EV Discussion thread

michaels

shinytop said:

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. 

Most cars can charge using a 'granny' 3 pin cable - if use of the car charger was subject to an extra charge many would just switch to charging from a 3 pin plug.

Martyn1981

With PV, we can mostly charge via granny cable May-Aug, and perhaps 50% Apr & Sept. Outside of that our generation is a bit too low and unpredictable (clouds), and better used for space heating via A2A, with BEV's charged at night on cheap rate. Also for some smaller battery BEV's like our 28kWh IONIQ, granny charging is fine.

1961Nick

shinytop said:

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. 

It's not that easy because although smart chargers are smart - granny chargers are not & that's what lots of people will migrate to.

shinytop

michaels said:

shinytop said:

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. 

Most cars can charge using a 'granny' 3 pin cable - if use of the car charger was subject to an extra charge many would just switch to charging from a 3 pin plug.

I know that, but it won't suit everybody because of the time it takes and it would not be at the cheaper rate (would it?). If the granny charger cost 34p/kWh and the fast charger cost 20p - 10p to OVO and 10p tax - which would you use? 

Or am I missing something (wouldn't be the first time) 

Grumpy_chap

Magnitio said:

Plenty of LR on Autotrader at well under £30k and SR with reasonable mileage from £23k.

I have seen some where the photos seem to indicate the Full Self Driving pack is included (but not mentioned in the description):

Does that mean I stumbled upon a gem, or is that misleading? 
Do all the cars have the FSD computer, but not necessarily the FSD software enabled?

Am I also correct that black trim under the wing mirror means it is the newer version with heat pump and silver trim means older without heat pump?

Martyn1981

Don't know about the heat pump trim, but all the cars come with the hardware for FSD. It's the software download that costs a fortune at purchase, or a bigger fortune if downloaded later.

That said though, with each improvement in the hardware, the vehicle would (I assume) be more capable. And some Tesla's are now starting to be delivered with HW4. Some of the inventory vehicles in the US may be HW3, but this could just be the rumour mill.

Tesla tends not to state/advertise any change in tech until after they have started to be delivered, to avoid any impact on demand, with folk waiting. 

Grumpy_chap

Martyn1981 said:

Don't know about the heat pump trim, but all the cars come with the hardware for FSD. It's the software download that costs a fortune at purchase, or a bigger fortune if downloaded later.

Thanks - so the screen shots are just a red herring

I am not sure that the FSD offers that much in the real world over and above the standard autopilot.  Certainly not an arm and a leg more.

CKhalvashi

silvercar said:

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

Got you.

The Enyaq is listed, the Ioniq isn't.

The charger isn't, but I assume with the Enyaq it will be ok. The Ioniq is doing slightly higher mileage at the moment so it will warrant further investigation and number crunching.

1961Nick

Grumpy_chap said:

Magnitio said:

Plenty of LR on Autotrader at well under £30k and SR with reasonable mileage from £23k.

I have seen some where the photos seem to indicate the Full Self Driving pack is included (but not mentioned in the description):

Does that mean I stumbled upon a gem, or is that misleading? 
Do all the cars have the FSD computer, but not necessarily the FSD software enabled?

Am I also correct that black trim under the wing mirror means it is the newer version with heat pump and silver trim means older without heat pump?

Mine has the FSD computer but I don't subscribe so only Autopilot is enabled.

Black trim means it's got the heat pump.

silvercar

shinytop said:

michaels said:

shinytop said:

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. 

Most cars can charge using a 'granny' 3 pin cable - if use of the car charger was subject to an extra charge many would just switch to charging from a 3 pin plug.

I know that, but it won't suit everybody because of the time it takes and it would not be at the cheaper rate (would it?). If the granny charger cost 34p/kWh and the fast charger cost 20p - 10p to OVO and 10p tax - which would you use? 

Or am I missing something (wouldn't be the first time) 

If your car is compatible with the tariff, you can get the reduced rate with the granny charger.