Is there any news about when I might be able to use the Indra app and more importantly lock my charger so others cannot use it (a fairly basic security feature IMHO). Thank you.

I’ve not seen anything recently - you might want to ask the team directly via 0330 175 9678.

From what I understand @Paul Brame , Indra are sorting a few other things before completing anything on the app. I do know some who use the isolator if they want to ensure security whilst not in use.

Hey @Paul Brame 

We do just need to wait until Indra release a version of their App compatible with Charge Anytime. We don't have a timeframe as it'll be them that  release it not us.

I was told this over a year ago! Why is this taking so long?! I wonder what would Indra/OVO do if someone did use my charging point without my permission (e.g. if I was on holiday). Effectively it is same as putting an extension lead out the front of your house and saying to everyone, go help yourself! I would never have got the charging point if I had known this at the start!

It may be worth stepping back for a moment and looking at the bigger picture here.

Sure, I agree that there’s a risk that someone could do this, but in practice it’s extremely rare and pretty unlikely. Loads of folks have had power sockets (and water taps!) on the front of their houses for decades, yet pretty much no-one has ever touched them without asking for permission first. I very much doubt any EV owner is just going to plug into any random privately owned charger when there’s tons of public ones they can legitimately use.

In actual fact… Pretty Much Every Caravan Owner Ever dangles a power lead out of the front of their house to keep their caravan plugged into the mains at home either permanently or every so often to top-up the batteries - that’s no different to having an EV Charger because I could just walk up, unplug said caravan and plug whatever I want into said cable instead. And those caravan power cables don’t come with fancy Lockdown features at all!!!

As we’ve mentioned, you can always completely kill the power to the Charger temporarily if you’re paranoid about it being abused by power thieves whenever you’re going to be completely away for several days - which would also solve the problem.

With that being said, I know of a bunch of other ways that someone could hack/tap into your power supply without your knowledge. For legal reasons (and also pretty obvious safety reasons) I will not talk about them at all regardless of who asks but I will say this much. Simply having an unlocked EV Charger outside your property is not the only way to steal electricity using your supply - there are far more subtle (and deadly!) ways to do it which work regardless of whether or not you lock said EV Charger (or for that matter, whether or not you have one at all). You’d be very foolish to try basically any of them though.

Speaking of foolish things, I was on a train yesterday when the guard made an announcement over the PA system:

Good afternoon everyone, this is an announcement that’s primarily aimed at the small group of boys in the rear half of the train. While we get that it’s fun to do silly pranks and dares, we want to remind you that such dares should be kept fun and safe. What we mean by that is daring your friends to touch a train entering a station platform while it’s still moving may significantly shorten your life expectancy because the driver will be unable to stop the train in time should something go wrong.

This is just a reminder that we’d rather not see that happen so we ask that you please do not touch trains until they’ve completely stopped as we don’t want to deal with the paperwork.

Thank you

Just some useful words of advice. :)

Fair comment and I do see the bigger picture and I don't think it is a likely scenario (at least not in my neighbourhood for now) but come on now, this must be a fairly basic feature in the context of a very smart box of tricks that schedules the charging of a car so it is cheap for me and the supplier makes money too (by purchasing the juice at a lower price before they charge me up). It is the lazy corporate fob off of blaming it on someone else and then saying it will be included on a future upgrade. Like they don't care. My previous charging point (BP Chargemaster) was locked with a key. Simples.

I dont think this should be app related it sounds like a design issue with the charger itself. I have a pod point and as soon as its connected to the car it locks. 

Indra is a small company with a small team. They got catapulted into the limelight when OVO first partnered with them to enable Charge Anytime. It seems they’re still trying to find their feet, so to speak. I’d give them some breathing room here - that’s why there’s no promised timeline.

Keys are clunky. Keys can break. Keys go missing rendering the Charger useless. I heard many stories of those BP Chargemaster Charger keys either going missing or breaking inside the lock, causing expensive repairs to get it sorted and knocking out the Charger until it was sorted. It doesn’t always make for a great User Experience which is probably why you don’t see them being used on current Chargers. Only BP Chargemaster ever did that IIRC.

Not sure that’s related to this one! :)

While you’re waiting for news, how about a sturdy padlock and chain to a handy fixture next to the charging point? Cyclists do it all the time: Best bike locks 2024 reviewed and how to avoid bike theft | Cyclist