MSE News: Hive admits some users can't connect their electric vehicle chargers to its app

MSE_Petar

Smart home tech provider Hive has admitted it's aware of a problem that's seen some customers unable to connect their electric vehicle (EV) chargers to the Hive app. While you CAN still charge your car if you're affected, you CAN'T use the app's features, such as scheduling to charge your car when it costs less. The fault also means you can't easily track how much you're spending on charging your vehicle.

Read the full story:
'Hive admits some users can't connect their electric vehicle chargers to its app – here's what you can do about it'

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PeteMSE

I had my Hive charger installed in April and we are now in October and it has never worked with the app.  An engineer did eventually attend but was fobbed off with them saying they have updated the software.  He got it to work whilst there but it was via his mobile phone which is nonsense.  The moment he left it didnt work and hasn't ever worked.  Been trying for weeks to get another engineer to attend but it's excuse after excuse.  Believe it or not my last engineer passed away on the day of my visit!  I'm not saying that it was a lie or being disrespectful but I am sceptical to say the least.  The only reason I have been persisting with this is to get the years free charging but even that is false advertising as it's capped at about £700ish.  I have well and truly had enough now.

HaggisTeacakes22

I have had this same issue. Installed first EV hive charger in late 2023 only this month in 2025 is this now working fully with the app. it’s taken three units, multiple update's over a year and a half, near 100 calls. BG have offered me next to nothing as compensation. I’m taking it to the ofgem arbitration service.

vanman2

same problem here, we had an ev charger fitted by British Gas 3 years ago, unfortunately we decided not to get an electric car. We are now getting one and went to make sure the charger was working. All we got was a message in the hive app saying charger offline. Every now and again it would connect for about two minutes then drop off again. Phoned hive customer service and was told the o2 signal was to week and they had stopped using the charger that we have and because it’s out of warranty they could do nothing about it. Was told I would still be able to use charger but not use the app which seems pointless as unable to use at cheap off peak times.

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82121673#Comment_82121673

Just a thought, but can the EV be set to only charge during the cheap rate period. That way you could plug, activate the charger, and leave the timing to the car.

Ectophile

There's always the option of forgetting "smart". Because "smart" usually means over-complicated and unreliable.

My charger isn't compatible with my energy supplier (EDF). No problem. I have set the charger to always on. When my car needs a charge, it's four taps on the touch screen to tell the car to delay the start of charging. I then plug in the car and leave it to do its thing. It wakes up at midnight and starts charging.

Reed_Richards

I then plug in the car and leave it to do its thing. It wakes up at midnight and starts charging.

And stops when? My EV, which is a 2023 Vauxhall, can be set to start charging at a specific time but it has no control that will tell it to stop, neither at a given time nor at a given level of charge. I can work around this with my charger but it seem to me to be a weird omission.

Ectophile

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82122629#Comment_82122629

My car (Renault Zoe) has the option of setting a start and end time. But I never use it. If I plug the car in, I want it fully charged, even if that means the last bit is on standard rate electricity.