Adding an EV charger - existing PV setup

QrizB

Reed_Richards said:

So do the Octopus tariffs work so that you can't export and get money for it during the hours when importing is cheaper than exporting?

No,if you've got a surplus of electricity you can export at eg. 15p/kWh on Outgoing Fixed at any time of day.

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:

Reed_Richards said:

So do the Octopus tariffs work so that you can't export and get money for it during the hours when importing is cheaper than exporting?

No,if you've got a surplus of electricity you can export at eg. 15p/kWh on Outgoing Fixed at any time of day.

So you could charge a battery at the cheap overnight rate, discharge it for more money per kWh, then charge it up again ready for daytime use?  Or if it has been a sunny day and your battery is part-charged entering the cheap period you can first discharge it then recharge it?  Obviously you would be limited by the charging and discharging rates you can achieve but this cannot be what Octopus want you to do.  

noitsnotme

Reed_Richards said:

QrizB said:

Reed_Richards said:

So do the Octopus tariffs work so that you can't export and get money for it during the hours when importing is cheaper than exporting?

No,if you've got a surplus of electricity you can export at eg. 15p/kWh on Outgoing Fixed at any time of day.

So you could charge a battery at the cheap overnight rate, discharge it for more money per kWh, then charge it up again ready for daytime use?  Or if it has been a sunny day and your battery is part-charged entering the cheap period you can first discharge it then recharge it?  Obviously you would be limited by the charging and discharging rates you can achieve but this cannot be what Octopus want you to do.  

“That means that we pay you for any surplus energy from your home that goes to the grid. That might be energy generated by your solar panels, a micro-wind turbine or even energy you’ve stored in a home battery or an electric vehicle capable of discharging to the home.”

”Join Outgoing Octopus and use home batteries (or your EV battery, if you've got hold of a vehicle-to-grid charger...) to take advantage of low consumption prices on our Agile tariff and high export rates on Outgoing Octopus. It’s a balancing act.”

https://octopus.energy/blog/outgoing-faqs/

Magnitio

Reed_Richards said:

QrizB said:

Reed_Richards said:

So do the Octopus tariffs work so that you can't export and get money for it during the hours when importing is cheaper than exporting?

No,if you've got a surplus of electricity you can export at eg. 15p/kWh on Outgoing Fixed at any time of day.

So you could charge a battery at the cheap overnight rate, discharge it for more money per kWh, then charge it up again ready for daytime use?  Or if it has been a sunny day and your battery is part-charged entering the cheap period you can first discharge it then recharge it?  Obviously you would be limited by the charging and discharging rates you can achieve but this cannot be what Octopus want you to do.  

When you take into account the AC/DC/AC losses from the inverter and battery, any profit would be trivial. That is without factoring in the reduction in the life of the battery.

fishfienduk

If you're counting charge cycles and your battery still has energy in it, why not discharge it in the cheap rate time, and recharge, as it'll only be one cycle again.. 

ecraig

It’s an interesting idea, but on a 3kwh inverter charging > discharging > charging nets about £100-130pa. Of course a meatier bit of kit might export and import at a faster rate, but for me it’s not financially worthwhile for all that cycling of the battery for tiny financial return. 

ecraig

I decided to go with Octopus for my charging service.
For our area the installation lead time is very short, and I’m expecting installation to take place next week - Wednesday 13th.
£999 in all for a Zappi and any associated hardware needed such as a Harvi sounds like a good deal - with a 15-30% saving vs other local installers.

FreeBear

ecraig said:

I decided to go with Octopus for my charging service.
For our area the installation lead time is very short, and I’m expecting installation to take place next week - Wednesday 13th.
£999 in all for a Zappi and any associated hardware needed such as a Harvi sounds like a good deal - with a 15-30% saving vs other local installers.

I suspect you made a wise choice there.

I was dropping in to pass comment on the support that Ohme provides - I raised an issue with them nearly two weeks ago, and am underwhelmed by the response. Took them over a week to respond to the ticket I logged (and I think they only did that because I raised a second one). 10% of one star reviews over on Trust Pilot does not give me any confidence that my (minor) issue will be resolved any time soon.

Another downside to the Ohme charger is that it relies on a 4g mobile phone network to provide the "smart" functions. If you are in a dodgy area for signal, Ohme may not be the best choice. And whilst the cost of the sim is covered for the first three years, after that, there is a £2 per month charge.

With the above in mind, Zappi is a smart choice.

ecraig

Just to follow up on this one..

I had the installation of the Zappi charger on Wednesday. Octopus actually subcontracted the work to ChargedEV, who appear to have done a good and neat job of installation.
fitter was here for just over 3 hours, and fitted the Zappi from the main supply box, and fitted a Harvi via the consumer unit.
for £999 all in, vs a +15% to +35% extra from local companies, I cannot help but recommend the Octopus route vs competitors.

Switch to Intelligent Octopus Go took minutes via the Octo App, and the integration with the charger is seamless.

In my opinion the Myenergi app is appalling, from a UX and UI point of view. I’m talking from using it via an iPhone. Android might be better.
their website is better, though. For now I’ll use octopus app and use the boost function if I want an immediate charge. 

the device works, so it gets a big thumbs up. Think the ohme looks way nicer by comparison, but the lack of WiFi or SIM card cost after a few years made it a poor and unknown comparison. 

Exiled_Tyke

I think you did very well there and I hope the Zappi serves you well.  You are best controlling it from the Octopus App.  The only thing to change on the Zappi app is the percentage of grid charge to accept on Eco+.  As daytime electricity is four times the price of night-time (although this is changing) you probably want the setting to be around 80% green. That way you'll get daytime charging cheaper than night.  I use this (rather the 100%) green as it reduces the Zappi clocking on and off so much when there's a few clouds in the sky.   I also changed the setting for cutting off from 30 seconds to 45 seconds for the same reason.  This means you buy slightly more full price electricity when the sun goes behind a cloud but sometimes this is better than having the zappi shut down just before the sun reappears and then waiting for it to cycle up again.