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Hi.  I am hoping to buy a SMART #1 electric vehicle in the not too distant future.  From the information I see on the OVO website I don’t think this specific EV is compatible with the Charge Anytime tariff … can anyone please confirm?  Also, at the moment, I am considering installing a Zappi charger which also does not seem to be supported.  Again is this correct?  And, assuming I am correct, can anyone from OVO comment in terms of SMART cars and Zappi chargers being supported in the near term?  Please note:  I do have a smart meter installed at my house.

Thanks in advance

Neither are on the plans right now from what I know. You should consider an Ohme or Indra charger instead, which would give you Charge Anytime support now.


Thanks for your quick reply Blastoise186!  I will definitely consider the Ohme and Indra chargers.  However am I correct that I would need both a compatible charger and a supported EV model to take advantage of the Charge Anytime tariff?

 

Andrew


Thanks for your quick reply Blastoise186!  I will definitely consider the Ohme and Indra chargers.  However am I correct that I would need both a compatible charger and a supported EV model to take advantage of the Charge Anytime tariff?

 

Andrew

No - CA uses a compatible charger or EV

https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/charge-anytime

So with a compatible charger, you can use any EV .. hence the advice from Blastoise 


The other advantage of the Charger route is that you can hook up ANY EV you want and still get the Charge Anytime rates - even guests!

The only rule about that is don’t use it to make profits i.e. renting the charger out. But otherwise, OVO is totally cool with letting you offer it to your guests for free.


Appreciate both of your helpful replies BPLightlog and Blastoise186!  I will now do a bit more research.  Cheers


Another question (with apologies).  I would like my EV car & charger set-up to be compatible with a rooftop solar PV set-up at some point in the future (maybe a year from now).  Can you think of anything else I need to think about now to ensure I can integrate PV in the future?  (I am trying to get an appointment with a PV installer)


It can be, yes. But as it stands you’d need an Indra charger for that to work. It should be fairly easy to do other than that.


You need to have a charger that can identify where the feed is coming from @Andrew Walker (solar or grid) otherwise you would be paying for your own solar generation. 
With CA, the Indra chargers are intelligent enough to do that and so are fully compatible at present. 


Thanks again to you both.


Really helpful advice from our Community Members here! Pop back if you can to keep us updated on your EV journey @Andrew Walker, your advice might be helpful for other members on the Forum. Particularly the prospect of having an EV car and charger set-up compatible with rooftop solar PV! Very exciting stuff. 😊


No worries Emmanuelle_OVO!  My EV adventure is still in it’s early days.  I am buying my electric Smart#1 car from Arnold Clark which has a deal with Bumblebee to install chargers … and they offer the Indra Smart Pro charger so looks like I am on track.  The solar PV element will be (hopefully) a phase 2 add-on next year all going well.


OK neil0129 … can you be a bit more informative in terms of why you think it’s a farce?


As my car, Kia is not on the list, i needed to buy a charger, only 2 work with OVO, Ohme and Indra.  As i have solar panels, only Indra is approved.

So had this installed on 14th Feb.

Told by installer, that the Indra app does not work with Charge Anytime (despite being the only charger i could use) and have to use the web app, which has no security features at all, very basic.

But ok, worked fine for 2 weeks.  

Now, when i log into my ev section on Ovo website, its saying it cant see my charger therefore i wont be getting the CA rate.

Been onto customer support since, no resolution.  But they saying dont worry, although you cant see the data due to a webite “error” we can so you will still get the reduced rate.

I dont trust that at all, so i have asked if you can see how much everrgy i have used, tell me what you see, and i will compare that with what the Indra app is telling me ive used so i can compare, they wont, so i no idea if i will be paying 27p an kWh or 7p, massive difference.

As soon as my contract is up im moving onto aanother supplier, with a simplier, off peak tarrif, so much simplier and clearer.


Thanks.  Sorry to hear your bad news story.  This is what worries me … the things “you don’t know you don’t know” 😐 I need the low 7p rate to make this work for me. 

Emmanuelle_OVO (or anyone else at OVO):  Can you address the situation that Neil0129 describes above?  Is it correct that the Indra mobile App won’t work with the OVO Charge Anytime tariff?  Are the bugs worked out of the OVO Charge Anytime technology?


It worried me even before i got it installed as heard a lot of bad reviews.  But not out of Contract to June and i need the cheap rate as well so i went ahead with it, bad choice it seems.  But can get out of this contract in May i think so have to bite the bullet to then.


It sounds like one or two setups are not done properly. I’ve used Indra with Charge Anytime for months with no problem at all. 
There are some key rules to follow but everything is shown here in good detail. 
Our solar PV match in perfectly too - that’s why we chose the Indra charger in the first place. 
 


Thanks.  Sorry to hear your bad news story.  This is what worries me … the things “you don’t know you don’t know” 😐 I need the low 7p rate to make this work for me. 

Emmanuelle_OVO (or anyone else at OVO):  Can you address the situation that Neil0129 describes above?  Is it correct that the Indra mobile App won’t work with the OVO Charge Anytime tariff?  Are the bugs worked out of the OVO Charge Anytime technology?

 

Hey @Andrew Walker,

 

Neil’s issue appears to be specific to his account, his charger isn’t send OVO charging data, his ticket is currently sat with the team and due to be worked on. 

 

It sounds like one or two setups are not done properly. I’ve used Indra with Charge Anytime for months with no problem at all. 
There are some key rules to follow but everything is shown here in good detail. 
Our solar PV match in perfectly too - that’s why we chose the Indra charger in the first place. 
 

 

Great to hear this AVO8! 🙂 I’ve added two green tech badges to your account so that other green tech enthusiasts can identify you. 


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