Skip to main content
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
September 11, 2024

Do you have Solar Panels & Charge Anytime? We’d love to hear your thoughts

  • September 11, 2024
  • 106 replies
  • 1969 views
Do you have Solar Panels & Charge Anytime? We’d love to hear your thoughts

Updated on 29/04/25 by Bradley_OVO: We apprecaite all of the engagement and feedback to this article - This is no longer an open research topic at the moment. If you have further issues or questions around Solar, EVs or Charge Anytime, please reach out to the wider community to engage with the wider OVO Community user base.

 

It's an exciting time in the EV and Solar market for customers. We're looking to get some feedback from customers who have an Electric Vehicle and Solar Panels.

 

We currently offer Charge Anytime to customers with Solar Panels via a solar and Charge Anytime compatible charger. See a list of our chargers here and expand by pressing “+” to see those marked as solar compatible.

 

We understand that some customers may have a different charger that is not on our list, so we would love to get feedback from you if you have been using Charge Anytime via a compatible Electric Vehicle and have recently installed solar or are considering installing solar panels at your property.

 

Currently customers with that use Charge Anytime via a compatible Electric Vehicle can’t continue to use this service if they install solar. This is because the version of Charge Anytime that is via a compatible Electric Vehicle works due to the charging information that is sent from the car to us so we know how many kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity have been used in each charge. Unfortunately, this method is not able to tell us whether the electricity used was from the grid or from the solar panels or storage battery in your home. For this reason we cannot currently provide this version of Charge Anytime to customers to get the discounted rate.

106 replies

Newcomer
November 4, 2024

Hi

I have just had an Hypervolt Pro 3 EV charger installed, am on charge anytime and have solar PV installed already. I would like to take part.

Thanks

Chris

Abby_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 5, 2024

Hey @ChrisBan & @Percy1 

 

I’ll send both of you a Private Message😊

Currently Playing: She's Electric
Newcomer
November 15, 2024

Hi, I have charge anytime, solar panels and a battery and have just replaced a Zappi with the Hypervolt 3.0 Pro so that it is compatible. I would love to take part as I am currently very confused as to why the charger kicks in during the day and the Charge Anytime app says that it is solar charging when we do not have any excess solar i.e. the charger is kicking in and we will be getting charged our regular tariff (because there is no excess) when it should really be waiting for overnight. I also don’t want it to draw from our battery overnight when we can be using Charge Anytime for 7p /kwh.

Yours, Confused…...  

Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
November 16, 2024

Howdy ​@ms7dcml ,

You might want to call 0330 175 9678 for that as I think the team needs to check a few things. But my guess is that the Charger isn’t detecting Solar stuff properly right now.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
November 18, 2024

Updated on 24/02/25 by Ben_OVO

Hey ​@ms7dcml 

 

Welcome to the OVO Online community

 

As Blastoise has advised I think it’s best to reach out to the team about this issue.

 

The webpage has more information about Charge Anytime:

 

Can I get Charge Anytime if I have solar panels?

 

At the moment, the only way we can work out charging with solar panels is if you have one of the following chargers:

Indra

  • Smart PRO1 
  • Smart Charger V31 

Andersen

  • Andersen A2 (2024)
  • Andersen A3 

Hypervolt

  • Hypervolt Home 3.0 
  • Hypervolt Home 3 Pro 

We install these chargers, so they come compatible with Charge Anytime. Charge Anytime only tells us how much electricity you’ve used from the grid. So if your home has solar panels it’s harder to work this out – because some of the electricity may come from your solar panels, and some from the grid.
 

 

 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Newcomer
November 28, 2024

I'd like to become involved, please. I use charge anytime at night and have solar panels. I rarely use it during the day (i.e., if I forgot to connect). I see no issues using both my solar panels and charge anytime because I don't want to charge at peak times or during the day. 

Shads_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
November 29, 2024

Hi ​@GhostedDoctor 

 

Thanks for the interest. I’ll PM you shortly.

Newcomer
December 29, 2024

Hi, I'm an OVO customer who has just purchased an EV and I'm about to sign up to Charge Anytime. I also have a solar panel quote from OVO, so would definitely be interested in being involved in the research if possible? 

Abby_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
December 30, 2024

Hey ​@rww_100 

 

Thanks for you interest in this. I’ll send you a private message shortly.

Currently Playing: She's Electric
Rank 2
January 1, 2025

I expressed interest earlier and had a private message.

I have solar panels but no battery and so at night there is no solar energy so, surely the problem could be avoided by having a cheap rate during hours of darkness. 

Separately, a 13 socket is fine for me. I top up at night at 10 amps because of the way garage, which is a little way from my own house, is wired. Could a compatible charger be used, even if it couldn't run at full power because of the wiring. 

It seems I would have been better off if I'd got a charger instead of the solar panels.