Discussion
Hi all, could anyone recommend the cheapest EV tariff? I see there's an Octopus thread running, is this deemed to be the best tariff?
I see they offer 6 hours cheap rate, but wondered if there are any better ones?
I have a new smart meter, but currently just on a standard (non economy 7 tariff) with British Gas.
Thanks for any advice.
I see they offer 6 hours cheap rate, but wondered if there are any better ones?
I have a new smart meter, but currently just on a standard (non economy 7 tariff) with British Gas.
Thanks for any advice.
ok, so I've done some digging and thought I'd post my findings on here for everyones reference:
There looks to be 5 main players in this market - British Gas, EON, Octopus, OVO and Scottish Power, and whilst they all offer a similar thing, they're all slightly different. Here's my summary. Although I'm discounting the OVO one due to it's complexity and for some reason Scottish Power don't offer me they're tariff.
There looks to be 5 main players in this market - British Gas, EON, Octopus, OVO and Scottish Power, and whilst they all offer a similar thing, they're all slightly different. Here's my summary. Although I'm discounting the OVO one due to it's complexity and for some reason Scottish Power don't offer me they're tariff.
I’m not sure of the ins and outs of Octopus but yeah these type of tariffs generally work like that and the car can smart charge at specific times.
The confusing one to me is the OVO one as it seems to me as if you can charge at anytime of the day, and the app works out somehow on a monthly basis what you’ve used to charge your car and credits you the next month for the difference between what you’ve paid and what the lower price is. Bit bizarre
The confusing one to me is the OVO one as it seems to me as if you can charge at anytime of the day, and the app works out somehow on a monthly basis what you’ve used to charge your car and credits you the next month for the difference between what you’ve paid and what the lower price is. Bit bizarre
chris116 said:
Cheers that’s much better than my homemade thing. I’m tempted by OVO despite its complexity. But according to this website it only works with 2 charger brands? Is that right?
https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/charge-any...
One major question I have with OVO is the charging times.
Lets assume I want the car to be fully charged and I plug it in at say 2pm for leaving the house at 7am the next day. What will it do? Will it stop and start the charging all day to get me fully charged in time? Or will it only charge when it's cheap and therefore leave me short of miles?
Lets assume I want the car to be fully charged and I plug it in at say 2pm for leaving the house at 7am the next day. What will it do? Will it stop and start the charging all day to get me fully charged in time? Or will it only charge when it's cheap and therefore leave me short of miles?
Right, I've been on the OVO tariff for a few days now and it's just as plfrench said, they seem to charge me 7p for charging at anytime they think it's 'green' to charge! 26p for normal household usage.
For example I have the car on charge now and it says 'Smart' charging (has done since i plugged in at 8pm last night) and it's charged the whole night and morning at 7p.
I have a feeling it's a bug, so until they fix it I'll be taking full advantage! There is a possibility that because it's ridiculously windy, they have a surplus at the moment, so it's cheap today, but I'll monitor it and report back.
I have 2 EVs, a Tesla MS and a Cupra Born. The Tesla was simple to set up (just put my user credentials in) but the Cupra was a bugger (turn things on in the car in menus that I didn't even know existed, a 'S-PIN' which I couldn't remember setting up, etc etc) but got there in the end.
For example I have the car on charge now and it says 'Smart' charging (has done since i plugged in at 8pm last night) and it's charged the whole night and morning at 7p.
I have a feeling it's a bug, so until they fix it I'll be taking full advantage! There is a possibility that because it's ridiculously windy, they have a surplus at the moment, so it's cheap today, but I'll monitor it and report back.
I have 2 EVs, a Tesla MS and a Cupra Born. The Tesla was simple to set up (just put my user credentials in) but the Cupra was a bugger (turn things on in the car in menus that I didn't even know existed, a 'S-PIN' which I couldn't remember setting up, etc etc) but got there in the end.
For me, I only have a 3kw charger, so to only be able to charge between 12-5am is a non starter (I'd only get about 35 miles added!).
Ovo seems to allow cheap charging at ANYTIME during the day (admittedly when they say it's green - which is most of the time - I assume because it's winter and windy a lot).
For example, I have just had my car charging for 24 hours (unusual for me) and it's done it ALL at 7p kwh.
I have had it stop charging once when it said it wasn't green, but it automatically started again a few hours later when it went green again.
Can't fault Ovo to be honest.
Ovo seems to allow cheap charging at ANYTIME during the day (admittedly when they say it's green - which is most of the time - I assume because it's winter and windy a lot).
For example, I have just had my car charging for 24 hours (unusual for me) and it's done it ALL at 7p kwh.
I have had it stop charging once when it said it wasn't green, but it automatically started again a few hours later when it went green again.
Can't fault Ovo to be honest.
T_S_M said:
I’m on Octopus Intelligent Go due to recently getting an EV. I’m due to have a 7kw charger fitted next month but for the last 2 months it’s been on a 13amp/3kw wall plug.
When I plug it in and set the target charge and time through the app, due to the length of time to charge it, it immediately starts charging. Will this be at the rate of 7.5p or will that only change once it gets to 12.30am?
If I adjust the charge target it then sets the schedule, but if I plug in at 6pm with 10% charge, it’ll start charging immediately. The app says it may charge outside of the ‘window’ as well if the demand on the grid is low.
If that makes sense?
AFAIK the only time you get charged full whack is if you press 'Urgent Charge'. As someone said above, I don't know if there's a bug, because I believe it's meant to charge you to your 'minimum' charge at full rate (but it doesn't).When I plug it in and set the target charge and time through the app, due to the length of time to charge it, it immediately starts charging. Will this be at the rate of 7.5p or will that only change once it gets to 12.30am?
If I adjust the charge target it then sets the schedule, but if I plug in at 6pm with 10% charge, it’ll start charging immediately. The app says it may charge outside of the ‘window’ as well if the demand on the grid is low.
If that makes sense?
T_S_M said:
Even better then!
I was just worried I was putting it on charge from 6pm till 8am and getting charged the full rate until the cheap rate window during the night.
You will be able to see in the app if you’ve made ‘saving’ during that time (it’s live) if you have then you’re getting the 7p rateI was just worried I was putting it on charge from 6pm till 8am and getting charged the full rate until the cheap rate window during the night.
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