How solar works for Indra customers in the Charge Anytime app
Before vs after the change
When your charger was operating on the Indra legacy web app, it would charge using solar energy if your solar panels were generating a minimum or 1A (1 Amp) of energy, after powering your home. Your EV needs 6A to charge, so the extra power needed would be topped up by the grid.
Now you're set up on the new Indra and Charge Anytime mobile apps, solar charging works differently. Your EV will only charge when there’s 6A or more of spare solar energy available. No electricity from the energy grid will be used to charge your EV in this mode. If your solar panels aren't generating enough electricity, your vehicle will stop charging.
How solar charging works now
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When you select “I have solar” during onboarding onto the Charge Anytime app, your charger is automatically set to a solar-matching mode. This means that Charge Anytime will try and use excess solar electricity to charge your EV, instead of drawing it from the grid. The excess solar electricity is any left over electricity that your solar panels have made, that hasn’t been needed to power your home.
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You need to enable solar in the Indra app to make this work.
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Solar energy will always go to powering your home first.
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If there’s more than 6A of solar left over, and your EV is plugged in, it’ll start charging using that surplus.
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If solar drops below 6A, charging stops. The charger won’t use electricity from the grid while in solar mode.
How Charge Anytime plans charging
Charge Anytime plans how to fully charge your EV from 0–100% from when you plug in to your selected Ready-By-Time. It bases this on your battery size. Within that period, it plans blocks of ‘smart charge’ mode and ‘idle’ mode. Smart charge mode is when your EV charges from the grid. Idle mode is when your EV temporarily stops charging. It doesn’t take solar into account when making this plan.
What happens with solar?
Charge Anytime doesn’t offer true “solar-only” charging. What we offer is solar matching. Here’s how it works:
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During idle periods, your charger might use solar energy to charge your vehicle. But only if:
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You’ve enabled solar charging in both the Indra and Charge Anytime apps
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Your solar is exporting more than 6A of solar electricity and it isn’t being used by your home
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If Charge Anytime is in “idle” mode and charging with solar, the app will say “solar charging”
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During scheduled smart charging sessions, your EV will charge using electricity from the grid. If there’s spare solar available, your charger might also draw from that but we don’t plan around it or guarantee it’ll happen.
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In some cases, we’ll start charging from the grid even if solar is available when cheap, greener grid energy is also available.
Solar crediting: what you do and don’t get Charge Anytime credit for
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You won’t be billed for any solar electricity used for charging your vehicle
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When solar is used during smart charging sessions (i.e. those scheduled to hit your Ready-By-Time):
You’ll get Charge Anytime credit based on all the energy used to smart charge your EV, even if some of it came from your solar panels. This is because Charge Anytime can’t see what energy came from the grid vs your solar panels. This means you’ll receive Charge Anytime credit for solar charging, and you won’t be billed for it. -
When solar is used outside of smart charging (e.g. when your EV is in idle mode and just charges off midday sun):
You won’t receive Charge Anytime credit for this, but you also won’t be billed because it’s solar-only, not coming through your smart meter.
Charge Anytime app savings tab:
The Charge Anytime app doesn’t show solar energy usage. The savings section only shows energy used during smart charges and urgent charge sessions. you won’t receive Charge Anytime credit for urgent charge sessions.
FAQs:
Q. With the legacy Indra web app, I used to charge purely by solar. Why has that changed?
A. Previously, the charger would enter "solar matching" mode when just 1A of excess solar electricity was detected. If there wasn’t enough solar electricity (less than 5A), the system would’ve topped up the difference from the grid. So you were likely using a mix of solar and grid power.
It could’ve seemed like you were only using solar power because you got Charge Anytime credit for all the energy used during those sessions, even the solar portion, as long as you weren’t in Boost mode.
Now, on the new apps, your EV will only charge if there’s at least 6A of excess solar available, and no grid top-up happens during that time. However, you can switch to a scheduled smart charge if the system feels it needs to reach your Ready-By-Time. Or if there’s more renewable, cheaper energy available on the grid.
Q. My car was charging using solar and there was plenty of sun, but it switched to the grid. Why?
A. There are a couple of reasons this might happen:
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Charge Anytime is following your Ready-By-Time. Based on the battery size you entered and your selected Ready-By-Time, the system estimates when charging needs to start. If it feels it needs to start charging to reach your Ready-By-Time, it’ll switch to the grid to make sure your car is ready when you need it.
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The system may have spotted a period of low-cost, increased renewable energy on the grid. Even if solar is available, Charge Anytime might choose to use grid electricity if there’s lots of cheap, renewable energy on the grid.
The optimiser is doing its job to balance solar electricity use, times of greener electricity, and your charging deadline.
If your goal is to try and charge purely by solar during the day, try setting your Ready-By-Time as late as possible the following morning (e.g. 10am the next day).
Q. I only want to charge using solar during the day. Can I do that?
A. Charge Anytime doesn’t offer solar-only charging. What we offer is solar matching.
That means:
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We’ll use solar electricity when it’s available. You’ll need over 6A available left over after powering your home.
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But we may switch to grid power if:
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The optimiser decides it needs to start charging now to meet your Ready-By- Time
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Or there’s a window of cheap, greener grid energy available.
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If your goal is to try and charge purely by solar during the day, try this:
Set your Ready-By-Time as late as possible the following morning (e.g. 10am the next day). Because there's more time to get your EV to full charge, Charge Anytime can prioritise daytime solar energy over using the grid.
Q. How do I change my solar settings in the Charge Anytime app after onboarding?
A. If you selected the wrong solar setting during onboarding you’ll need to delete your Charge Anytime account and sign up again to update your choice.
How to delete Charge Anytime:
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Open the OVO Charge Anytime app
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Click on the "Account" tab in the bottom right
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Click on the User icon in the top left
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Click the "Delete account" link
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Select a reason for leaving and click "Continue"
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Your app account will now be deleted and there will be no further connection or interaction between your car and the OVO system
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To create a new account, just sign up again on the landing page of the app with your OVO account details
Q. Solar charging isn't activating
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Make sure you’ve turned this on in both the Indra app and as part of the Charge Anytime app set up. If you didn't do this in the Indra app you can easily do so now. If you haven't done this in the Charge Anytime app you’ll need to delete your Charge Anytime account and sign up again to update your choice.
How to delete Charge Anytime:
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Open the OVO Charge Anytime app
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Click on the "Account" tab in the bottom right
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Click on the User icon in the top left
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Click the "Delete account" link
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Select a reason for leaving and click "Continue"
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Your app account will now be deleted and there will be no further connection or interaction between your car and the OVO system
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To create a new account, just sign up again on the landing page of the app with your OVO account details
Q. How can I tell if Charge Anytime is using solar to charge my vehicle?
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Your Charge Anytime app will say it’s in solar charging mode. Take a look at the screenshot below to see an example.
