Intelligent Octopus

Author
Discussion

Takemeaway

622 posts

217 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
I’ve just signed up to intelligent go (Tesla and evec charger) which has all worked fine so far.

Question is that we have a e2008 also which I don’t think is compatible according to the app.
If I plug the Peugeot in overnight and set the evec to schedule to come on at 23:30, will I still get the low rate of charge overnight?

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Takemeaway said:
I’ve just signed up to intelligent go (Tesla and evec charger) which has all worked fine so far.

Question is that we have a e2008 also which I don’t think is compatible according to the app.
If I plug the Peugeot in overnight and set the evec to schedule to come on at 23:30, will I still get the low rate of charge overnight?
Yes, the 23:30 - 05:30 is always cheap rate, for whatever you plug in.

If you do that to keep the e2008 topped up, you'll probably find that keeping the Tesla plugged in during the day will trigger endless off peak additional hours, sufficient to keep it topped up and save you a load of money on whatever else needs power in the house too.


Pistonheadsdicoverer

351 posts

52 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Yes, the 23:30 - 05:30 is always cheap rate, for whatever you plug in.

If you do that to keep the e2008 topped up, you'll probably find that keeping the Tesla plugged in during the day will trigger endless off peak additional hours, sufficient to keep it topped up and save you a load of money on whatever else needs power in the house too.
Do you know why that is the case? I assume it depends on how much surplus electricity is available on the grid.

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Pistonheadsdicoverer said:
TheDeuce said:
Yes, the 23:30 - 05:30 is always cheap rate, for whatever you plug in.

If you do that to keep the e2008 topped up, you'll probably find that keeping the Tesla plugged in during the day will trigger endless off peak additional hours, sufficient to keep it topped up and save you a load of money on whatever else needs power in the house too.
Do you know why that is the case? I assume it depends on how much surplus electricity is available on the grid.
That's exactly why. Rather than waste the energy, it gets offered as cheap rate to anyone with an EV plugged in ready to charge - and of course an intelligent octopus account.


Takemeaway

622 posts

217 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Yes, the 23:30 - 05:30 is always cheap rate, for whatever you plug in.

If you do that to keep the e2008 topped up, you'll probably find that keeping the Tesla plugged in during the day will trigger endless off peak additional hours, sufficient to keep it topped up and save you a load of money on whatever else needs power in the house too.
Thank you, that’s good to know.

So ill need to leave the evec always on and available and then schedule the Peugeot to charge after 23:30

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Takemeaway said:
TheDeuce said:
Yes, the 23:30 - 05:30 is always cheap rate, for whatever you plug in.

If you do that to keep the e2008 topped up, you'll probably find that keeping the Tesla plugged in during the day will trigger endless off peak additional hours, sufficient to keep it topped up and save you a load of money on whatever else needs power in the house too.
Thank you, that’s good to know.

So ill need to leave the evec always on and available and then schedule the Peugeot to charge after 23:30
Yep. And anytime day or night the Peugeot isn't plugged in, may as well hook up the Tesla if it's convenient to do so and let octopus start/stop the charging.

Even with our single EV, we tend to get 14 hours of cheap rate if we plug it in close to zero charge, there's so often a lot of surplus renewable energy these days smile

Pistonheadsdicoverer

351 posts

52 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Yep. And anytime day or night the Peugeot isn't plugged in, may as well hook up the Tesla if it's convenient to do so and let octopus start/stop the charging.

Even with our single EV, we tend to get 14 hours of cheap rate if we plug it in close to zero charge, there's so often a lot of surplus renewable energy these days smile
I guess in Winter/Autumn/Spring, it is Windy (Wind farms kick in).
In summer. it will be Sunny (solar kicks in).

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Pistonheadsdicoverer said:
TheDeuce said:
Yep. And anytime day or night the Peugeot isn't plugged in, may as well hook up the Tesla if it's convenient to do so and let octopus start/stop the charging.

Even with our single EV, we tend to get 14 hours of cheap rate if we plug it in close to zero charge, there's so often a lot of surplus renewable energy these days smile
I guess in Winter/Autumn/Spring, it is Windy (Wind farms kick in).
In summer. it will be Sunny (solar kicks in).
There's so many variables and factors that influence excess energy feeding into the grid. Obviously it's generally windier or sunnier at certain times of the year as you point out. A common one is having traditional power stations ramp up their output in anticipation of it being a cloudy and still day (so minimal renewable generation), but then the weather makes a shift, and suddenly there is an excess. Often the excess can be sold via interconnectors to the European grid, or onward from there to any other, but if the weather does something unexpected for the time of year and it happens that no other grid wants the excess power at that time, then the excess could rapidly become very large - even though it all started with just a bit more wind than usual at a time of year when you wouldn't expect much wind at all.

Also worth noting that most wind power is coming from offshore generation, and it's a lot windier out there year round than it tends to be inland.

As a result, EV's are fantastic news for the grid, they can instantly absorb the excess. I've been charging EV's at home for nearly 4 years and honestly, I find I'm as likely to get extra off peak hours whenever I plug the car in, whatever time of year it is.


Pistonheadsdicoverer

351 posts

52 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
There's so many variables and factors that influence excess energy feeding into the grid. Obviously it's generally windier or sunnier at certain times of the year as you point out. A common one is having traditional power stations ramp up their output in anticipation of it being a cloudy and still day (so minimal renewable generation), but then the weather makes a shift, and suddenly there is an excess. Often the excess can be sold via interconnectors to the European grid, or onward from there to any other, but if the weather does something unexpected for the time of year and it happens that no other grid wants the excess power at that time, then the excess could rapidly become very large - even though it all started with just a bit more wind than usual at a time of year when you wouldn't expect much wind at all.

Also worth noting that most wind power is coming from offshore generation, and it's a lot windier out there year round than it tends to be inland.

As a result, EV's are fantastic news for the grid, they can instantly absorb the excess. I've been charging EV's at home for nearly 4 years and honestly, I find I'm as likely to get extra off peak hours whenever I plug the car in, whatever time of year it is.
Today is my first day as an EV owner so pardon me if this question is a bit "green". I have moved a few hours ago on IOG. So should I assume that anytime I plug in at home and don't use boost (or any non Octopus charging schedule), I will get the discounted tariff most of the time?

Takemeaway

622 posts

217 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Pistonheadsdicoverer said:
Today is my first day as an EV owner so pardon me if this question is a bit "green". I have moved a few hours ago on IOG. So should I assume that anytime I plug in at home and don't use boost (or any non Octopus charging schedule), I will get the discounted tariff most of the time?
I’ve just been signed up to intelligent octopus and have just plugged my car in and allowed the evec charger to be active and it’s allowing my Tesla to charge. Wondering if this would be at the lower rate?

Pistonheadsdicoverer

351 posts

52 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Takemeaway said:
I’ve just been signed up to intelligent octopus and have just plugged my car in and allowed the evec charger to be active and it’s allowing my Tesla to charge. Wondering if this would be at the lower rate?
I assume it is the case based on that video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8CWZ6_F1tA

My charger is on eco as well. So I hope it should work OK.

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Pistonheadsdicoverer said:
TheDeuce said:
There's so many variables and factors that influence excess energy feeding into the grid. Obviously it's generally windier or sunnier at certain times of the year as you point out. A common one is having traditional power stations ramp up their output in anticipation of it being a cloudy and still day (so minimal renewable generation), but then the weather makes a shift, and suddenly there is an excess. Often the excess can be sold via interconnectors to the European grid, or onward from there to any other, but if the weather does something unexpected for the time of year and it happens that no other grid wants the excess power at that time, then the excess could rapidly become very large - even though it all started with just a bit more wind than usual at a time of year when you wouldn't expect much wind at all.

Also worth noting that most wind power is coming from offshore generation, and it's a lot windier out there year round than it tends to be inland.

As a result, EV's are fantastic news for the grid, they can instantly absorb the excess. I've been charging EV's at home for nearly 4 years and honestly, I find I'm as likely to get extra off peak hours whenever I plug the car in, whatever time of year it is.
Today is my first day as an EV owner so pardon me if this question is a bit "green". I have moved a few hours ago on IOG. So should I assume that anytime I plug in at home and don't use boost (or any non Octopus charging schedule), I will get the discounted tariff most of the time?
So long as the car is added to octopus via the app, so octopus has control over starting and stopping charging - then you will get the most amount of extra discounted hours provided the car is plugged in and read to charge. Anytime the car is lugged and ready to go, Octopus will start the charging if there is excess power. It will be different day to day.

I think if you plugged the car is all day ever day, you would easily keep the batter topped up with the extra cheap hours alone, even if you never plugged it in during the guaranteed overnight cheap hours.

Pistonheadsdicoverer

351 posts

52 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Does the charging mode on my charger have any impact?
e.g. if my Zappi is on Fast or Eco. Or will Octopus take over that bit as well.
Octopus did ask me for my login details for my Zappi app.

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Pistonheadsdicoverer said:
Does the charging mode on my charger have any impact?
e.g. if my Zappi is on Fast or Eco. Or will Octopus take over that bit as well.
Octopus did ask me for my login details for my Zappi app.
I don't know, I assumed that it was the car, not the charger that IO would be controlling. I'm not an expert on zappi chargers, that sounds like a question for zappi! Or perhaps another member on here has one..

pills

1,747 posts

243 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
IO controls the charger.

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
pills said:
IO controls the charger.
In this instance maybe, but most IO users have it control their car

pills

1,747 posts

243 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
IO controls the charger.

TheDeuce

24,345 posts

72 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
pills said:
IO controls the charger.
You don't even need a charger to use IO

Go learn: https://octopus.energy/smart/intelligent-octopus-g...

Road2Ruin

5,410 posts

222 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
pills said:
IO controls the charger.
IO controls our car, not the charger.
As far as IO is concerned, all you need is either a compatible car OR a compatible charger. It will then control one or the other. Our charge is not supported, so our car is controlled.

Pistonheadsdicoverer

351 posts

52 months

Monday 22nd April
quotequote all
Pedaller said:
If you have given Octopus your zappi log in details then it is controlling the charger instead of your car. If you first gave them the log in details for your car but then gave them your zappi log in details, then you have effectively replaced the car with the charger on the IO system. You can’t have 2 devices on it. Octopus force the Zappi to Eco+ mode. If you change the mode to fast, Octopus will switch it back to Eco+ in about 10 seconds. If you go into the octopus app and turn off smart charging, you can then change zappi modes.
A-ha! I saw that happening actually. Just to confirm, the only way to turn off smart charging is to do bump charging right?