Octopus Go Intelligent new 6 hours charging limit

[goose]

Maybe I am wrong, but the way I read it is that if you use intelligent charge during the day then it will be at the low rate (for 5 hours anyway) and you will still have the lower rate electricity from 23:30 til 05:30. I will pause there because it gets a bit more complicated (at least in my mind).

Guessing, I think they are trying to break the connection between charging your car and using cheap overnight electricity use (presumably to encourage non electric car users to schedule their demand away from the peak too). So, allowing their intelligent car charging to handle it they can better manipulate demand for all users away from the peak and better balance the grid.

The only risk I see (assuming I am correct) is that if you charge your car during the day only, and it takes more than 5 hours, then in that case the remainder of that charge time will be at the 'normal' rate.

Phew, this require some mental gymnastics (and I was never much good at gymnastics). But in real life I think they will always try to supply car charging during the overnight period anyway.

Over to you gymnasts

 

[Jomarkh]

It is 6 hours for IOG and they are just for car charging anything over 6 hours will be at peak even during 2330-0530. the house is still at 7p during these hours

 

[LenEV2016]

Maybe I am wrong, but the way I read it is that if you use intelligent charge during the day then it will be at the low rate (for 5 hours anyway) and you will still have the lower rate electricity from 23:30 til 05:30. I will pause there because it gets a bit more complicated (at least in my mind).

Guessing, I think they are trying to break the connection between charging your car and using cheap overnight electricity use (presumably to encourage non electric car users to schedule their demand away from the peak too). So, allowing their intelligent car charging to handle it they can better manipulate demand for all users away from the peak and better balance the grid.

The only risk I see (assuming I am correct) is that if you charge your car during the day only, and it takes more than 5 hours, then in that case the remainder of that charge time will be at the 'normal' rate.

Phew, this require some mental gymnastics (and I was never much good at gymnastics). But in real life I think they will always try to supply car charging during the overnight period anyway.

Over to you gymnasts

You are highly unlikely to get a full 5 hrs during the day but whatever you get your EV charging up to 6 hrs is cheap rate and 2330-0530hrs is guaranteed cheap rate for the house, even if the charging is out with that period.
The minute or 1/2 hour you go over your six you start getting charged at full rate.

The charging day is midday to midday and certainly on my charger (ohme) the latest I can set the charge to be ready by is 1100hrs

 

[johnb80]

This is way too messy I'll stick to the 11:30 to 05:30 slot and run my smart charging in there.

 

[killie20]

They seem to be saying charge little and often, plug in everyday. The manuals are asking to charge 20-80% and 100% when needed. Could this not be an issue?

 

[LenEV2016]

20-80% charge is still possible with a smaller battery (64kwh)

 

[killie20]

Agreed, in my case it will. But other might go against OEM recommend battery charging

 

[LenEV2016]

Agreed, in my case it will. But other might go against OEM recommend battery charging

To be fair it was only every meant to be 6 hours, one of the issues with really big batteries

 

[Gomev]

They seem to be saying charge little and often, plug in everyday. The manuals are asking to charge 20-80% and 100% when needed. Could this not be an issue?

Batteries are proving to be more resilient in the real world than lab testing predicted. Charge as you want when you want it will make little to no difference.

 

[salty]

Batteries are proving to be more resilient in the real world than lab testing predicted. Charge as you want when you want it will make little to no difference.

Totally agree.

 

[tsedge]

I think this discussion shows that the current product is confusing and overcomplicated.

It would be better if there were 2 separate products split out of this combination:

a) A dumb fixed time 6 hour night tariff for all purposes, including car charging: no slots.

b) An intelligent slots tariff; all usages allowed but the slots are dynamically allocated in such a way that you get 6 hours every night (and it can control your car charging to match).

Obviously rates/fees would be adjusted, the second product would be cheaper but less predictable.

Then people can choose: do you want the simplicity of a fixed night time or the lowest possible cost?

And there are no more percentages: it just charges your car until done, within the 6 hours.

 

[EVsince2016]

I think this discussion shows that the current product is confusing and overcomplicated.

It would be better if there were 2 separate products split out of this combination:

a) A dumb fixed time 6 hour night tariff for all purposes, including car charging: no slots.

b) An intelligent slots tariff; all usages allowed but the slots are dynamically allocated in such a way that you get 6 hours every night (and it can control your car charging to match).

Obviously rates/fees would be adjusted, the second product would be cheaper but less predictable.

Then people can choose: do you want the simplicity of a fixed night time or the lowest possible cost?

And there are no more percentages: it just charges your car until done, within the 6 hours.

There are already 2, a dumb (Go) and smart (IO Go).

It's just that IO Go is cheaper!

 

[Everest]

There are already 2, a dumb (Go) and smart (IO Go).

I use that. The other disadvantage is that it's only 5 hours (00:30 - 05:30) cheap rate on GO... but we still managed to consume just over 50kWh in 5 hours last night

 

[johnb80]

It would be so much easier if you could say how many hours of charging you needed and have the option for those hours to be within the 6 hours off peak time, still allowing Octopus to control your wallbox as required. This would avoid people discharging their house batteries etc.
.

 

[tsedge]

There are already 2, a dumb (Go) and smart (IO Go).

It's just that IO Go is cheaper!

Go only gives you 4 hours every night though, which isn't competitive with other offerings.

Edit; apparently it is 5 hours now. Still not 6 and considerably more expensive as you say.

I stand by my comment that IOG is over-complicated.

Still I get 6 hours off peak every night and I don't have to worry about slots except once a month.

 

[Rolfe]

Am I right in thinkint this isn't going to go live until the end of January? Because I might need a wee bit more than six hours on Sunday night - a lot of driving on Sunday, then setting off for a long trip on Monday. I want to get to Tebay for my break, and in winter I need to start at 100% to get there.

 

[LenEV2016]

Am I right in thinkint this isn't going to go live until the end of January? Because I might need a wee bit more than six hours on Sunday night - a lot of driving on Sunday, then setting off for a long trip on Monday. I want to get to Tebay for my break, and in winter I need to start at 100% to get there.

Yeah towards the end of January

 

[Everest]

Because I might need a wee bit more than six hours on Sunday night - a lot of driving on Sunday, then setting off for a long trip on Monday. I want to get to Tebay for my break, and in winter I need to start at 100% to get there.

How many more kWh's would you need over the 42kWh you can put in over 6h? Presumably you'd only be looking at an extra 20p or so per kWh compared to the IOG rate?

 

[RCK49]

Don't leave Smart charging on when you don't want the car to charge.

OR. Only plug the car in during the day for emergency top ups and don't leave plugged in - which defeats what Octopus are trying to achieve,
OR. Only plug in at night to take at advantage of the 6 hours without go over.

 

[johnb80]

Am I right in thinkint this isn't going to go live until the end of January? Because I might need a wee bit more than six hours on Sunday night - a lot of driving on Sunday, then setting off for a long trip on Monday. I want to get to Tebay for my break, and in winter I need to start at 100% to get there.

Do you have the option to preheat the battery on the MG4? I have on my i3 and makes a huge difference to pre heat the battery and the car before departure, usually whilst on charge.

Safe journey and a very Merry Christmas to you all