New MG4 owner - newbie tips

[SBJames]

100%, we rang them up but if you can link to the blurb I'm interested to see it.
I'm also on another forum where all the iGo users also confirmed it.
Pretty sure I asked the question on an Octopus Facebook post and that also confirmed it.

Good old Google:

AI Overview
Learn more

Yes, when using the "Intelligent Go" schedule, the cheap electricity rate applies to your entire house during the scheduled charging times, meaning you can use appliances throughout your home at the discounted rate while your electric vehicle is charging.

Key points about Intelligent Go:

• Whole house benefit:
  The low charging rate applies to all electricity usage during the scheduled charging window, not just your car.
  
  
• Smart scheduling:
  Octopus Energy's system automatically selects the cheapest times to charge your car, which can also include daytime hours depending on grid conditions.
  
  
• Nighttime cheap rate:
  Regardless of the smart charging schedule, you will always have a set period each night where the cheap rate applies to your whole house.

This is a schedule we had yesterday

That's bloomin' awesome, and made me not bother with the calculations! I mean I'll be better off putting the dishwasher on faster (but more energy intensive) mode than running it on eco! Same with washing machine.

Re-reading the blurb it isn't quite as clear cut as I suggested. However the language is very suggestive that your 6hr window is for your whole house whereas if you charge (intelligently) outside of this the car charge will be at the lower rate. It don't specifically call out the house, but you can (hopefully!) understand why I interpreted it the way I did.

Take a look at the blurb under "So what is Intelligent Octopus Go?" here and some of the FAQs, let alone the main page: Intelligent Octopus Go: your questions answered

@aardvark5 do you use the MG app, the charging point (Omhe Home Pro for me) app, or the Octopus app to manage it all?

I take it from your picture it is the Octopus one, leaving the rest alone?

 

[aardvark5]

@aardvark5 do you use the MG app, the charging point (Omhe Home Pro for me) app, or the Octopus app to manage it all?

I take it from your picture it is the Octopus one, leaving the rest alone?

I have the MiEnergy Zappi and I don't have any APP running any of it, iGo is basically plugin and it charges when it decides, it's clever stuff.
I only use the APPS to see the schedule or see what's going on.
I use the MG App to see if my car is where it should be and during winter turn the heating on 10 mins before we get in it.
It can be off putting at first because you can see a schedule for 21:30 so the wife puts the washer on etc but the car might not start charging until 11:30 because it knows it's got until 05:30 to put 80% in however if I set the Octopus APP to have it charge by midnight then it would probably kick in at 21:30.
I presume you know only to charge it to 80% unless you really need that distance.
We only drive around 100 miles a week so wait until it gets down to 60% before charging but if the wife wants cheap washing then we'll plug in to get a schedule.

 

[SBJames]

I have the MiEnergy Zappi and I don't have any APP running any of it, iGo is basically plugin and it charges when it decides, it's clever stuff.
I only use the APPS to see the schedule or see what's going on.
I use the MG App to see if my car is where it should be and during winter turn the heating on 10 mins before we get in it.
It can be off putting at first because you can see a schedule for 21:30 so the wife puts the washer on etc but the car might not start charging until 11:30 because it knows it's got until 05:30 to put 80% in however if I set the Octopus APP to have it charge by midnight then it would probably kick in at 21:30.
I presume you know only to charge it to 80% unless you really need that distance.
We only drive around 100 miles a week so wait until it gets down to 60% before charging but if the wife wants cheap washing then we'll plug in to get a schedule.

Sounds interesting re how intelligent it is. Something for me to play with then!

Yes, read plenty about 80% limit unless actually going to use it. Should be so rare, particularly having the ER version.

Can imagine only charging once a week myself - maybe on washing day!!

 

[aardvark5]

Sounds interesting re how intelligent it is. Something for me to play with then!

Yes, read plenty about 80% limit unless actually going to use it. Should be so rare, particularly having the ER version.

Can imagine only charging once a week myself - maybe on washing day!!

I'm 67 and this MG4 is easily the best car we've ever owned, all the others since 1975 have been ICE.
We're not vegans or into save the planet, I haven't got a manbag or a manbun or wear ladies undies
I had a great pension come my way and being a tech geek decided to go EV.
We had a few main non negotiable things we wanted :
The seats had to be high so my wife can get in and out easily
360 degree cameras
Enough boot space with the seats down to get all my band gear in
Heated seats

We are over the moon with it but be careful of one major scary thing - Lane Keeping Assist - it's a bummer and we always turn it off when we get in.
We also drive in ECO Mode all the time, it's still a boy racer car in that mode.

If you go back in this thread you will see I've linked to a You Tube channel run by a bloke called Jerry Pan, they are worth watching.

 

[SBJames]

I'm 67 and this MG4 is easily the best car we've ever owned, all the others since 1975 have been ICE.
We're not vegans or into save the planet, I haven't got a manbag or a manbun or wear ladies undies
I had a great pension come my way and being a tech geek decided to go EV.
We had a few main non negotiable things we wanted :
The seats had to be high so my wife can get in and out easily
360 degree cameras
Enough boot space with the seats down to get all my band gear in
Heated seats

We are over the moon with it but be careful of one major scary thing - Lane Keeping Assist - it's a bummer and we always turn it off when we get in.
We also drive in ECO Mode all the time, it's still a boy racer car in that mode.

If you go back in this thread you will see I've linked to a You Tube channel run by a bloke called Jerry Pan, they are worth watching.

I’m only 41 - at least you have an excuse for saying ‘the wife’ and washing… I’m supposed to have improved on your generation

Yeah, I drove a Mk I Toyota Prius back in the day - did about 200 yards on battery, up to 17 mph, for work a few times, but that’s it.

I expect il give eco a go most of the time - I do in my BMW. I can’t believe it’s a second quicker 0-60 and costing me less than 30K! And the 0-30, instant torque/power is gonna be great too.

Shame about LKA, even more of a shame if you can’t permanently disable it! But hey ho. I’m sure I’ll cope. I assume not a problem for round town driving, just on motorways etc. so will remember to turn off or be ready for the computer to try and kill me!!

Thanks for all your help. I will look at videos, and the manual that some chap here put together too

 

[Corindikev]

I had some difficulties with charging when I first got the car. Plugged in, blue lights came on, then nothing. The problem was I had scheduled charging switched off in the app BUT it was still set in the car. You need to switch off scheduled charging in both places [unless you want to set a schedule].

No you don't have to switch scheduled charging off at all. Plug the cable in, and in the iSmart App (or on the Charging section of the Infotainment screen) tap start charging, that's it.

 

[Rolfe]

An issue I have with IOG is that they don't tell you in advance what your allocated charging slots will be. Well, they tell you, but as soon as you've set your system up for these slots they change them. Leaving you (well, me anyway, at least once) with an empty home battery and full-price power.

It's still a good deal, but I have to be careful when I ask for slots to avoid disaster. I usually just charge using the Zappi's own schedule, and ask for a Smart charge once or twice a month to keep Octopus happy.

 

[GaryMG4]

It's still a good deal, but I have to be careful when I ask for slots to avoid disaster. I usually just charge using the Zappi's own schedule, and ask for a Smart charge once or twice a month to keep Octopus happy.

Is this easy to achieve? I don't have my Zappi yet but my understanding that you give Octopus control of the Zappi and then ask them to schedule the charge, how do you regain control, or am I overcomplicating it?

 

[Rolfe]

I simply turn off smart charging in the Octopus app, and set the Zappi to charge 11.45 pm to 5.30 am. (The 15 minutes is to give me leeway in the house with exporting the home battery then starting appliances if I want to, before the car starts.) Then any time the car is plugged in, it will simply charge then. Since the home battery is set to charge at the same time, it can't empty it.

If I want to do a Smart charge to pacify Octopus (or if I need more than six hours, which isn't often) I delete the Zappi schedule. Then I turn smart charging on in the Octopus app at 11.30 and tell it I need the car for 5.30 am. That stops any funny stuff. (If I want more than six hours I set the "done by" time as early as possible so it can't pull any funny stuff, and change the inverter settings so the home battery is on charge until the "done by" time. Just remember to change it back to 5.30 afterwards.)

 

[PerthPete]

No you don't have to switch scheduled charging off at all. Plug the cable in, and in the iSmart App (or on the Charging section of the Infotainment screen) tap start charging, that's it.

You are correct. What was confusing me was that it should have started charging without using the app according to the procedure in the manual.

 

[aardvark5]

Is this easy to achieve? I don't have my Zappi yet but my understanding that you give Octopus control of the Zappi and then ask them to schedule the charge, how do you regain control, or am I overcomplicating it?

I plug the car in, Octopus sets a schedule and that's it.
I think Rolfe's problem is he also has an house battery and reading on other forums in the past it makes it more complicated.

 

[GaryMG4]

I plug the car in, Octopus sets a schedule and that's it.
I think Rolfe's problem is he also has an house battery and reading on other forums in the past it makes it more complicated.

I'm not sure if it is still a problem but IIRC people have had issues with IGo and trying to use their solar excess where the answer was to disable smart charge. I'm on the FiT scheme so want to use as much of my excess as possible.

 

[Rolfe]

I don't think that's IOG so much as the default settings on the Zappi. You have to set an excess threshold othe MyEnergi products that's higher than what your panels can generate to stop it swiping the solar if it's plugged in.

 

[Griffian]

Are you sure about that bold bit?

I am getting my MG4 Trophy ER on Thursday - not been as excited as this for quite some time!

I justified the ER because I'm moving from a 520d which will do 600-1000 miles depending if I drive it like I stole it or like a grandad. The real reason I went for this is the 0-60 is faster (and quicker than my 520d), but we won't mention that again

I'm contemplating moving to Intelligent Go (got the Electroverse card etc already), but am conscious that as I don't do that many miles it might not actually save me much giving the higher rate. The blurb says that it is 6hrs cheap leccy for the whole house and any extra is just for the car. But if that's not true and it is the whole house that's a bit of a game changer! Tumble drier, washing machine, dishwasher etc etc can go on then... as the wife moans about washing overnight sitting there.

We have an Ohme Home Pro and MG4. Daughter has recently got a Fiat 500e. When Ohme schedules an Octopus Intelligent Go dynamic charge, during that period the electricity to the whole house is 7ppkW. Looking at our January bill, we used 588.5 kWh at an average rate of 13.30 pkWh.

@aardvark5 do you use the MG app, the charging point (Omhe Home Pro for me) app, or the Octopus app to manage it all?

I take it from your picture it is the Octopus one, leaving the rest alone?

We use only the Ohme app. Nothing in Octopus, nothing on MG app and nothing in car. Had zero problems in the year we'd had it.

 

[aardvark5]

@SBJames

Just plugged the car in so the domestic appliances go on now.
I'll guarantee if we unplug it and re-plug it around 7pm we will get cheap electricity from 21:30.

 

[Griffian]

Greener Days is showing more green energy from 21.30 so it's a good bet, aardvark5.

 

[lordsofthewaun]

One more thing, the heaters in mine are calibrated wrong, so if you want heat, you need to set the temperature to 28° plus. Great heaters though, particularly when you preheat. Wish you could preheat the steering wheel too, but first world problems and all that

 

[aardvark5]

Greener Days is showing more green energy from 21.30 so it's a good bet, aardvark5.

Since September it always shows at 21:30 but if we plug in at around 1pm it doesn't show.
Re plugging it in later brings it back on.

Wish you could preheat the steering wheel too, but first world problems and all that

It's really quick though, went out around 1pm and by the time I had gone 500 yards I turned it off.

 

[SBJames]

@SBJames

Just plugged the car in so the domestic appliances go on now.
I'll guarantee if we unplug it and re-plug it around 7pm we will get cheap electricity from 21:30.

Thanks. That's really interesting.

@Griffian has done well with his/her average charging rate too!

 

[Rolfe]

That's not my experience. My experience is that they change it frequently and you can't rely on any particular slot in advance.