Solved

Can I add a second car to my Charge Anytime?

  • 15 October 2023
  • 30 replies
  • 420 views

Badge

Hi, I have 2 electric cars and hoping to use Charge Anytime for them,

I can see a response from OVO on a similar question 8 months ago where they said a new app update would allow this and was imminent, 
it seems this has not happened yet.


Does anyone have any realistic workaround before I give up and change suppliers,

 

thanks in advance 

icon

Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 16 October 2023, 16:13

View original

30 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

No other suppliers offer this feature.

What's your charger?

Badge

Hi,

thanks for your response.

it’s a Hypervolt. Other suppliers offer EV charging at night for discounted rate which has no one car restriction. Octopus for one. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

OVO Charge Anytime is the only one that doesn’t come with a penalty of higher rates outside the cheap times. And by higher rates, I mean higher than the equivalent Standard Variable, so you’re not necessarily saving as much.

Badge

This is a good point, so yes would need carefully worked out. 
OVO realised multi car access was an issue and suggested an app fix was imminent back in March. I don’t  think tho has happed yet. I was hoping some forum members in a similar position may have found and workaround.

 

 

Userlevel 7

Hey @John C,

 

I’m asking for an update on this internally, I’ll report back when I get a response 🙂

Userlevel 7

Updated on 01/11/23 by Tim_OVO: You are now able to add more than one EV for Charge Anytime from within the Charge Anytime app. Under ‘connected cars’ you should see the option to add another vehicle at your home location. 


As of the 1st November 2023, Charge Anytime now offers  7p per kWh for smart charging. It can be added to any OVO plan, including electric-only households

 

 

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! 

Badge

This is phenomenal!!! Thank you

Badge

So we have Anytime charging on an ID3 with a non smart charger (as the EV is compatible).

At last the option to be able to select a second EV has arrived ……

However I have a Polestar 2 as the second EV and its not on the compatible EV list !!

Can I connect the Polestar via a compatible charger (not currently on my Anytime network) to get both EVs charging on Anytime - Or will this new setup mess up the current OVO Anytime set up ?

Second option - why can’t a balanced (non smart charger) be used like the ROLEC dual output charger to charge the polestar on anytime ?

 

 

Userlevel 7

Hey @dms66,

 

I’ll ask the smart home team about this and get back to you 😊

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

While you wait for that, I hope you don’t mind if I give my own thoughts on this one. Just a heads up that this isn’t an “official” answer - just my own ramblings!

The snag with using a non-smart charger with an EV that’s not CA compatible is that Kaluza can’t get the data they need to do the number crunching, and without that data they can’t calculate how many kWh to get OVO to discount. That’s why you need to have either a compatible EV or a compatible Charger alongside a Smart Meter in Half-Hourly mode.

However, the Smart Meter alone isn’t capable of 100% guaranteeing that the EV Charging can be picked up with totally perfect accuracy - as we’ve seen with OVO Greenlight, it’s not so much an exact science as it is a best estimate. When combined with a compatible EV/Charger however, getting that data is easy because the system can use both sources to figure it out.

Forum Volunteers like myself have always said that if you have a compatible Charger, it’s best to use that regardless of what EV you’ve got - that way you can charge literally any EV under the sun and get CA to work on it.

Userlevel 7

Hey @dms66,

 

From the team:

 

The Polestar is not a compatible car so would need a compatible (Indra/Ohme) charger to use Charge Anytime. If they were to get a compatible charger Charge Anytime would work with either car. At the moment only the compatible car (ID3) will work.

Badge

Thank you for the replies …

I know that the smart charger is required for the Polestar, so the unaddressed question relates to charging both cars --- Can the ID3 be charged from its current charger and the polestar charged from a smart charger, at the same time on the same OVO anytime account, daytime or overnight ?

 

Badge

Please ensure that you keep in mind that BOTH cars need charging at the same location at the same time - so two chargers are required !

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Please ensure that you keep in mind that BOTH cars need charging at the same location at the same time - so two chargers are required !

You can email your question directly if you want to

chargeanytime@ovo.com

https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/charge-anytime-faqs

 

Userlevel 7

Hey @dms66,

 

If you got an Ohme or Indra charger I’d imagine there wouldn’t be an issue with adding your second non-compatible EV to Charge Anytime. 

 

It might be best to double check with the smart home team: smarthome@ovoenergy.com

Badge

Unable to add second EV.

 

just set up the app. First EV added to my wife’s phone (with her account) & all worked fine. 
 

Tried to add second EV ti my phone (a separate account) and as images show- it identified the EV but then fails to complete the link. 
 

I also tried to do this on one phone but same outcome. 
 

any suggestions?

 

nimit

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hi @Nimitgoyal ,

Please use the same account for both. If that fails, ping an email to chargeanytime@ovoenergy.com and that team will help you out.

Userlevel 7

Hey @Nimitgoyal,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

 

Is the second vehicle compatible with Charge Anytime? Or is it the charger that’s compatible? 

Badge

Hi Emmanuel

 

thank you for the reply.

 

they car is compatible with the app (Audi A3 Sportback TFSIe 2021). As the picture shows, the app recognises it and message displayed says it’s connected but when I click complete, it doesn’t progress. 
 

have tried on several occasions with more than one phone as well. But no success 

Badge

Hi 

 

I believe this issue is linked to another issue that is currently going on with the VAG. At the moment we are unable to get a charge setup as something is going on at Skodas end. Are you able to get a charge at all setup?

Userlevel 7

I’ll raise this to the team @Nimitgoyal 

Badge

It doesn’t work with 2 cars , I’ve been in touch with customer services twice and it’s a joke and I’ve logged a complaint with no resolution date provided and the real truth is it doesn’t work , great marketing - nil delivery !!!!

go to octopus intelligent 

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

It should do if you’re on the latest app version.

Likewise, you can use it with 100+ cars if you do it via the charger method.

Userlevel 7

Hey @Steamroller,

 

I’m sorry to hear that you’re having issues,

 

Have you contacted the team directly on chargeanytime@ovoenergy.com? 

Badge

yes ive had 2 long calls deleting the app , re-adding it and then remove the cars and try to re-add them , only for it to take 10-20 attempts to re-add the car , then the car that was communicating with the app to stop and the latest one added starts to communicate , ita a cycle that wont stop and simply costs me money , which when i asked for a rebate on , was totally rebuffed , if your going to market something at least check it works in the first place !

Reply