Charge Anytime and Ohme integration update: important information for our customers

​@New EV driver 

I've looked at Octopus and found that their EV tariff that charges 7p per Kwh overnight unfortunately charges about 30p per Kwh all other times. Have you found an Octopus tariff that doesn't charge a higher day rate?

Thanks.

Just adding my experience of the bump over to Charge Anytime from Ohme & I’m not impressed.

Having charged my Kona up a few days back with my Ohme charger, last night I attempted my first charge via Charge Anytime.

With the CA app eventually showing the next charge session +1hr’s time, went to sleep thinking all was set.

Woke up this morning & CA didn’t charge last night.

To be fair, It did charge 0.6kWh over the 12hr period, so enough to get me to a working charger if I needed to.

A possible 2ml increase for a 12 hr charge,

altho soc initially showing + 1% last nite  is now 1% down again this morning, so back at pre charge level.

I had already deleted my Ohme charger account per instructions, nothing scheduled on the EV,

I have never had api integration from Ohme to the vehicle, so no apparent reason why it failed.

A call into the CA team this morning offered no real help apart from deleting the Ohme app from my devices & shorting the charge window, then try to charge again.

The team tho did confirm that the cheap 7p rate is only charged after CA realises it’s connected to the vehicle, that could be up-to ½ after plugging in.

So the recommendation to plug in more often to help spread demand Vs supply will end up with more time charging at the full rate rather than the smart charging 7p rate,

charging once every 10 days or as needed.

The potential is,

Plugging in every day, 10 days X 30 mins full rate. (5hrs full kWh rate) 15hrs a mth)

or my normal charging routine of

1 X 30min full rate every 10 days (30 mins full kWh rate) 1.5hrs a mth).
 

In summary, if I take my soc & the expected number of hrs to reach my desired charge level, set an shorter unrealistic time charge window in the CA app, the car might start charging right away. (No real plug & play)

So I’m unlikely to reach my max charge target % whatsoever.

The first few minute’s / 30 minutes will cost me more.

To top it off, it didn’t actually charge.

I did do my homework re: passing over the smart charging capability from Ohme to CA & an 80% soc for this very reason, so I’m not in dire straits atm, but what am I missing.

Tom…

2023 RAV4 PHEV post Ohme app deletion OVO Charge Anytime Experience. - working for now

Whether this will continue but so far so good. OVO charge anytime app seems to be behaving itself after I have followed the steps and deleted my account on the Ohme app. 

What seems to work for me is 

ensuring the charge now toggle is set upon exiting car

Connecting the Ohme cable, watching the green charging light come on and the Ohme display go red to indicate charging

Opening the charge anytime app and after about 5 mins setting a charge by time an hour or two in the future.

Keep checking the app until it recognises that the car is plugged in and is flashing that it is charging. Depending on the length of time there will be periods when it shows it is not charging

Without a compatible car and an Ohme charger then you don't have access to the Charge Anytime add-on so no discount from your tariff rate. The same situation I was in some time ago (no compatible charger or car).

My experience of Charge Anytime.

Having an Ohme charger & a car on the beta list, thought it best to give it a trial run.

After deleting my Ohme account & integrating my Kona with CA, I attempted a charge via CA last night, after waiting for the CA to realise my EV had been plugged in, I could see scheduled charging session to begin + 1hr, so thought I’d done my homework & all was good.

Woke up this morning after my Kona being plugged in for 12hr’s to find the car didn’t charge at all.

Well not at all is not quite correct, the CA app shows it delivered 0.6kWh with a 12p saving.

Enough charge for a a very short drive to a charge point.
But the + 1% in the i saw in the Soc last nite had this morning reverted back to the Soc before I plugged it in. So might not have made it to a working charger even if I had needed to.
Not a great start.

I did place a call to the CA team this morning, with no explanation of why it failed to charge, their only recommendation was to delete the Ohme app of my device & to set a shorter charge window.

(Ohme was never integrated to my Kona, only to Ovo)

So if I set an unrealistic ready by time, it should trick CA into charging right away ( I wouldn’t call that smart charging in the slightest).

Also the CA team confirmed that the smart charging rate of 7p is only achieved after CA detects that the car is plugged in, so a possible 30mins of paying full kWh cost before the smart charging kicks in,

or in my case, stops charging. (So more expensive to charge)

The CA team said most of the time, the failure is due to the initial set up, but I did see CA reporting a charge is scheduled & it was reporting the actual Soc, so all looked good last night.

My CA app this morning showing a 0.6kWh charge & a saving of 12p.

What did I miss

Or is this behaviour of not charging to be expected as my Kona is only on the beta compatibility list?

Any help appreciated.

Tom…

My Bad

Apologies for a double post, 1st post a no show after 3hrs, so reposted.

too late to edit or delete either now.

Tom…

I’m on a dual fuel tariff. Have selected Octopus 12 month fixed to get started from my previous OVO 12 month fixed. It’s a little under 2ppkwh dearer for electricity than OVO was but the gas is a little cheaper. Factor in Octopus charge zero to switch between their tariffs so when the predicted up to 7% lowering of prices expected happen I’ll just change. As a high consumer 25k miles p.a. I will be actually better off with the £30 add on for 700Kwh per calendar month. If the car is plugged in it will charge if green or cheap energy is available a bit like Anytime and they guarantee it to be charged by your scheduled time. They also let you know by alert if cheap or free energy is available.They offer variable DD which only takes what you owe 14 days after the monthly bill has been calculated so I won’t end up with nearly £2k in credit and that money can stay with me earning interest.

Didnt want to leave but OVO gave me no choice. Corporately very poor treatment of those affected like me. I will stay here a bit longer just to help anybody needing to transition. 

Sorry to see you leaving but you have to find the right tariff that meets your needs.

I was a bit curious about the Octopus Intelligent Drive Pack and I came across a comment on Reddit about a comparison with IOG.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OctopusEnergy/comments/1jwjwl4/i_did_the_maths_and_intelligent_drive_pack_is/

I can understand how difficult it must be for people who are not able to compare offers using their actual consumption as data but the headline rate is not always the best. I moved to Agile Octopus a while ago and it’s working for me but wouldn’t work for everybody and especially those who like predictability.

Wishing you all the best on your quest for a new tariff. If you can help others on here that is brilliant.

Peter

After switching my Ohme charger over to letting Charge Anytime control the show, 

 my Kona did actually charge last night.

So things are looking up.

I didn’t follow the advice of the CA team in deleting my Ohme app from my device, as I had already deleted my account from within. 

I also didn’t shorten my ready by time, it’s still set for 9am

The only variable had been the Kona’s Soc & the time I plugged the car in.

I plugged in @ 10.15pm last nite & charging never stopped, the car hit it’s CA 90% target by 11.40pm.

(With CA reporting a 7.7kWh charge) 

The previous night I plugged in @ 8.15pm & it didn’t charge at all that night.

Now I just need to check if the early plugin & the pre 10pm smart throttling plays any part in my ability to charge or not.

Tom…