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Hidden costs for switch to charge anytime

  • July 22, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 114 views
T
Carbon Cutter*****
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As I have reported elsewhere, I have had issues with the change to charge anytime with the location pinpoint map being out of date and not showing my 3 year old house. That is now resolved and one of our cars ( a Toyota RAV4 Plug in Hybrid) is now behaving properly. However our VW ID3 which is a pure ev  will not smart charge because it keeps turning off it’s location data. Speaking to VW it seems that I have to pay a subscription of £129 to enable this function. As we only save about £40 a month it would take three months to recover the subscription charge. Thank you OVO/OHME. 

I do not understand why the system needs to know which car is connected to the charger, the charger knows a car is connected. Therefore it can charge the car at the reduced rate when the power is cheap. Why do they need to know which car it is? Presumable to stop people “ selling” their cheap  electricity to all and sundry. Is this really a big issue?

The other part of the problem is that if I plug the RAV4 in, it has a smaller battery so it schedules a last minute charging, problem with this being I can’t charge the other car whilst the RAV4 is waiting for it’s charge. Whereas what i used to do was always use the VW ID which the system calculated a schedule based on a bigger battery and so charged the RAV4 almost immediately.

 

I always thought that the low tarrif wouldn’t last forever and have been grateful for what I have had. ( but still not very impressed)  

Best answer by Ben_OVO

Morning ​@Tim a victim,

 

I’ve been looking about on the web about the ID3 issue and have come across this:

 

https://www.id3forums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2762

 

Someone in this ID3 Forum has advised:

 

We have been having the same issue - Location resetting randomly. Finally found something that seems to work.

We had 2 users set up in the car. Removing the second profile (which we never used in practice) finally had the location setting stick for a week so far.

 

I wonder whether this fix might help you as well?

 

The Google AI suggested answer is:

 

The VW ID.3 may have issues maintaining its location in the car's system due to software glitches, connectivity problems, or privacy setting changes. To address this, try restarting the infotainment system, checking privacy settings, and potentially resetting the car's Car-Net module. If problems persist, consider contacting your dealer for further assistance. 

 

For general customer service, including inquiries about the ID.3, you can call 0330 100 3244. I wonder whether VW may be able to give some helpful advice here….

5 replies

Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
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  • Blastoise186Plan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • July 22, 2025

You may want to read around the Forum again - Charge Anytime is Type of Use so it needs that data.

I’ll come back in the morning to explain further.

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Abby_OVO
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
  • Abby_OVO
  • Community Manager
  • July 23, 2025

Hey ​@Tim a victim 

 

Blastoise186 has offered some helpful advice already here;

 

Charge Anytime is Type of Use so it needs that data.

 

As the charging rate is being applied to the direct to vehicle charging, it needs to know the data from the car and not the charger. Without knowing/the system being able to see the car that’s charging, it wouldn’t be able to calculate the smart charging as it wouldn’t be linked through the charger.

 

I’ve linked below to a topic which might be helpful here, including a section on “Why do I need to use the Charge Anytime app with a compatible vehicle?”:

 

 

I’ve also included some other topics below which may be helpful here:

 

 

Hope this helps.

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T
Carbon Cutter*****
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  • Tim a victim
  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter*****
  • July 23, 2025

Thank you for taking the trouble to respond.

However, what none of the articles seem to mention is that Charge anytime needs to know the location of the car and why. I assume it is so that it can see that the car is next to the charger location.

The problem I have is that although one of the cars is working fine, the VW ID3 refuses to maintain it’s location reporting. Talking to to VW it would appear that although this used to work, it is probably that our subscription to VW Connect has expired, though the car is only just 2 years old. In order to renew the sub we will have to pay £129. The My Connect also provides other services none of which are of any value to us such as traffic reporting, map updates etc. As we always use Google maps or Waze that do this for free, why shoud I want to pay VW for this?

If we did subscribe, I have no guarantee that this will solve the problem and in any case it would take over three months to recoup the sub charge IF it worked. At the present time my inclination is to just swallow the extra cost of charging at the normal rate, at least that way the car gets charged when I want it to be charged and at no risk.

The other alternative is to switch supplier but as we also use Heat Pump Plus  with OVO I can see this leading to a whole new world of grief.

Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
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  • Blastoise186Plan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • July 23, 2025

The £129 seems to be heavily down to paying for the servers and mobile data.

If it doesn’t work out, you can just refund it.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
Ben_OVO
Community Manager
  • Ben_OVO
  • Community Manager
  • Answer
  • July 24, 2025

Morning ​@Tim a victim,

 

I’ve been looking about on the web about the ID3 issue and have come across this:

 

https://www.id3forums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2762

 

Someone in this ID3 Forum has advised:

 

We have been having the same issue - Location resetting randomly. Finally found something that seems to work.

We had 2 users set up in the car. Removing the second profile (which we never used in practice) finally had the location setting stick for a week so far.

 

I wonder whether this fix might help you as well?

 

The Google AI suggested answer is:

 

The VW ID.3 may have issues maintaining its location in the car's system due to software glitches, connectivity problems, or privacy setting changes. To address this, try restarting the infotainment system, checking privacy settings, and potentially resetting the car's Car-Net module. If problems persist, consider contacting your dealer for further assistance. 

 

For general customer service, including inquiries about the ID.3, you can call 0330 100 3244. I wonder whether VW may be able to give some helpful advice here….

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