Adding an EV charger - existing PV setup

ecraig

Thanks for the comments all.
Intelligent octopus integration is an absolute must for me, as it’s likely I will move over to that tariff for the spring and summer, and return potentially to agile for autumn and winter.

I love the idea of integrating solaredge charger, but I also want to make sure I make a really cost effective decision in the process.

realistically speaking I’m not sure how much solar charging I would do with a zappi. Would it be more of a nice to have to say “hey look at me I’m charging my car from the panels, and wasting 7.5p per kWh”

The car is a leaf, so very compatible with V2G, but who knows how much the charger will cost. It seems to be too early and infant at this stage..

EricMears

ecraig said:

Thanks for the comments all.
Intelligent octopus integration is an absolute must for me, as it’s likely I will move over to that tariff for the spring and summer, and return potentially to agile for autumn and winter.

I love the idea of integrating solaredge charger, but I also want to make sure I make a really cost effective decision in the process.

realistically speaking I’m not sure how much solar charging I would do with a zappi. Would it be more of a nice to have to say “hey look at me I’m charging my car from the panels, and wasting 7.5p per kWh”

The car is a leaf, so very compatible with V2G, but who knows how much the charger will cost. It seems to be too early and infant at this stage..

Leaf isn't IOG compatible so you will need a charger that is if you want IOG.

V2G charging units (if you can find one) have a huge list price.  Not sure if there's one that is also IOG compatible ?

If you can get onto IOG,  you'd also be able to export at 15ppu so 'charging from the Sun' won't be very economical and IMO is usually inconvenient as you'd need to have the car standing idle whilst you do it.

Exiled_Tyke

I'm a bit late to this one but wanted to stick my oar in.   I agree with a lot of what has been written. 

I have a Zappi as I did want to use excess solar in Summer.  Whilst. it's on the expensive side it does give me access to Octopus Intelligent Go. And as others have said the benefit here is not just cheap electricity for the car but cheap electricity for 6 hours for the house battery and anything else (washing, dishwasher etc.). 

A couple of further notes: 

1. It is usual to set these up so that the charger never drains the house battery but only draws from the grid of the PV. 
2. If you have a compatible car for O I Go as well as a Zappi then it is better to integrate the Zappi as that way the excess solar PV function can still work which is not the case if you let Octopus control the car instead.  

Note: I don't export as I export so little currently the benefit of coming off deemed export would be a small benefit for the hassle. Also I don't want to use up the house battery exporting to the grid.  taking into account the number of guaranteed battery cycles (and the associated cost) exporting from batteries doesn't appeal to me.  

ecraig

Is the general consensus amongst you folk that the zappi has the best intelligent octopus go integration?
both the zappi and the Ohme would give me support to intelligent octopus, so I guess it comes down what is the most intelligent charger? Realistically I am unlikely to bother with charging from Solar given the financial benefits to take from the grid instead.. but I guess it’s a nice gimmick perhaps.

Exiled_Tyke

ecraig said:

Is the general consensus amongst you folk that the zappi has the best intelligent octopus go integration?
both the zappi and the Ohme would give me support to intelligent octopus, so I guess it comes down what is the most intelligent charger? Realistically I am unlikely to bother with charging from Solar given the financial benefits to take from the grid instead.. but I guess it’s a nice gimmick perhaps.

I don't think it is possible to answer this question as most of us only have experiencing of owning one charger.  The added PV integration of there Zappi is unlikely to pay for itself in many cases especially as there are so many options now available (i.e. selling to the grid at reasonable prices) which did not exist a few years ago.   If you are definitely not interested in charging from solar then I'd go with the best deal you can get unless you find someone reliable reviews comparing the products.

This might be useful: 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6444998/zappi-vs-hypervolt-vs-ohme

On another note I love the monitoring Zappi provides and and even though I don't have any other Myenergi products (i.e. Harvi, Eddi) Ifind it integrates perfectly well with my battery (Solax) and PV system (SolarEdge).  That said I also use the monitoring that these offer for different bits of information. 

noitsnotme

I’m very happy I went with a Zappi but I’ve not experienced any other chargers, apart from the Tesla granny charger which I used for a few weeks before the Zappi was fitted.

The Tesla integration with IOG was not great.  It worked for the most part but was very buggy.  Since integrating IOG with the Zappi it’s worked perfectly with no fuss.

Zappi support is excellent and some of senior Myenergi staff are active and very responsive on their forums.

While 15p/kWh export is on offer with Outgoing Octopus (I don’t expect it to last indefinitely but mine is fixed for 12 months) there really is no point in using Solar to charge the car.  Charge the car overnight at 7.5p/kWh and sell all your solar for double that rate.

Magnitio

I've been looking at the options and came to the conclusion that the Zappi is currently the best solution for IOG with solar. It may not make sense to charge from solar at the moment, but that could change and there will be times when a top up is required during the day.

However, I can't justify the £1k price when I have found that I can manage with a granny charger plugged into a dedicated socket with a Tapo P110 to act as a switch and energy monitor. This means using the car integration with IOG which works most of the time.

Petriix

+1 vote for Zappi with IOG + Outgoing. Don't bother with solar charging for now (until prices change) but do ensure that the Zappi is installed upstream (grid side) of the battery CT clamp to effectively hide the Zappi from the battery; far more elegant than the other solutions to avoid draining. 

ecraig

Thanks for the comments, all. 

I have quotes coming in for a zappi or the ohme option. So far I don’t see much price difference between the two, using local installers.
Both installers would look to wire straight into my consumer unit. For the zappi they will do all the CT clamps inside the consumer unit to ensure battery drain doesn’t occur and the solar is effectively used if I choose this option.

Oddly all of these quotes come in way higher than I would pay through the likes of using Octopus as the installer, which makes me wonder - if I’m not bothering with a Harvi, and therefore having a “simple” (installer words, not mine), what is the local installer doing differently to warrant 15% more money than I’d part with via perhaps Octopus.

Anyone with solar and battery storage purchased their charger/charger installation through Octopus?

And btw, I am probably going to go with the Zappi based on your feedback so far, and, sadly, i seem to think the extra money is actually paying for their clever and more robust tariff integration with Octopus. Crazy, really.

Martyn1981

noitsnotme said:

Reed_Richards said:

ecraig said:

It’s almost more cost effective to charge overnight where I can purchase <15p kWh, and therefore export excess solar generation at 15p.

It seems it would be more cost effective to save the money buying an Ohme (or something else) and profiteering from a better solar export rate.

> Am I thinking straight?
> What would you knowledgeable people recommend, please?

I'm not certain that there is a tariff which allows you to both purchase at <15p per kWh overnight and export at 15p per kWh.  If such a tariff exists it IS more cost effective, there's no "almost" about it.  And unless you do a lot of driving each day it may be more cost effective to just use a "granny charger" than even a cheaper wall box like an Ohme.  

Intelligent Octopus Go is 7.5p/kWh import between 23:30 and 05:30 (sometimes extra smart slots outside of that).  Pair that with Octopus Outgoing and you can export at 15p/kWh.

Many people with a qualifying EV or charger, solar and batteries do this, myself included.  My house battery is fully charged overnight, along with the EV when it’s needed.  The house battery then powers the house all day while 100% of my solar is exported at the 15p rate.  99%+ of my import is at 7.5p/kWh.

Many thanks for the info, but my brain immediately said I could export for more than I import (with a battery, as you describe), so something sounds a bit wrong. But then again, daytime rates atm are so high, that I suppose Octopus can make money buying daytime leccy (PV export) at 15p.

I checked the Octopus site, and they seem to suggest an export rate of 8p/kWh if you have OG:

Right now, you can’t be on Octopus Go together with Outgoing Fixed or Agile (the price is so good it’d be like a double discount!) Instead, we’ve created a great export option just for Octopus Go customers. On Outgoing Fixed Lite, you’ll export power at a rate of 8p / kWh.

But .... I note this refers to OG not IOG, but I get a gateway error when I try to look at the Octopus Outgoing + IOG.

Bit frustrating!