Ohme home pro charger & Pre FL MG5

[prospectivebuyer]

Hi all!

Incoming NEWBIE question. Never owned EV before.

I’m about to pull the trigger on a Pre facelift mg5. I’ve had a quote from octopus energy to have the ohme charger fitted and to move onto their 7.5p per kWh night tariff.

Has anyone here had any experience with the above charger / provider with a PRE Facelift mg5?

Simply I want to get home from work at 6pm, plug my car in and then it automatically starts charging at 23:30 and stops at 05:30 at around 80% charge. Is this possible with the Pre FL & ohme home pro charger?????

I’ve read online that the charger won’t know how much battery is charged on the pre facelift cause there is no ‘API’ ?? with the pre facelift. Does this mean it will just keep on charging up to 100% / when I take the plug out???

I’ve also read you need to tell the charger every time you plug in how much battery is in the car already and then work out what to tell the charger to go to to get you to 80% SOC. does this need to be done every single time I go to charge?

Will I have to go out to my car at 23:30 every night to plug in?

So many questions lol. Any help appreciated. Basically I want to plug in and forget about it until I wake up for work in the morning. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,
So much to learn!!

 

[Jomarkh]

I plug my MG5 in at about 5pm and set the app to add 30% for the morning which gets me back to about 80%.
If you use the same amount of battery every day then just set the percentage to add. You can always adjust it Before you plug in if you have used more or need it at 100% the next day.

 

[SimonomiS]

Hi all!

Incoming NEWBIE question. Never owned EV before.

I’m about to pull the trigger on a Pre facelift mg5. I’ve had a quote from octopus energy to have the ohme charger fitted and to move onto their 7.5p per kWh night tariff.

Has anyone here had any experience with the above charger / provider with a PRE Facelift mg5?

Simply I want to get home from work at 6pm, plug my car in and then it automatically starts charging at 23:30 and stops at 05:30 at around 80% charge. Is this possible with the Pre FL & ohme home pro charger?????

I’ve read online that the charger won’t know how much battery is charged on the pre facelift cause there is no ‘API’ ?? with the pre facelift. Does this mean it will just keep on charging up to 100% / when I take the plug out???

I’ve also read you need to tell the charger every time you plug in how much battery is in the car already and then work out what to tell the charger to go to to get you to 80% SOC. does this need to be done every single time I go to charge?

Will I have to go out to my car at 23:30 every night to plug in?

So many questions lol. Any help appreciated. Basically I want to plug in and forget about it until I wake up for work in the morning. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,
So much to learn!!

Agree with @Jomarkh - if you're doing regular distances you'll find out what you need to be adding overnight. 6hrs will give you c. 120m of range depending on a few variables. If your commute is less than that pd then you can adjust as necessary. Once you've set a schedule in the Ohme charger it will follow that no matter what time you plug in. The app is then the master from that point on as the PreFL doesn't have API so adjust there as you go on. I have over 50k very enjoyable miles in the PreFL MG5, I'm sure you will enjoy!

 

[MickeySw]

Hi there
A facelift MG5 has the capability to set charge schedule (start/finish time and SOC limit) remotely with the MG iSmart App or directly on the car. Set your limits, plug in the car and it charges only according to the schedule until SOC is reached.

There is no such option on a pre-facelift MG5, however it is possible to achieve similar behaviour using a smart charge point (EVSE) where you can set a charge schedule on the unit or with its own app.

There is however no automatic SOC limit this way, but over time you will be able to gauge how long it will take to change 10% (about an hour on single phase 7kWh in my case) and then set the schedule accordingly to stop around the recommended 80%.

Not as convenient but certainly not a show stopper…

Mickey

 

[5teep]

How many miles are you driving every day? thinking of how often you will actually have to charge the car.
Re charging to 80% only, no reason to do this unless you want to be sure to only use the cheaper rate. Doesn't harm the car to charge to full and would not cost you a lot to do the last 20%.

 

[prospectivebuyer]

thanks for the replies guys!

I average 40 miles a day. I want to not charge at all outside the cheaper rate window.
So I assume I would have to make sure I don’t ask it to charge to a percentage that may take it longer than the allocated 6hrs cheap rate and end up going into the normal rate?

 

[ALANB]

Hi there
A facelift MG5 has the capability to set charge schedule (start/finish time and SOC limit) remotely with the MG iSmart App or directly on the car. Set your limits, plug in the car and it charges only according to the schedule until SOC is reached.

There is no such option on a pre-facelift MG5, however it is possible to achieve similar behaviour using a smart charge point (EVSE) where you can set a charge schedule on the unit or with its own app.

There is however no automatic SOC limit this way, but over time you will be able to gauge how long it will take to change 10% (about an hour on single phase 7kWh in my case) and then set the schedule accordingly to stop around the recommended 80%.

Not as convenient but certainly not a show stopper…

Mickey

If you have the Ohme charger and are on Intelligent Octopus use the charger to schedule and not the car or the app.

Hi all!

Incoming NEWBIE question. Never owned EV before.

I’m about to pull the trigger on a Pre facelift mg5. I’ve had a quote from octopus energy to have the ohme charger fitted and to move onto their 7.5p per kWh night tariff.

Has anyone here had any experience with the above charger / provider with a PRE Facelift mg5?

Simply I want to get home from work at 6pm, plug my car in and then it automatically starts charging at 23:30 and stops at 05:30 at around 80% charge. Is this possible with the Pre FL & ohme home pro charger?????

I’ve read online that the charger won’t know how much battery is charged on the pre facelift cause there is no ‘API’ ?? with the pre facelift. Does this mean it will just keep on charging up to 100% / when I take the plug out???

I’ve also read you need to tell the charger every time you plug in how much battery is in the car already and then work out what to tell the charger to go to to get you to 80% SOC. does this need to be done every single time I go to charge?

Will I have to go out to my car at 23:30 every night to plug in?

So many questions lol. Any help appreciated. Basically I want to plug in and forget about it until I wake up for work in the morning. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,
So much to learn!!

I assume you mean Intelligent Octopus. That works a treat, make sure you tell the charger what percentage you need to go into battery before you ply in using the Ohme app. Switch off all the fancy settings and just have 1 schedule to charge which you change before connecting to charge. And then plug in at anytime. The Intelligent side will if you are lucky charge earlier than cheap overnight slot to balance the demand. You do not lose the overnight slot and gain more house on 7.5p time. More often happens in windy sunny weather.

 

[MickeySw]

Re charging to 80% only, no reason to do this unless you want to be sure to only use the cheaper rate. Doesn't harm the car to charge to full….

Actually most EV brands have such advice as most Lithium battery [edit: LFP being the exception] have two stages that are known to shorten its lifecycle if left in a prolonged stage: 100% charged or completely empty.

Therefore it’s not recommended to charge a battery fully and let it sit for days or even worse have it charging all the time.

No problem if you charge to 100% occasionally as recommended to allow for cell balancing or in preparation of a long journey.

While EV battery technology has improved greatly over the past decade, it’s still better in the long run not to constantly test the limits as few need the full range on a daily basis..

 

[ALANB]

Actually this is the MG advice and based on scientific evidence, any Lithium battery has two stages that are known to shorten its lifecycle if left in a prolonged stage: 100% charged or completely empty.

Therefore it’s not recommended to charge a battery fully and let it sit for days or even worse have it charging all the time.

No problem if you charge to 100% occasionally as recommended to allow for cell balancing or in preparation of a long journey.

While EV battery technology has improved greatly over the past decade, it’s still better in the long run not to constantly test the limits as few need the full range on a daily basis..

Actually in mixed minds about this....I don't think I have seen it in the manual, and give that my car (SR) has a 52.5 kWh battery with only 48 useable that ensures it doesn't reach totally full anyhow. I haven't really followed that fully and my battery according to OBD scanner is still at 100% SOH after getting on for 3 years.

 

[MickeySw]

thanks for the replies guys!

I average 40 miles a day. I want to not charge at all outside the cheaper rate window.
So I assume I would have to make sure I don’t ask it to charge to a percentage that may take it longer than the allocated 6hrs cheap rate and end up going into the normal rate?

It will take less than 2 hours charging to increase the range by 40 miles on a single phase 7kWh supply.

Now that gives you the option to reduce charging power to ‘go easier’ on the battery pack will increase battery life but has the disadvantage of being less efficient as a certain constant amount of energy is required to keep all systems going.

Actually in mixed minds about this....I don't think I have seen it in the manual, and give that my car (SR) has a 52.5 kWh battery with only 48 useable that ensures it doesn't reach totally full anyhow. I haven't really followed that fully and my battery according to OBD scanner is still at 100% SOH after getting on for 3 years.

You are correct, usable capacity vs max capacity is due to the fact that there is a buffer on the upper and lower end of the discharge curve, avoiding these areas will increase the lifetime of the battery and will mask initial capacity decreases so you won’t see a change in SOH.

If you then try to limit the SOC between 30-80% you will further increase the number of charge cycles guaranteed, without compromising usage as few need the full range on a daily basis.

It’s no coincidence that phone manufacturers are now giving you the option of limiting SOC…

 

[5teep]

You are correct, usable capacity vs max capacity is due to the fact that there is a buffer on the upper and lower end of the discharge curve, avoiding these areas will increase the lifetime of the battery and will mask initial capacity decreases so you won’t see a change in SOH.

If you then try to limit the SOC between 30-80% you will further increase the number of charge cycles guaranteed, without compromising usage as few need the full range on a daily basis.

It’s no coincidence that phone manufacturers are now giving you the option of limiting SOC…

It does no harm to treat your car/battery with respect, so if you want to stop charging at 80% it's all good.
In terms of battery life, it's far longer than you might suppose and longer than early batteries had. My own SR 2yrs old has 60+k miles on it, charged full every night and is at 98% soh. If you project that forward, after 20 years I'd still have 80% available and have driven 600k miles.

 

[Gomev]

Actually most EV brands have such advice as any Lithium battery has two stages that are known to shorten its lifecycle if left in a prolonged stage: 100% charged or completely empty.

Therefore it’s not recommended to charge a battery fully and let it sit for days or even worse have it charging all the time.

No problem if you charge to 100% occasionally as recommended to allow for cell balancing or in preparation of a long journey.

While EV battery technology has improved greatly over the past decade, it’s still better in the long run not to constantly test the limits as few need the full range on a daily basis..

Unless it's a LFP battery that is being used in increasing numbers of cars, such as Teslas and MG4 SR etc. which likes to be charged to 100%

 

[MickeySw]

Unless it's a LFP battery that is being used in increasing numbers of cars, such as Teslas and MG4 SR etc. which likes to be charged to 100%

You’re 100% on that one, but for the rest of us this still applies:

Do I Need to Charge My Car to 100%?

Do you ever need to charge your electric car all the way to 100%? Find out when.

www.recurrentauto.com

 

[prospectivebuyer]

Ok now I’m confused. I’ve now switched to octopus energy. Ohme home pro install is booked in for installation with local installer.
Trying to get on ev tariff using octopus app. MG not in the list?

This all feels so confusing and not straight forwards , my grandparents would massively struggle switching to EV lol

 

[SimonomiS]

I

Ok now I’m confused. I’ve now switched to octopus energy. Ohme home pro install is booked in for installation with local installer.
Trying to get on ev tariff using octopus app. MG not in the list?

This all feels so confusing and not straight forwards , my grandparents would massively struggle switching to EV lol

IIRC you need to find the Ohme charger as a supported device, not the MG and then everything is controlled by the Ohme app rather than the car. Hope you can find that option in the IO page!

 

[prospectivebuyer]

Ok Ohme not due for installation for a couple weeks so fingers crossed it works then lol

From octopus website - “We can currently connect with over 280 EVs OR you can connect any car that uses an Ohme charger.”

 

[Alb]

You should have no problem once the charge point is installed.

 

[prospectivebuyer]

You should have no problem once the charge point is installed.

Yeah I’m just getting a bit excited and ahead of myself. Need to wait for the charge point to be installed and should all fall into place. I haven’t even picked my 5 up yet!

However I have just checked my actual smart meter and it is ‘Aclara’ branded whereas octopus ask for ‘Secure’ branded smart meter, so I think mine probably won’t be compatible which will add delay in getting them out to change it :/ hopefully not too long before super cheap overnight charges!

 

[Jomarkh]

Yeah I’m just getting a bit excited and ahead of myself. Need to wait for the charge point to be installed and should all fall into place. I haven’t even picked my 5 up yet!

However I have just checked my actual smart meter and it is ‘Aclara’ branded whereas octopus ask for ‘Secure’ branded smart meter, so I think mine probably won’t be compatible which will add delay in getting them out to change it :/ hopefully not too long before super cheap overnight charges!

If you are on Octopus then you should see meter readings on the app and then you can change the frequency of readings to half hourly, that will tell you if Octopus can read your meter correctly.

 

[viking]

Ok now I’m confused. I’ve now switched to octopus energy. Ohme home pro install is booked in for installation with local installer.
Trying to get on ev tariff using octopus app. MG not in the list?

This all feels so confusing and not straight forwards , my grandparents would massively struggle switching to EV lol

Hi - if you have an Ohme charger imstalled - you don't need MG to be 'in the list'. You'll be able to move onto Intelligent Octopus, regardless. Just send Octopus an E-mail request. Hope this helps