Introducing Charge Anytime - next generation EV charging

That's good to know, thanks. I wasn’t particularly excited by the idea of a 2+ month wait, so good to know it can also go much quicker.

Thanks, good to know. Maybe you can clear something else up for me. I tried to ask the support e-mail but think I just confused them...the marketing blurb mentions charging in greener hours, but there is no definition of what this actually means, or any guarantee of how many of these green hours exist in any 24 hour period. So how can customers be confident that they will have fully charged cars? Is it possible that I could plug my car in at 6:00 am in the morning, needing it charged by 23:00 in the night, and get to 23:00 with no additional charge because OVO decided there weren’t any green hours?

Thanks Tim - I seemed to have sorted it. I didn’t realise that if the car was compatible, then the charger was less relevant. I’ve signed up, got the app and will be plugging in this weekend! 

First smart charge last night - and it worked a dream. £5 saving in the first charge. Very slick. Quite interesting watching it start and stop the charge late evening whilst also looking at the national grid renewable information. Great scheme :)

It shows up just fine for me

There might be sign-up restrictions temporarily though

And that’s exactly why I use UniFi to block stuff via a DPI Firewall rather than using a PiHole with DNS blocking. :P

Hi @LB1985, thanks for asking this question. My understanding is that existing Anytime customers (those that had the add on back when it was only with OVO Drive) should’ve been sent an email to advise about this next iteration of Charge Anytime, earlier in 2023. I’ll ask the team what the best approach is for you to take. In the meantime can you check your registered email inbox and junk/spam folder?

@kopweb thanks for this, I’ve shared this with the team in case they had any advice to share. :) 

Thanks @LB1985 that was the advice I had for you. Let us know the outcome of this please.

Thanks Tim - and thanks to the team for the explanation.

By trial and error, I had already spotted the problem of not charging fully on time, and concluded it was down to the low output of the granny-charger. The app seems to kick in and out (presumably depending on grid demand/unit cost) and runs out of time slots on the slow charge.

I can see this would deter anyone with a full-fat EV and a fixed departure time every day. For me it’s not such a big issue. My usage is intermittent and my mileage varies greatly from day to day. I can plan accordingly, use Urgent Charge where necessary - and fall back on the hybrid ICE for longer rural journeys.

As the Golf battery is small (usually charges fully in 5 hours, even off the 13A plug), I still seem to be able to make some welcome savings by using the app - unless there are over-riding safety or technical issues that demand I avoid doing so.

Incidentally, my need for flexibility was exactly why I was reluctant to commit to full-EV. I remain sceptical about manufacturers’ range estimates, living as I do in an area characterised by short winter daylight, cold temperatures, and long-distance rural journeys with “fast”-charge facilities few and far between.

To put that in context, I test-drove one EV from the nearest main dealer to home by the shortest route, and had insufficient charge left simply to get it back to him without a significant detour and tedious wait!

up to 300 miles on a Kona Electric

Hmmm. Those two little words ‘up to’ are doing a lot of heavy lifting there. I believe WLTP figures are measured at 23°C (i.e. no cabin heating, no air-con and probably no wipers) and an average 29mph. Cold-weather tests are usually between 10% and 25% below WLTP.

I certainly wouldn’t trust a Kona to complete a day-trip without recharge to our nearest John Lewis on a 1°C, wet/snowy December day (260 miles, most on 70mph limit roads, sunset 3.30pm). I can do that comfortably in the Golf, without having to hunt for a working charge-point or filling station (and still at zero emissions in town).

By the way, the Kona’s 300-mile figure is for the 64kWh version, which I think comes in at nearer £40k. The cheaper 39kWh version achieves only about 60% of that.

Don’t get me wrong. I really like electric drive, and do as much of my mileage as possible on it. But current battery technology and lack of rapid-charging infrastructure are real barriers to its regular use for longer journeys in remote northern areas.

My point entirely, @Dark. It’s that infamous ‘metropolitan bubble’ again. Unless there is a massive change in battery technology or universal ultra-fast charging, fully-electric is not a viable option in some areas. And it may never be. In the long term, something like affordable hydrogen fuel-cell may offer a better future.

But for now, plug-in hybrid is a good practical compromise for a one-car family in a remote area. And there needs to be some creative planning by government (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) for what happens beyond 2035.

Incidentally, there are quite a few EVs in my area. Most are leased/company cars and used primarily for commute or local business visits. Most also share their driveway with a big diesel SUV for longer journeys.

Hi @stead there are various conditions as you probably know for Anytime but it is an add on. As for tariffs, this is in the T&C list 

• You must be an existing OVO Energy customer – you can be on any OVO tariff (and either supplied with both fuels or electricity only); 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/terms/charge-anytime-terms

It seems perverse to me to be offering discounted electricity to EV owners presumably subsidised by regular cusomers - after all if you can afford to pay upwards of £30k for an EV then it’s rather immoral to be subsidised by other customers many of which may be on fixed incomes such as pensioners. 

@Tim_OVO i just got my first bill since having Ovo Anytime active and it showed £0 in credit  on my March bill despite showing credit earned in the app during March. Will this credit be backdated to my April bill?