Home chargers

[ColinB]

I have a Rolec Home Smart Ev charger which has been faultless since I had it installed in September 2021.
The electricity to my HS PHEV is supplied by Octopus and I’m currently on their Octopus Go December 2021v1 tariff at 8p/kWh which expires on March 7th 2023.
Talking to them today I was advised that they have new rates commencing 6th April 2023 and one of the tariffs is called ‘ Intelligent Octopus ‘ which works differently and will be cheaper than ‘ Octopus Go ‘.
Apparently whereas I set my Rolec to charge 00:30-04:30 to enjoy off peak charging which is increasing to 12p/kWh, this new new tariff operates between 23:30- 05:30 and will be at 10p/kWh.
But whilst it’s applicable for Audi, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mini, Tesla, VW ( excluding ID models), and Skoda about to be added, it isn’t currently applicable to MG.
Octopus add that if you have a Ohme charger it will work with any EV / Hybrid.
I am now going to check with Rolec to find out if theirs conforms.

I’ve spoken to Rolec and it transpires that Ohme is not a system as I had thought but just another manufacturer of charging units.
So I now going to email Octopus to find out why Rolec is not an acceptable charger and MG is not an acceptable make of car to for their new and cheaper ‘ Intelligent ‘ tariff.

 

[emmrecs]

Do you use the ev.energy app with your Rolec charger?

I also have a Rolec and the app allows me to give it full details of the tariff I'm on and then it automatically sets the charging time for either the "cheapest time" or, as in my case because I am on a single standard tariff (so no difference between unit cost whether day or night) for time slots when there is less demand on the grid. All I do is set the time I want the car to be ready and the app does the rest.

As I hope is obvious, therefore, there is no reason that I can think of why your charger should not be able to work with whichever provider you wish to use!

 

[Jomarkh]

Unfortunately currently only the Ohme works with IO and a few manufacturers.
I am hoping the Zappi will be compatible soon for when my current Go tariff ends.
You could try and find the original Ohme type2 to type2 and set your Rolec in dumb mode.

 

[BugEyed]

Intelligent is not a simple tariff but packages up the demand from the connected EVs and factors this into Octopuses mix of electricity. Octopus uses a 3rd party to do this who integrate with the vehicles via the public API provided by the manufacturer. But MG don't provide a public API.
Ohme provides a lot of the integration between Octopus and the car for manufacturers that don't provide a public API. Currently no other charge point manufacturers do this, although apparently MyEnergi (the manufacturers of the Zappi) are working on it. Personally I can't see Rolec joining this anytime soon.

 

[Lguk]

Only mg models with iSmart stand a chance of future integration as all pre face-lift models lack the hardware to connect to an API. For most of us, (there seems to be more owners of earlier models at the moment) the only chance of integration with intelligent octopus is through a compatible evse, which means an Ohme or soon Zappi one. I'm hoping EO become compatible before August when my current Go deal ends.

 

[Ayoull]

I have a Rolec Home Smart Ev charger which has been faultless since I had it installed in September 2021.
The electricity to my HS PHEV is supplied by Octopus and I’m currently on their Octopus Go December 2021v1 tariff at 8p/kWh which expires on March 7th 2023.
Talking to them today I was advised that they have new rates commencing 6th April 2023 and one of the tariffs is called ‘ Intelligent Octopus ‘ which works differently and will be cheaper than ‘ Octopus Go ‘.
Apparently whereas I set my Rolec to charge 00:30-04:30 to enjoy off peak charging which is increasing to 12p/kWh, this new new tariff operates between 23:30- 05:30 and will be at 10p/kWh.
But whilst it’s applicable for Audi, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mini, Tesla, VW ( excluding ID models), and Skoda about to be added, it isn’t currently applicable to MG.
Octopus add that if you have a Ohme charger it will work with any EV / Hybrid.
I am now going to check with Rolec to find out if theirs conforms.

I’ve spoken to Rolec and it transpires that Ohme is not a system as I had thought but just another manufacturer of charging units.
So I now going to email Octopus to find out why Rolec is not an acceptable charger and MG is not an acceptable make of car to for their new and cheaper ‘ Intelligent ‘ tariff.

Octopus Intelligent utilises exposed APIs on order to control the charge of the car or charger, Ohme is the only manufacturer that has produced a charger that is stable enough and had an API capable of being controlled and communicate with Octopus's system.

The fault is with the car manufacturers and EV charger manufacturers not Octopus.

SAIC has kept their API closed and not exposed for public use, where as Tesla, and JLR have published their APIs for charging so other software can be written to interact with them.

 

[remarkable1967]

I have a Rolec Home Smart Ev charger which has been faultless since I had it installed in September 2021.
The electricity to my HS PHEV is supplied by Octopus and I’m currently on their Octopus Go December 2021v1 tariff at 8p/kWh which expires on March 7th 2023.
Talking to them today I was advised that they have new rates commencing 6th April 2023 and one of the tariffs is called ‘ Intelligent Octopus ‘ which works differently and will be cheaper than ‘ Octopus Go ‘.
Apparently whereas I set my Rolec to charge 00:30-04:30 to enjoy off peak charging which is increasing to 12p/kWh, this new new tariff operates between 23:30- 05:30 and will be at 10p/kWh.
But whilst it’s applicable for Audi, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mini, Tesla, VW ( excluding ID models), and Skoda about to be added, it isn’t currently applicable to MG.
Octopus add that if you have a Ohme charger it will work with any EV / Hybrid.
I am now going to check with Rolec to find out if theirs conforms.

I’ve spoken to Rolec and it transpires that Ohme is not a system as I had thought but just another manufacturer of charging units.
So I now going to email Octopus to find out why Rolec is not an acceptable charger and MG is not an acceptable make of car to for their new and cheaper ‘ Intelligent ‘ tariff.

Hi,
I haven't got m MG4 yet but yes, I have just received a quote from Octopus for the Ohme charger and was told it was the only one that would offer me the Intelligent tarrif for the MG4. I'm starting from scratch so not really an issue but a bit of a bummer for yourself already having a perfectly good charger. Good luck.

 

[Mike SOS]

How much drop in % is the best time for a charge?

 

[BugEyed]

When the remaining charge will not be sufficient for your next day's journeys + 20%, or you are below 40%.