Home Charging for a Newbie

[Eponemuss]

I've decided to 'hitch my wagon' to Octopus. Even though it means paying slightly more for my home's electricity than I'm currently paying, I think the nett benefits will significant.
Just collected the car. Only driven home so far, without drama.

 

[Captin1234x]

Hello, I have had my PHEV sine June and decided to install a wall charger, 7kW as in future I expect to switch to full EV. The key is buying a decent charger compatible with energy suppliers and like in my case also compatible with solar. My original plan was to charge the car off solar then top up at night but having found Intelligent Octopus Go tariff I don't bother with solar. I get 7p/kWh and the way the tariff operates is Octopus manages the charging schedule, not the wall charger or the car (I switch them off). What I did not know was Octopus provide charging slots day & night and gradually the car fills but by morning it is completely full, I just have to plug the car in at least at night. If you have any plans for a full EV then get a good wall charger and be ready for the future.

 

[RCK49]

Morning all! Just ordered my HS PHEV Trophy. Hope to collect on Friday. Just wondered if there is any wisdom to be gleaned here about home charging in terms of types of charger, suppliers and tariffs? Our current energy provider don't offer a specific EV tariff so looking to switch. Have shortlisted OVO as a possible. Any advice would be gratefully received.

I have Octopus utility supplier and tried a granny charger but to be honest so slow that it would be needed to be on charge all the time car was not in use. Had a hypervolt unit installed by Octopus that can be scheduled to charge during the cheap rate overnight.

I charge car up when it gets down to 20 - 30% about every 4-5 days. Works for me.

23:30 - 05:30 @ 7p/kWh; 05:30 -23:30 @ 28.96 kWh + standing charge. They will all be about the same. Incidently I have a solar system with battery and can charge battery up overnight as well along with washing machine and dishwasher, then export generated solar at 15p during the day.

 

[AJ2010]

People need to make their calculations to understand if an overnight EV tariff is cost effective. I my case, unless I moved the vast majority of my electricity consumption (not happening), I'd be paying more, because the standing charge and daily rates are much higher than standard tariffs.
Because of my lower daily mileage I'm better off on the standard tariff from Eon.
Yes did all the maths and crunched all the data with the help of AI.

 

[Bam Bam]

People need to make their calculations to understand if an overnight ev tariff is cost effective. I my case, unless i moved the vast majority of my electricity consumption (not happening) i d be paying more, because the standing charge and daily rates are much higher than standard tariffs.
Because of my lower daily mileage I m better off on the standard tariff from Eon.
Yes did all the maths and crunched all the data with the help of AI.

But if you have an EV, you can get an EV tariff with a cheap overnight rate.
Then you get into Rolfe's famous circular reasoning...

1. Cheap overnight tariff means that a home battery makes sense, so you get a battery.
2. If you have a battery then solar panels make even more sense, particularly because batteries and solar work out cheaper if you get them combined in a hybrid system.
3. So you get the charger...

I think now Octopus offers 0% APR deals so you can spread the cost over a few years.

 

[AJ2010]

But if you have an EV, you can get an EV tariff with a cheap overnight rate.
Then you get into Rolfe's famous circular reasoning...

1. Cheap overnight tariff means that a home battery makes sense, so you get a battery.
2. If you have a battery then solar panels make even more sense, particularly because batteries and solar work out cheaper if you get them combined in a hybrid system.
3. So you get the charger...

I think now Octopus offers 0% APR deals so you can spread the cost over a few years.

Check what is the standing charge and daily rate on an overnight EV tariff and compare to a standard tariff. They are more expensive. Unless you shift your home electricity consumption to happen after midnight, you may end up paying more for your home electricity consumption and that may erase any savings you make on overnight EV charging. That would happen to me, as I wrote above.

The investment examples you make would payoff in quite a few years down the line, too many.

Not everyone is in a financial position to go for those. Even the home charger doesn't make sense on the HS plug in Hybrid. At least for me, it doesn't. Granny charger and day charging all the way. I only have to do it once every week.

 

[Bam Bam]

Not everyone is in a financial position to go for those. Even the home charger doesn't make sense on the HS plug in Hybrid.

Yes, there is an energy transition going on generally and in our own lives.

The order of investments will vary significantly from person to person (for personal and financial reasons) and due to differences in housing situation (e.g. driveway, ease of installing things like solar etc.).

What worries me is that people make a decision without planning ahead and it turns out to take them down a road that costs them more in the long run.

 

[HStrophyPHEV2025rc]

Completely agree with the recent posts. Eventually, almost all 'traditional' houses (non-flats, with a roof and a driveway etc) will have:

• Solar panels on roof
• Home electricity battery system
• Heat pump
• EV car
• EV charger

The order that we purchase the above will differ depending on individual personal circumstances (renters/owners, current savings/debt, about to move house or there for the long-term)
=> The order of what you purchase the above will vary depending on the individual's circumstances (there is not one rule that fits everyone)

However, in 20 year's time I expect more-or-less all 'traditional' homes will have most of the above technology in place.

That said, in 20-30 year's time there will be a transition from most people owning their own car to instead using an APP to 'hail' a driverless taxi everywhere
=> I reckon in my lifetime it will become 'normal' for most people not owning their own car!

 

[colinE]

My Zappi works very well. We have two cars one an EV and the other HS PHEV and use the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff which works really well for us. Obviously has the off peak rate which is 7p per unit and when there is surplus energy in the grid we get that rate outside of the off peak hours which is a little bonus.

 

[Chris k9]

Looking at this thread with interest...it seems the wall chargers being mentioned have the monopoly but does anybody on here use an Evec Vec01 ? The reason it interests me is £299 at local outlet. Thanks

 

[DBedford]

Hive have some deals with free home charging for a year, but I know forum members have had mixed experiences with them

EO Mini Pro 3 EV Charger | Hive Home

The EO combines cutting-edge charging tech with advanced money-saving features – all in one small, sleek, secure unit. Helping you drive greener for less.

www.hivehome.com

Hive's year of free charging saved us about £350, which paid in part for the charger's installation. Worth having.

 

[RCK49]

I use the Hypervolt app for the charger. From nearly empty three hours will take the car to around 70 miles which is good enough for day to day running whilst an occasional schedule charge of three and half hours will fill the battery and provide a bit extra to equalise the cells.

I use Hypervolt home 3 with Octopus and I had an internet outage for 24 hours contacted Hypervolt on how to unlock and this was their response:
if your charger is locked and falls offline, you can commence an 'emergency charge'.

To do this, you'll need to plug in your charger to the EV charging port, then, power down the Hypervolt from the breaker switch. Upon powering back up, your charger should begin charging the vehicle on a plug and charge session.

 

[JohnV6]

Octopus IGO and Ohme Home Pro.
I also have PV and batteries.

Hybrids though have small battery packs so I would think the Octopus go at 8p per kWh and using the granny charger makes sense. A 7kW wall unit will cost around GBP 1000.

 

[Bam Bam]

A 7kw wall unit will cost around gbp1000.

That seems like the norm.

However, the Units are probably around £600. (Not that Evec Vec01 mentioned above which seems to be heavily discounted, perhaps a sign of competition kicking into the industry).

The electrical works will be another £300-400.

So replacing a unit will be less than installing one from scratch.

 

[Eponemuss]

Can anyone please tell me how to limit charging to 80% on my HS PHEV? Only have the granny charger currently (no pun intended) and can’t see a way, either in the iSMART app or in the vehicle, to limit charge to 80% capacity.

 

[Bam Bam]

Can anyone please tell me how to limit charging to 80% on my HS PHEV? Only have the granny charger currently (no pun intended) and can’t see a way, either in the iSMART app or in the vehicle, to limit charge to 80% capacity.

I believe you have an LFP battery, according to this page... MG HS II 1.5T (299 Hp) Plug-in Hybrid Automatic | Technical specs, data, fuel consumption, Dimensions

This chemistry is more rugged and so there is no need to limit to 80%.

 

[Captain Slackbladder]

Has anyone ever used PodPoint?

I ordered about 7 weeks ago. They were quick with coming back with an installation date initially but it wasn't convenient for me so I rescheduled.

Since then, nothing.

No response to emails and the helpline people tell me they are trying to find out a solution and will phone back.

They never do.

 

[Eponemuss]

I believe you have an LFP battery, according to this page... MG HS II 1.5T (299 Hp) Plug-in Hybrid Automatic | Technical specs, data, fuel consumption, Dimensions

This chemistry is more rugged and so there is no need to limit to 80%.

Many thanks. Good to know.

 

[Eponemuss]

I believe you have an LFP battery, according to this page... MG HS II 1.5T (299 Hp) Plug-in Hybrid Automatic | Technical specs, data, fuel consumption, Dimensions

This chemistry is more rugged and so there is no need to limit to 80%.

Just reading up on this (Google is your friend!) and it seems most 'experts' are still recommending that, to maximise the longevity of your LFP battery, you limit charging to 80%, only charging to 100% every now and then to equalise the battery. I have a 58 mile round-trip commute which I like to do on electric motor. If I can, I'd like to limit the overnight charge to 80% to cover the commute and still comply with advice from experts. I can't find a way of doing this within the i-smart app, or within the vehicle's charge control page in the car. Any ideas?

 

[BarrieG]

I don't use the i-smart app but in my Hypervolt app I can schedule the start and stop times to the minute. A simple calculation will tell me how long I need to charge overnight to stop charging at 60 miles.