EV Discussion thread

CKhalvashi

In addition to someone posting about EV tariffs, just seen an ad on Facebook for 10p charging from Ovo.

Looks like it's any time, I need to change supplier really but too tired tonight to look into the terms and conditions.

Grumpy_chap

The OVO EV charging seems quite clever - as I read it, plug in, say when you want to be full, OVO work out the best time to do the charging.

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

silvercar

CKhalvashi said:

In addition to someone posting about EV tariffs, just seen an ad on Facebook for 10p charging from Ovo.

Looks like it's any time, I need to change supplier really but too tired tonight to look into the terms and conditions.

I have this tariff. Ovo seems unique in that the cost of the remaining units are not increased. It is a just a discount applied to your bill based on the units you use to charge the car. 2 points:
1. You have to have either the right brand of charger OR the right type of electric car. I can use it with the Tesla but not my Leaf as my charger isn’t on their list.
2. people who use it through their car are finding that the discount isn’t as much as expected, it works out about 13p/kWH. Various suppositions on the Facebook group ‘ovo charge anytime’ why this is.

It is easy to use. you use the app to set the time when you want the car to be charged and at what percentage of full battery you want. Plug the car into the charger and leave it do it’s thing.

PS: you do need to have a smart meter

Petriix

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

shinytop

Petriix said:

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

Does this mean that OVO can charge a specific rate for EV charging only and the rest of the house is on a different rate ate the same time?  

CKhalvashi

shinytop said:

Petriix said:

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

Does this mean that OVO can charge a specific rate for EV charging only and the rest of the house is on a different rate ate the same time?  

I believe yes.

We have a weirdly specified charger (that I'm not actually 100% sure is UK-certified for grant purposes, but does meet all legal requirements), so I'm not sure it's going to work for us. It's good to see what deals are there though.

silvercar

shinytop said:

Petriix said:

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

Does this mean that OVO can charge a specific rate for EV charging only and the rest of the house is on a different rate ate the same time?  

That's exactly what happens. The OVO charging app takes control of the car charging schedule and also calculates an effective refund of the electricity used to charge the car. This appears as a separate line on your OVO bill.

For high electricity/ low mileage users it is cheaper than a tariff that gives you the lower rate for all the house usage at the expense of a higher rate for day usage. We mainly charge elsewhere at an even cheaper rate, so it is only top up or occasional full charging that we do at home, so not worth paying the higher day time rate.

Unfortunately it doesn't work with my charger or my Leaf, I guess because not all Leafs (leaves?) have a charging app that can control charging time and it would be too difficult for OVO to only offer it for those specs that do.

silvercar

CKhalvashi said:

shinytop said:

Petriix said:

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

Does this mean that OVO can charge a specific rate for EV charging only and the rest of the house is on a different rate ate the same time?  

I believe yes.

We have a weirdly specified charger (that I'm not actually 100% sure is UK-certified for grant purposes, but does meet all legal requirements), so I'm not sure it's going to work for us. It's good to see what deals are there though.

They have a list of cars the tariff is compatible with, irrespective of charger.

It is either/or not both that are required. If you do have both use the charger as you don't get the reduction on units lost between the two (allegedly).

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

Grumpy_chap

Petriix said:

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

That is not necessarily the case.

Some people are able to time-shift their regular domestic load to take advantage of lower rate Time-of-Use electricity, as well as charging an EV on the lower rate ToU electricty. 
These ToU based tariffs typically increase the standard rate charged outside the preferential rate period.  For those that cannot as easily adjust their regular domestic demand, they may pay more overall.
What works for one person may not work for another.

The OVO scheme is charging normal tariff for everything and discounting the rate for the EV charging.  It does not require time-shifting of regular domestic use.  Obviously, need to check that the standard rate tariff is competitive with OVO.

I think it is healthy to have various models offering strategy choice in how to operate the EV power demand.

shinytop

silvercar said:

shinytop said:

Petriix said:

The OVO tariff is poor value because your home usage can't take advantage of the discounted rate. One of the major benefits of my switch to an EV has been a significant reduction in my home electricity costs from the cheap off-peak rate. 

Does this mean that OVO can charge a specific rate for EV charging only and the rest of the house is on a different rate ate the same time?  

That's exactly what happens. The OVO charging app takes control of the car charging schedule and also calculates an effective refund of the electricity used to charge the car. This appears as a separate line on your OVO bill.

For high electricity/ low mileage users it is cheaper than a tariff that gives you the lower rate for all the house usage at the expense of a higher rate for day usage. We mainly charge elsewhere at an even cheaper rate, so it is only top up or occasional full charging that we do at home, so not worth paying the higher day time rate.

Unfortunately it doesn't work with my charger or my Leaf, I guess because not all Leafs (leaves?) have a charging app that can control charging time and it would be too difficult for OVO to only offer it for those specs that do.

Isn't this going to be the solution for the replacement of fuel duty?  It would be an easy next step.