Skip to main content
R
Rank 1
RM84
Rank 1
March 17, 2023
Solved

Preconditioning settings like pre-heat from my BMW EV app not working due to clashing with OVO's Charge Anytime?

  • March 17, 2023
  • 109 replies
  • 4173 views

Good Morning,

 

I’ve recently added Charge Anytime to our account, however as our charger (Zappi v2) isn’t compatible, I’ve gone down the route of linking the Charge Anytime app directly with the car itself (BMW i4), which is where the problems have started.

 

So to provide context, before we added Charge Anytime, I was using the My BMW app to control the charging, preconditioning and vehicle preferences. In my case I had a schedule set up, so the car would precondition the batteries and warm the cabin prior to departure, however since the Ovo app ‘took over’, the preconditioning functionality has gone haywire.

 

It appears that the schedule I had in place (Mon-Fri 7am departure), keeps being replaced with bizarre times of the day and night (I had a random 3am departure scheduled the other night) and no matter how many times I go back to reset, it keeps happening.

 

Somehow the Ovo app is clashing with the manufacturers app and essentially rendering the preconditioning functionality useless, which is a problem. If the Ovo app does need to be the dominant app for controlling the car, it needs more functionality. Did any issues arise during testing, Ovo? I’d be interested to know.

 

Has anyone else experienced anything like this yet? If this continues I’ll probably uninstall it, as in my opinion, essential vehicle functions shouldn’t be compromised as a trade off for having a cheaper electricity rate to charge your car.

 

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

    Best answer by Tim_OVO

    Updated on 14/04/26 by Abby_OVO

     

    Hi @RM84 @KC1986 and thank you for coming together hear to flag this. Since July 2025, zappi have integrated compatibility with Charge Anytime, check out the topic below for more on this:

     

     

    Who can get Charge Anytime?

     

    There are now two ways you can get Charge Anytime:

     

    You must have an eligible EV or Smart Charger, we’re constantly looking into ways to broaden eligibility of this product so if your technology isn’t currently on this list keep an eye on our page for updates!

     

    I’m told that for some vehicles, including BMW & MINI, our Charge Anytime smart charging control automatically overwrites any existing pre-conditioning schedules.


    Our technical analysts are working hard to try and rectify the issue, but it might take some time given how our smart charging control currently operates.

     

    If anyone’s affected by this issue, please make our team aware. You can do this by getting in touch with the Charge Anytime team directly via your preferred contact method on the topic below:

     

     

     

    The following topic may also be helpful:

     

    109 replies

    Show previous replies
    T
    Newcomer
    Tutties430
    Newcomer
    March 27, 2023

    Ok…couldn’t set a reasonable departure time. Kept trying to set a departure time of 2am.

     

    not the end of the world for me I guess ..but hoping you guys at OVO can figure something out.

     

    thanks 

    D
    Rank 2
    Dark
    Rank 2
    March 27, 2023

    Manually precondition using the Tesla app 30 mins before departure?

    D
    Newcomer
    DaveWeymouth
    Newcomer
    April 13, 2023

    Anybody out there having problems with Charge Anytime messing up their BMW i3 pre-heating and charging settings ?

    Granted it’s not that big a deal right now, but in winter it’s nice to get into a warm car with clear windows.

    I get home in the evening, set the car’s charging options for ‘charge anytime’, set my departure time and tick the pre-heater option.

    Next morning the cars fully charged - all good there - but no pre-heater.

    The car’s charging menu shows the the pre-heater option un-ticked and the the next scheduled day sometime next week !

    Like I say, it’s not a big deal. I’m getting my car charged at a great rate, but I would like my cake and eat it ! !

    What say you ?

    D
    Newcomer
    DaveWeymouth
    Newcomer
    April 13, 2023

    Thanks kopweb

    It’s good to know I’m not alone - seems it’s a BMW thing.

    I’ll also raise my issue with the OVO contact and hopefully it’ll be resolved before next winter ! !

    Cheers

    DaveH

      S
      Newcomer
      SJTH
      Newcomer
      April 17, 2023

      I see this topic says SOLVED but I have an almost identical problem with 2020 G20 330e where my car often does not charge at all and changes my settings to weird and wonderful days and times due to presumably a clash happening with my bmw app and the OVO charge anytime app.

      This topic was raised nearly a month ago does anyone have a fix yet?

      Tim_OVO
      OVO Staff
      Tim_OVO
      OVO Forum Legend
      April 18, 2023

      Hi @SJTH,

       

      Can I ask what actions and settings you’re applying via your BMW app?

      Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
      S
      Newcomer
      SJTH
      Newcomer
      April 18, 2023

      Hi @SJTH,

       

      Can I ask what actions and settings you’re applying via your BMW app?

      Hi, I have tried setting the BMW departure time to the same as charge anytime i.e 08.00 and leaving the preferred charging slot to 00.00 - 08.00 and I have also removed everything and set it to charge immediately and with both it tends to completely overwrite them with a random time, i.e today it randomly set my departure time to six days from now.

      Tim_OVO
      OVO Staff
      Tim_OVO
      OVO Forum Legend
      April 19, 2023

      @Dark @RM84 and @KC1986 may be able to go into more detail, but @SJTH my understanding is that the Kaluza Charge Anytime app should be the one place for assigning charging settings. The vehicle app features that are similar shouldn’t be used. Might this be causing the issues?

      Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
      K
      Newcomer
      KC1986
      Newcomer
      April 19, 2023

      No, the vehicle app isn’t used but automatically tries to override the charge anytime app. 

      S
      Newcomer
      SJTH
      Newcomer
      April 20, 2023

      No, the vehicle app isn’t used but automatically tries to override the charge anytime app. 

      @Tim_OVO as mentioned above I can’t even find away to disable the vehicle app, the best I can find is that you set remove all the time settings and switch it to charge immediately and even when I do this the app settings change to random charge time slots and departure times.

      Show more replies
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

      OVO Energy Ltd, Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ, (Company no. 06890795) registered in England and Wales.

      OVO (S) Gas Limited is registered in England and Wales (Company No. 02716495) at Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ.

      OVO (S) Gas Limited is part of OVO Group Ltd