Charging solar batteries overnight

greenchi

Can anyone tell me why you can get a cheap tariff to charge your electric vehicle overnight but not a solar battery?  Using cheap off-peak electricity to charge the battery during the winter when the sun is less likely to do the job seems to be a no-brainer. It would take the pressure off the national grid.  The Tesla Powerwall qualifies for Octopus Intelligent tariff but when this was queried with the provider we were told it was just that particular solar battery system.  We've looked at Economy 7 rates and I'm confused about whether it would be worth switching.  Any comments?

Exiled_Tyke

I presume the answer is that for the most part the companies (including Octopus) don't think it's profitable enough to hold accounts that only buy a few Kw of cheap leccy and hardly any at peak prices. 

QrizB

greenchi said:

Can anyone tell me why you can get a cheap tariff to charge your electric vehicle overnight but not a solar battery?  ...  We've looked at Economy 7 rates and I'm confused about whether it would be worth switching.  Any comments?

Economy 7 works better for battery charging than many EV tariffs (you can charge over a longer period, reducing stress on the batteries and improving their life), and at the moment is a similar price per kWh.

The same question was asked a couple of days ago and the thread is barely half-way down the first page of this subforum:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6394910/ev-equivalent-tariff-for-home-batteries#latest