Why does Solar PV make a difference for compatibility with Charge Anytime?

Here we are March 2025 and still no solution to the problem of solar panels certain ev's, ohme chargers and charge anytime.

I have been a satisfied customer of ovo for a few years and do not wish to move supplier, but am frustrated that this problem is not being resolved or a workaround fixed

Hey ​@philgb,

Do you currently have an Ohme charger? At the moment Ohme are the only chargers that doesn’t offer solar support and I haven’t heard of any plans that this will change in the near future. You can find more information on our eligibility page.

I’m sorry for any frustration this has caused you!

Hi Chris,

Let's say I had a peugeot E3008 being charged through an Ohme pod and on ovo charge anytime tarrif.

I have solar panels max 3kw in summer sun

The peugeot E3008 is scheduled to charge nighttime only between 10pm to 8am. The solar system is physically turned off.. Are you with me up to now?

When charging through the ohme is finished, the cable is disconnected and the solar system turned back on after 8am.

Q. Why is this workaround system not workable with charge anytime?

For Charge Anytime to work with Solar setups, the Charger - and by extension Charge Anytime - needs to know exactly where the power being used to charge the EV is coming from at all times, even when nothing is connected to the Charger.

Otherwise, it creates a risk of things like invalid credits being issued when they shouldn’t be.

I believe the issue comes down to the work needed to be done by energy suppliers to make a different charger compatible. There simply aren't enough resorces to do this so suppliers choose to concentrate on a limited range which means that if you have an incompatible charger then it is unlikely to happen. Given that chargers are £1,000 a pop people who already have that model tend to gravitate to the suppliers who support it not the other way around. It's not that OVO don't want to support that charger it takes a lot of effort and cost to integrate it into Charge Anytime

On the other side of the coin if you had got OVO to install a charger you might find that you can't find another supplier to support it so you are effectively locked in with your supplier which, if that had been done deliberately, could be considered anti-competitive.

If you don't have solar then you would have more compatibility options by controlling the car. It's the decision to add solar to your setup that actually restricts your choice later on. It's a limitation of technology and lack of a business case that stops all setups being transportable to other suppliers and hence a better choice for the customer.

Peter

Hi

I have just had an Ovo installed solar and battery system. I also have a Tesla Charger , model Y and use charge anytime 

I am currently all charge anytime to charge at night rather than drawing power from the solar/ battery system - Battery is switched off at 21:00 hrs

Ovo during the solar quote and installation process never informed me of any impact to the use of charge anytime , but I have just read there may be an issue.

Please can some on confirm that the proceees I am using , albeit a bit clunky remains valid for charge anytime tarrif?

thanks

Colin

Hang on … please help I am confused …

Ovo have installed solar last week , it’s clear that I have a Tesla charger and car …the quote mentions that battery boost may not work , but nothing about charge anytime not working

I was assuming that charge anytime would work as normal , but   assumed I needed to be careful not to use power my  generated so turn the battery off at hours of darkness !!

I am going to be a very unhappy camper of this is not the case

chris @ Ovo … please can you advise??

Hi
welcome, so I have similar set up to you with Tesla EV, Hypervolt charger, solar panels + battery ( not installed by OVO). 
the power for the EV comes directly from the meter cabinet and the battery isn’t used to charge the car. I can use solar if needed to charge car, as I think there is a CT clamp that measures any electricity export, but has to be at least 5-6 amps available.

i know others have had issues but it all works for me - never have to turn battery off or similar.

cheers,

colin

Morning ​@Colin at home,

Ben here, I work alongside ​@Chris_OVO as a Forum Moderator. Welcome to the OVO Forum! I’ve awarded you your EV, Home Storage and Solar badges 😁.

I’ve reached out to our Charge Anytime experts for a proper answer on this one - bear with me, I’ll be back in touch as soon as possible with an update.

Cheers!

​@Colin at home I’ve been advised to tell you to reach out to Charge Anytime directly about this one. You can email them via ovocharge@ovo.com.

Let us know how you get on!