Could someone offer advice to me as i'm new to chargers?

Howdy ​@archermav !

You can actually use any of the Chargers listed at https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/charge-anytime-cars-and-chargers - some of which are a bit cheaper. EVEC is on a temporary pause right now while they fix their integration, but all others listed are fully supported - EVEC plans to return soon.

With Charge Anytime, you still need to set things up via the OVO Charge app even for the PAYG 14p/kWh option - but the PAYG one won’t lock you into a monthly subscription and works on a rebate a la carte basis. The full rate is charged to your OVO bill and the discount is applied later as a rebate once a month.

MG isn’t a supported brand so you have to use the Charger route. Ohme used to be supported but they dumped OVO last year by being stubborn (they’re not a great option these days anyway!) so you’re better off looking at one of the Chargers that OVO does support - NexBlue is a bit cheaper than the others IIRC.

If you go for an Ohme/MG combo anyway, you will not get Charge Anytime so please consider a Charger that is supported.

Let me know if you’ve got more burning questions! :)

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. So if he only uses a granny charger I get charged the normal unit rate of circa 31p?

He doesn’t do many miles, hence the EV. He’s probably only going to need one or two full charges a month.

We are planning on moving home later this year, so I am sat here working out how much electricity he can have for the £1000 I would spend on the charger costs, and at the minute it seems like rather a lot. Probably more then he will use.

You’re welcome.

Granny Charging isn’t recommended for regular charging - it’s more of an emergency thing for if you’re stuck at your granny’s house and shouldn’t be relied upon due to the load it puts on the socket. While EV Chargers aren’t cheap, they come with a bunch of safety features that reduce the risk of fires or overloads (it’s also better for the household wiring anyway).

Plus if you Granny Charge an EV that doesn’t support Charge Anytime, I’m afraid you will be paying standard rates and not the discounted one - that’s basically the case across the market I’m afraid. Charge Anytime doesn’t officially support Granny Charging anyway unfortunately - it expects the vehicle to be able to charge at Full Speed, not Snail Speed otherwise you may not get a full charge.

You can actually take most EV Chargers with you if you move house! You do have to pay for the service, but most of them can be uninstalled from the old place and re-installed at the new one - so you may want to explore that possibility by chatting with the manufacturers first.

Remember that having an EV is a long-term investment so don’t just do the £1,000 calculation over a single year - do it over at least 3 years (possibly longer). Plus the convenience of plugging in at home and not having to head to petrol stations or dealing with panic buying (like what’s happening right now).

Thanks, I’m hoping he’s left home in 12 months so I don’t have to pay for his “fuel”!!! 

Time for more reading and research. 

Have you looked at the price of public chargers near to you ? I don’t know what they cost these days as we always charge at home, but if it’s only for a short time and low mileage it may work out cheaper than buying a charger and having it installed. Our charger needed a long length of cable fitted around the loft to our consumer unit which was an extra expense to a standard install. 

I’m lucky in that there are two sets of high power chargers within 5 minutes, so I’ll have a look see. Thanks very much.

Public charging prices can only be described as horrific compared to charging at home. Part of the issue is that public charger operators are trying to recover the cost of their significant investment and the grid connection charges are massive for the power required. It doesn’t help that most of the chargers are very infrequently used. On top of that VAT at 20% is added for which there was a public debate on whether it should be 5% or not. A court has ruled in favour of 5% which it started out as.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/electriccars/article-15605705/Is-cost-running-EV-fall-Court-rules-favour-tax-cut-public-charging.html

Have a read of this for the economics of public charging from the RAC.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/electric-cars/charging/electric-car-public-charging-costs-rac-charge-watch/

I came into the game about five years ago and it was a lot harder to find public charge points but a lot cheaper and even free then. Sorry, more heavy duty reading but I hope it helps. 

Peter

Thanks for your response, I’ll have a read of the RAC thread. I’ve just spent the last hour or so looking at switching energy providers (sorry OVO) but I’m not convinced it’s worth it for me. Still, more reading it seems.

Also have a look at ZapMap to see where all the chargers are. The fast and rapid chargers are expensive but the slow ones will be cheaper, eg there’s a Connected_kerb charger near me that’s 43p p kWh between midnight and 7am. Also might it be worth asking a neighbour with an EV if they’d be interested in coming to some arrangement ? Especially if it was for a limited time. 

We would be sorry to see you go but I have always said you should look out for the tariff that best suits your circumstances. An advantage with OVO is that you can get charging slots all day whereas the others will only offer restricted charging times in the early morning. They may offer a low charging rate but this us very much counterbalanced by high non-discount rates so best to try and do a calculation to see what is best for you.

Do let us know if we can help you with anything whilst you decide. You are welcome to post questions on here even if you move to another supplier. SpeakEV.com is a good forum for all sorts of EV questions.

Peter