it will tell you what the car uses.

 

[Jomarkh]

Not according to Octopus. Car and domestic between 23:30 and 05:30 will all be at cheap rate. Outside of this time period only the car will be at cheap rate. The domestic useage will be at the normal tariff.
Unfortunately, so Octopus tell me, there's no way of being able to see how much the car has cost to charge as although the system can differentiate car from domestic it can't produce it in the form of user information.
Seems to be a bit of a fail for someone like me who likes to be able to keep an eye on costs.

That is incorrect. IOG cannot tell the difference between the car and house. So all is at cheap rate if car is actively charging.

 

[JohnV6]

The charge point can tell you the split & I think Johmark is right on IOG. Video on the charge points has comments on what it can do.

installing an electric charge point at home - Search Videos

www.bing.com

 

[DK1083]

i understand with a myzappi energi charge point it will tell you what the car uses.

As far as I can see my Indra Pro charger still thinks I’m on the Go tariff. I will be ringing them tomorrow to clarify.

 

[Grumpy Old Ray]

Jomarkh is correct as I understand it. If Octopus decides to charge the car outside of the allowed hours because of grid conditions then all electricity used is at cheap rate. However if your charger is no longer compatible then all you can do is set it to charge between 23.30 and 05.30 hours. I personally wouldn’t move from that tariff, I doubt that you’ll find a better one.

 

[DK1083]

Jomarkh is correct as I understand it. If Octopus decides to charge the car outside of the allowed hours because of grid conditions then all electricity used is at cheap rate. However if your charger is no longer compatible then all you can do is set it to charge between 23.30 and 05.30 hours. I personally wouldn’t move from that tariff, I doubt that you’ll find a better one.

Interesting. I rang recently and asked if charging outside the cheap rate period at the cheap rate tariff would include demestic energy usage and was told the cheap rate would only apply to the car. I have emailed them today to clarify.

 

[DK1083]

Jomarkh is correct as I understand it. If Octopus decides to charge the car outside of the allowed hours because of grid conditions then all electricity used is at cheap rate. However if your charger is no longer compatible then all you can do is set it to charge between 23.30 and 05.30 hours. I personally wouldn’t move from that tariff, I doubt that you’ll find a better one.

I have emailed Octopus and have copied this from their reply:
"When charging your electric vehicle outside of the overnight cheap rate hours, your general domestic energy usage will be charged at the fixed rates in your tariff. For your Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, if you use appliances after 11:30, you will be charged 7p/kWh for that usage".
I rang them as I thought that reply was a little ambiguous! They confirmed that if the car charged in the daytime, due to the grid conditions being favourable, it will be at the overnight rate. Household usage however will remain at the day rate.

 

[DK1083]

Further clarification by email from Octopus this afternoon:
“I can confirm that your property will be charged by the day rate even if your car is being charged outside of our off peak hours”.