Intelligent Octopus and 2nd hand EV

paulstevo

Just applied for a charging point to be fitted by Octopus for my incoming EV. Estimates of 4-6 weeks . Im about to pick the car up next week and was wondering if I sign up the intelligent I can utilise the cheap charging period via my house sockets until the EV Charge point is fitted . Was thinking of setting a timer on the charge to accommodate the tariffs time window.
Also cheapest charge options via public  in the interim period before my home set up is complete .

Keep_pedalling

Once on the tariff any electricity you use between 23:30 and 05:30 will be charged at 7p pkWh, so yes you can charge your car cheaply before you get the charge point installed.

The cheapest rapid charges are those operated by Tesla, and many Tesla charging stations have been opened to other EVs.

Reed_Richards

Or get a "granny charger" and charge your car from an ordinary mains socket whilst waiting for your charge point to be installed.  It will be slower but very possibly perfectly adequate abd cheaper than any commercial charger.  Afterwards you can use it when you use your EV to visit your granny.  

tim_p

Reed_Richards said:

Or get a "granny charger" …….  Afterwards you can use it when you use your EV to visit your granny.  

Other relatives are available!

FreeBear

tim_p said:

Reed_Richards said:

Or get a "granny charger" …….  Afterwards you can use it when you use your EV to visit your granny.  

Other relatives are available!

or if no living relatives available, borrow one for the day - https://rentagrandma.com/

Jellynailer

Have also recently bought a s/h EV and found I could not use public points because I do not have a smart phone. So I charged it from my el. socket more cheaply even on daytime rate but had to feed the plug end through my letter box. A wallbox would be cheapest charging option but it would take years to break even given high cost of intallation. So, I have had an outside el. socket fitted.

p.s. I love the car's extra features e.g. sat nav; automatic climate control and speed limiter = I toggle between 20, 30, 40 when on restricted roads so lots of green smiles on my journey to family thru villages and towns.

 

Reed_Richards

I think people get a wallbox EV charger because "it's the thing to do", without thinking through the necessity and the economics.  A wallbox will enable you to charge the car about 3 times faster than a "granny charger" but that is only useful if you have used a lot of charge one day and need to use a lot of charge the following day; otherwise you can spread the recharging over 2 or 3 nights of slower charging.  

FreeBear

paulstevo said: Just applied for a charging point to be fitted by Octopus for my incoming EV.

Had an EV charger fitted here earlier in the year. Based on my (limited) experience, I would strongly recommend you avoid Ohme - Their customer service sucks big time. It took over six weeks for them to reset a password so that I could connect to the darned thing via the app and had to answer the same questions several times. After three years, there is a £2 per month subscription fee to cover the cost of the SIM card (it uses the mobile phone network rather than WiFi). So in three years time, I'll bung the charger on ebay and get myself a completely different one (probably OpenEV).

born_again

Reed_Richards said:

I think people get a wallbox EV charger because "it's the thing to do", without thinking through the necessity and the economics.  A wallbox will enable you to charge the car about 3 times faster than a "granny charger" but that is only useful if you have used a lot of charge one day and need to use a lot of charge the following day; otherwise you can spread the recharging over 2 or 3 nights of slower charging.  

I have done just over 6000 miles in the last year. My Ohme Home pro (£1K) paid for itself in 9 months. Comparing petrol costs to Electric costs using Intelligent Octopus.

No problems at all with the Ohme here 👍
So far no one has actually reported having to pay a subscription on Ohme facebook groups after 3 years. 🤷‍♀️

paulstevo

Have opted for  Ohme Pro with 8m tether ,gets good reviews and works well with both the car ive opted for and the Octopus Tariff. Didn't realise that a SIM card charge kicked in after 3 years ,however to be fair if it works as described Im happy to incur a £24 charge per year ,due to the savings I will be making .  
Also the car Im getting comes with 3 charging cables including the granny one .

Reed_Richards

born_again said:
  

I have done just over 6000 miles in the last year. My Ohme Home pro (£1K) paid for itself in 9 months. Comparing petrol costs to Electric costs using Intelligent Octopus.

Fine.  But the comparison I would like you to make is between the cost of using a Granny charger costing £100 on the Eon NextDrive tariff (7 hours overnight at 6.9p per kWh) and your Ohme Home charger (£1k) and the Octopus tariff of your choice.  You have somehow got to win back that extra £900 and I don't think you are likely to do that in 9 years, let alone 9 months.