Well I did it.

[Pat]

Hi all,

Been reading these forums for what seems like an age.

Just placed a deposit on a facelift 5 Trophy LR. I have never ever spent this kind of money before and am unsure as to whether I am more excited or nervous! Despite some of my misgivings, the Better Half insisted on black.

Dealer reckons 'hopefully' beginning of November (not holding my breath tbh).
Is there a list of 'Things to do before the car arrives' and a similar list of 'Things to do on day one'?

Attempt to swap to Octopus Go I suspect
Organise a charge point at home (I have solar panels and battery storage - does anyone have experience with this type of combination?)

In any case - 'Hello'

Pat

 

[BugEyed]

Hi Pat
Welcome!
Good choice (apart from the Black ? #TeamSilver).
Solar and batteries is ideal from a charging point of view - it allows you to smooth out the variations in sunshine. What size array and battery do you have, and what makes? Is it home cooked or who installed it?
Sadly you have to choose between charging and V2L rather than being able to be properly bidirectional.
How many miles per week do you expect to do and is the car generally at home during the day?

 

[Jomarkh]

I got a Zappi EVSE as I was looking at solar which is now being installed next month.
Have you got a smart meter?

 

[Pat]

Cheers guys.

'apart from the Black ? #TeamSilver' - you know how it is - 'Happy Wifey, Happy Lifey' !

The array is 5.4kWh, battery 10kWh.

It's a Huawei system, installed professionally, (that I absolutely love - £17 inc. standing charge electricity bill for June). It's set up to
(A) Power the house.
(B) If any is left after (A) charge the battery (to 100%).
(C) If any is left after (A) and (B) then, export to the grid.
If not enough is coming from the panels then the battery supplements it until the battery hits 0% and then the grid is used.

I think what I'd want is the same but (C) changes to 'charge the car then send to grid' (I realise the panels won't charge the car to 100% the highest I've ever got from the panels in a day is around 32kWh but, hey, every little helps).


Pre-COVID I would have said 'No - it's in work' (64-mile round trip). Now, more 'Hybrid working' so possibly at work once a week, 3 times a fortnight.

If I had to guess I'd say (with 'pottering about') probably 250-ish miles a week. When/If I ever have to go back to work that will double to 500 a week.

Smart Meter = Yes.

Not bi-directional but V2L implies that I can power a 'thing' from the car but not 'the house'. It also implies that I can't charge the car at the same time as the car being used as a battery for the house - not too fussed about that tbh that's what the other battery is for.

Anyways - enough of a ramble from me!

Pat

 

[Fluffykins]

The array is 5.4kWh, battery 10kWh.

It's a Huawei system, installed professionally, (that I absolutely love - £17 inc. standing charge electricity bill for June). It's set up to
(A) Power the house.
(B) If any is left after (A) charge the battery (to 100%).
(C) If any is left after (A) and (B) then, export to the grid.
If not enough is coming from the panels then the battery supplements it until the battery hits 0% and then the grid is used.

Hi Pat and welcome from #teamblue.
What do you use the electricity for? Timeswitches, phone chargers, computers, washing machines, TV and lights is a given but cooking and hot water, or are you on gas as well?

 

[BugEyed]

'Happy Wifey, Happy Lifey'

Indeed.

I think what I'd want is the same but (C) changes to 'charge the car then send to grid'

That's easily done in theory, but harder in practice. The issue is whether and how to account for fluctuations in solar output and demand from the house. Cars (effectively) need a minimum of 1.4kW to charge, so if your "spare" output is less than that you have to either:

• cease charging
• supplement from the battery
• supplement from the mains

The problem is that the car doesn't like repeated on/off charging cycles and may throw a hissy fit. Clearly supplementing risks a significant proportion of the charge coming from other than solar, particularly if a short term peak of excess generation causes the start of charging. Decent quality chargers such as the Myenergi Zappi or the Indra allow thesholds of excess capacity to be used, but ideally you want something that ties in with your current controls.

 

[Robf]

Cheers guys.

'apart from the Black ? #TeamSilver' - you know how it is - 'Happy Wifey, Happy Lifey' !

The array is 5.4kWh, battery 10kWh.

It's a Huawei system, installed professionally, (that I absolutely love - £17 inc. standing charge electricity bill for June). It's set up to
(A) Power the house.
(B) If any is left after (A) charge the battery (to 100%).
(C) If any is left after (A) and (B) then, export to the grid.
If not enough is coming from the panels then the battery supplements it until the battery hits 0% and then the grid is used.

I think what I'd want is the same but (C) changes to 'charge the car then send to grid' (I realise the panels won't charge the car to 100% the highest I've ever got from the panels in a day is around 32kWh but, hey, every little helps).


Pre-COVID I would have said 'No - it's in work' (64-mile round trip). Now, more 'Hybrid working' so possibly at work once a week, 3 times a fortnight.

If I had to guess I'd say (with 'pottering about') probably 250-ish miles a week. When/If I ever have to go back to work that will double to 500 a week.

Smart Meter = Yes.

Not bi-directional but V2L implies that I can power a 'thing' from the car but not 'the house'. It also implies that I can't charge the car at the same time as the car being used as a battery for the house - not too fussed about that tbh that's what the other battery is for.

Anyways - enough of a ramble from me!

Pat

With Octopus go you can also charge up your house battery for 7.5p / KW between 12.30 and 4.30am, will be handy for the winter when less sun. I would advise you start the transfer to Octopus go now as it can take a little time to get sorted (usually join Octopus, then apply for go, get your house input fuse checked (100 amp preffered), and if you already have smart meter then hopefully they can connect (even some smet 1s with an online update) if not they have to arrange.

 

[weedavemac]

Welcome to the forum.

Really like the look of the facelift MG5. Hopefully you will really enjoy the car when it comes.

 

[BarryH]

Indeed.



That's easily done in theory, but harder in practice. The issue is whether and how to account for fluctuations in solar output and demand from the house. Cars (effectively) need a minimum of 1.4kW to charge, so if your "spare" output is less than that you have to either:

• cease charging
• supplement from the battery
• supplement from the mains

The problem is that the car doesn't like repeated on/off charging cycles and may throw a hissy fit. Clearly supplementing risks a significant proportion of the charge coming from other than solar, particularly if a short term peak of excess generation causes the start of charging. Decent quality chargers such as the Myenergi Zappi or the Indra allow thesholds of excess capacity to be used, but ideally you want something that ties in with your current controls.

I'm glad I read the subsequent comments before commenting on @Pat 's consideration of the "charge the car" option. I was planning to make the same point. in fact I'm getting 4.8 kW of PV and 7.8 kWh of Fox-ESS installed in a little over a month and I've calculated that with that configuration and my base load usage there will be insufficient days a year to even make an Eddi viable since I can bang a few kWh in the SunAmp Heat Store hot water storage overnight for a few pence on Octopus Go. As for replacing my modified and WiFi-enabled PodPoint Solo home EVSE (ie charger) for a Zappi - well that is even harder to justify. The reason being is that, there is a minimum level of available power before the Zappi would start to charge because it is incredibly inefficient to charge below something like 1.4 kW. However, the home battery can very easily mop up PV surplus on all but the sunniest days since my 4.8 kW PV is split over two aspects and my 'Home' battery can absorb up to 3 kW after the house baseload of c400 w. In fact, it is important that I don't completely eliminate the Grid consumption altogether, because next year when the next Ripple Energy Wind Farm comes on stream I need to have some grid consumption to receive a discount on.

 

[mourneuk]

With Octopus go you can also charge up your house battery for 7.5p / KW between 12.30 and 4.30am, will be handy for the winter when less sun. I would advise you start the transfer to Octopus go now as it can take a little time to get sorted (usually join Octopus, then apply for go, get your house input fuse checked (100 amp preffered), and if you already have smart meter then hopefully they can connect (even some smet 1s with an online update) if not they have to arrange.

Wish I could get a smart meter - we had British Gas out for an install and there wasn’t room (and he wasn’t allowed to make room) Reluctant to get an electrician out to streamline what we have there as the expense would negate any savings from switching to the overnight tariff on octopus,

 

[smokie]

Wish I could get a smart meter

That's not a phrase you hear very often!!

 

[mourneuk]

That's not a phrase you hear very often!!

I was dead against them but the extremely cheap off peak rates changed my mind. We have a very modest array (7 panels due to the stupid shape of my roof) and incoming small battery to offset the more expensive peak rate.

 

[BarryH]

I was dead against them but the extremely cheap off peak rates changed my mind. We have a very modest array (7 panels due to the stupid shape of my roof) and incoming small battery to offset the more expensive peak rate.

I don't know if you've had a look at Lux-Power Squirrel Pod (Hybrid inverter), Which even works if you haven't 'Any' space for solar panels. It's compatible with both Octopus Go and Octopus Agile and charges on your off-peak rate so you can enjoy that throughout the day it's actually quite a compelling option saving you the average install costs of £5-£6000 for your solar PV. Octopus energy can then generate your renewable energy in a highly efficient way on their Vast solar farms or wind farms.

 

[smokie]

...dependent on that tariff not changing of course,, which in theory it already has... (They now have a written condition. not wholly enforced I understand, that an EV is required).

There'd be nothing stopping them discontinuing it with enough notice, or only allowing you to top up your car (i.e. no other usage) so an investment with a long ROI depending on it isn't necessarily a smart one.

 

[BugEyed]

Exactly. To quote from an installers website:
"Octopus Energy Agile offers cheap Off Peak tariffs between 00:00am to 8:00am & 12:00pm to 4:00pm. By simply selecting how many half-hourly charge periods you want within these time slots the Lux Squirrel Pod will do the rest and hunt out the cheapest of the cheapest tariff rates and charge the batteries."
That'll be the tariff that was stuck almost permanently on its cap of 35p/kWh for the last 12 months until Octopus raised the cap to 55p/kWh recently where it occasionally ventures below, but not significantly in comparison to Go at 7.5p/kWh currently.

 

[mourneuk]

I don't know if you've had a look at Lux-Power Squirrel Pod (Hybrid inverter), Which even works if you haven't 'Any' space for solar panels. It's compatible with both Octopus Go and Octopus Agile and charges on your off-peak rate so you can enjoy that throughout the day it's actually quite a compelling option saving you the average install costs of £5-£6000 for your solar PV. Octopus energy can then generate your renewable energy in a highly efficient way on their Vast solar farms or wind farms.

Thanks, I’ll look into that.

 

[BarryH]

Exactly. To quote from an installers website:
"Octopus Energy Agile offers cheap Off Peak tariffs between 00:00am to 8:00am & 12:00pm to 4:00pm. By simply selecting how many half-hourly charge periods you want within these time slots the Lux Squirrel Pod will do the rest and hunt out the cheapest of the cheapest tariff rates and charge the batteries."
That'll be the tariff that was stuck almost permanently on its cap of 35p/kWh for the last 12 months until Octopus raised the cap to 55p/kWh recently where it occasionally ventures below, but not significantly in comparison to Go at 7.5p/kWh currently.

The S'Pod (along with the LuxPower PV-Battery Storage) has probably the easiest user interfaces (UI) out there and while Agile tariff is not working (basically because of the combination of broken Energy Market and broken Government Price Cap policy) it will come good because it is essential in the medium to long term that we have "Time of Day" (TOD) pricing. And in the shorter term, even though Octopus Go isn't Dynamic TOD pricing the S'pod/Lux Power settings will charge the battery during your "Go" off-peak window.