Charge Anytime for EV.

Thank you ​@Sparky64 for taking the time to come on here just to say that Charge Anytime works for you. The staff and volunteers on here (I'm one of the latter) quite often expect to just field issues and problems so it is really fantastic to have to have someone say that they are happy with it. An extra ray of sunshine on an already sunny day!

Cheers!

Peter

Hey ​@Sparky64 

As PeterE said, massive thank you for coming on to share that feedback! 

Really glad to hear Charge Anytime is working well for you! I’ll pass this feedback along to the Charge Anytime team.😊

Always good to hear a nice story! It definitely makes a change for me too as just like Peter, I deal with an awful lot of folks who either have issues for us to solve, or just want to vent for some reason.

As for that Octopus rate, I’m not the world oracle on this as I haven’t had enough time to fully dig into the exact details… But generally the penalty with most EV Tariffs is that you either get hit with higher Whole Home rates for everything else, or you get hit with pretty strict restrictions on when the cheap charging rate is available - or both in some cases.

OVO made it so that while the rate is higher, Charge Anytime lets you access cheap charging all the time and the rates reflect that to cover daytime charging. The other advantage that seems to tempt a lot of folks I chat with is that CA doesn’t punish you by locking your main tariff since the add-on based setup lets you choose whatever tariff you want.

I may be a Blastoise here on the forum, but my mysterious trainer pounds the pavements all the time - he has seen these discussions out there in the physical world just as much as I do in the digital world. :)

Frankly, I think that finding the ideal tariff is a bit of a nightmare! I was with OVO when I bought my EV and just went for the quick and easy option of CA. I'm not unhappy with it at the moment - it's still a whole lot cheaper than my old diesel bill! - but "optimum"? Who knows - it looks so dependent on pattern of car use. I'm literally in the middle of a PV installation which throws in another complication and about the only conclusion I have reached is that, contrary to intuition, you probably do not want to use your own PV energy for car charging as you get more for it via SEG than you would pay for charging via CA.

My only gripe with CA to date is lack of flexibility - no roll-over so you "waste" money if you go off on holiday, and you pay full-price in any odd month where you do more miles than expected. Back in my working days my commuting mileage was pretty constant but these days retirement means random travel as the fancy (or that of my wife...) takes me. I'll just have to see how it goes.

I am pleased to see my appreciation has been well received. I am aware that most posts are gripes or problems but if something works well then that should be mentioned too.

I am on the 'Pay As You Go' Tariff for the reasons Nealeb mentioned so that gives more flexibility. I only pay for what I need at the time. Working around 'smart charge' times is relatively straightforward, the app tells you when charging will start, and generally over night is the best. For all concerned. The urgent charge is there if you need it but that's at your normal tariff rate. Still way better than fuel cost!

Nothing to do with OVO, but public charging prices must come down. I've just done a 2000 mile trip in France and never paid more than 50 cents (about 45 pence) per kwh. Most were way less and fast chargers in abundance in the towns and cities. RFID card essential! 

When you start off in the world of EVs it like trying to swallow an elephant whole. I've been in the game five years now and it takes a little while to figure out what the optimum solution is. Don't sweat the details now but you are on solid ground with CA so get used to that situation but that doesn't stop you looking around anyway but you need to know what to look for.

Get to understand EV charging and how you adapt your life to it. Your consumption of power is unique to you so don't assume that someone else's tariff is going to be any good for you. By adding solar it complicates the assessment of what is better for you so get used that that as well. You are absolutely right in saying that selling the solar for SEG and charging on discount power is the right way to go. There are so many things wrong with charging directly from solar.

Subscriptions are not my favourite word but you are standing on first base looking for your next move. By moving to an EV you have already made your biggest saving on fuel costs. Discount EV electricity is the next saving but after that it gets quite difficult to optimise it much further. I would say you are 90% of the way towards your goal. That last 10% is a bit of a doozy and you need experience to take that one without falling over. Welcome to EV motoring.

Peter

PS Please do come back on here if you have any questions. You might want to have a peek at SpeakEV.com but I can't vouch for people's manners on there. Their moderators are rubbish compared to the five star ones on here.

Peter - my 2 months’ experience doesn’t really compare with your old-timer status! But I had come to pretty much the same conclusion - I’m already saving around 80% of my fuel costs so fine-tuning my choice of tariff, within reason, is neither here not there. The fixed monthly allowance is probably going to be great some months and less than optimal in others - shall do the sums at the end of the year and see what it looks like. Ditto PV - I have theoretical figures (both my own and from the supplier) but only real-world data counts.

Sparky64 - would like to hear more about your French experience! I’m off to France in a couple of weeks and trying to prepare for first time with EV in France. I’ve drifted towards Plugsurfing for finding charging points and have their RFID card for paying, backed up with the CA app which has fewer charge points listed but those there are presumably available to me for my “public charging” allowance. There do seem to be plenty around, though, and as you say, indicated prices are typically 50-70% of UK prices. Roll on “plug and charge”!

​@Nealeb That sounds like a practical response. I started off at 15p a unit pre energy crisis in 2021 and that was fine. It went up to 32p and I gritted my teeth and it came down slowly. Then I discovered that I could get along with the Agile Octopus tariff just using the timer on the car and slashed my costs. A simple, cheap solution that needs a bit of hands on but that’s fine. It’s not the lowest it could be but, actually, my fuel cost is now slightly less than my tyre wear cost (people forget that one when trying to shave a fraction of a penny off per mile) so I’ve settled here. You just need to find that practical balance.

Peter