Octopus Drive Pack

ASA201

Yes exactly, not just why are they limiting it with drive pack but HOW are they doing it?

And by proxy then yes if they have the tech to do it on drive pack why aren’t they doing it with standard IOG?

Reed_Richards

ASA201 said:

And by proxy then yes if they have the tech to do it on drive pack why aren’t they doing it with standard IOG?

Because lots of other companies offer a simple dual-rate tariff for EV charging when you do get cheap electricity for the whole house.  Including Octopus, with their (unintelligent) "Octopus Go".

matt_drummer

ASA201 said:

Yes exactly, not just why are they limiting it with drive pack but HOW are they doing it?

And by proxy then yes if they have the tech to do it on drive pack why aren’t they doing it with standard IOG?

You know how they do it, it has been answered already.

The reason they do it is to give a choice, they are different tariffs. They do it because they can.

IOG comes with a higher rate than the standard variable tariff outside the cheap six hours. That's the penalty, you get at least six hours for the car and house but at other times you pay more than if you just had the cheap rate for car charging.

That might not suit people who use a lot of electricity for other things in their daily lives outside of the cheap hours.

I only charge a car once a week but have a large amount of battery storage so always run on batteries outside of the six hours.

If I didn't have the battery storage it would probably cost me less to be on the drive pack than IOG as we don't use much electricity when we are asleep.

They are just different tariffs like any others.

This seems to bother you, why?

QrizB

So if you're on Fixed at 24p/kWh:

https://octopus.energy/octopus-smart-tariffs/intelligent-drive-pack-rates/

... £30 a month would buy you 125kWh, enough to drive a typical car 340-400 miles. So most drivers doing 5000+ miles a year would save money *compared to not taking the pack" provided they always charge at home.

Whether OG or IOG would be cheaper overall will depend on the rest of their household consumption.

MeteredOut

MWT said:

With either a compatible car or charger, IOG knows how much energy has been delivered to the car, they then use that amount to calculate a bill credit to cover the reduction in the unit cost for that amount of energy.

This is only an option for those on their single-rate tariff, not E7.

If you have any other low-carbon products like Solar PV, or a house battery etc. then there is probably a better tariff for you than this one.

It'll be interesting to hear from someone who has signed up for this and is using a granny charger, as I'd not be happy if Octopus only charged what was delivered to the car, not what was consumed from the grid, as granny charger losses can be 20%+.

I'll stick my head out and say that Octopus will use the smart meter 30 minute slots (so including all-of-house consumption) rather than the EV's "delivered to car" figure, for billing people on the Drive pack. But I could be wrong.

QrizB

MeteredOut said:

I'll stick my head out and say that Octopus will use the smart meter 30 minute slots (so including all-of-house consumption) rather than the EV's "delivered to car" figure, for billing people on the Drive pack. But I could be wrong.

T&C here:

https://octopus.energy/policies/smart-tariffs-terms-and-condition/#intelligentdrivepack

Your monthly Intelligent Drive Pack payment only covers electricity used by your EV when charging is controlled by Octopus. All other electricity usage, including general household consumption and any EV charging outside of Octopus's schedule (e.g., 'bump charging'), will be charged at your standard household tariff rate.

Seems pretty clear that only car charging is covered.

MeteredOut said:

It'll be interesting to hear from someone who has signed up for this and is using a granny charger, as I'd not be happy if Octopus only charged what was delivered to the car, not what was consumed from the grid, as granny charger losses can be 20%+.

You pay for what's taken from the grid, not what's stored in your car battery. The smart charge point (whether "granny" or otherwise) will record what passes through it.

If you sign up with a compatible car rather than a compatible charger, it's your risk that the car under-records.

I would expect that most people would be better off with Go or Intelligent Go rather than the Drive Pack, but one thing this forum proves on a regular basis is that not everyone wants to take the leap away from a conventional tariff.

Reed_Richards

MeteredOut said:

.....granny charger losses can be 20%+.

I measured mine using a Tapo P110 to measure the power being consumed.  The actual charge registered by the car was around 90% of the input power measured by the Tapo P110.  So that's a 10% loss.  Maybe I'm just lucky?

MeteredOut

QrizB said:

MeteredOut said:

I'll stick my head out and say that Octopus will use the smart meter 30 minute slots (so including all-of-house consumption) rather than the EV's "delivered to car" figure, for billing people on the Drive pack. But I could be wrong.

T&C here:

https://octopus.energy/policies/smart-tariffs-terms-and-condition/#intelligentdrivepack

Your monthly Intelligent Drive Pack payment only covers electricity used by your EV when charging is controlled by Octopus. All other electricity usage, including general household consumption and any EV charging outside of Octopus's schedule (e.g., 'bump charging'), will be charged at your standard household tariff rate.

Seems pretty clear that only car charging is covered.

MeteredOut said:

It'll be interesting to hear from someone who has signed up for this and is using a granny charger, as I'd not be happy if Octopus only charged what was delivered to the car, not what was consumed from the grid, as granny charger losses can be 20%+.

You pay for what's taken from the grid, not what's stored in your car battery. The smart charge point (whether "granny" or otherwise) will record what passes through it.

If you sign up with a compatible car rather than a compatible charger, it's your risk that the car under-records.

I would expect that most people would be better off with Go or Intelligent Go rather than the Drive Pack, but one thing this forum proves on a regular basis is that not everyone wants to take the leap away from a conventional tariff.

I'm not questioning the T&Cs, I'm questioning how Octopus can implement those T&Cs.

I have a dumb 3 pin charger. My car is compatible with Octopus Drive. I am currently on IOG, and when Octopus starts a charge, the Octopus app shows what electricity is delivered to my car, not what was consumed from the grid. This information is provided by the API of my car manufacturer, and is 10-20% less than what is consumed from the grid.

If I signed up for the Drive Pack, how would Octopus know what electricity was consumed when charging my EV?

If they will only credit what is delivered to the car, that should make clear.

MeteredOut

Reed_Richards said:

MeteredOut said:

.....granny charger losses can be 20%+.

I measured mine using a Tapo P110 to measure the power being consumed.  The actual charge registered by the car was around 90% of the input power measured by the Tapo P110.  So that's a 10% loss.  Maybe I'm just lucky?

I suspect different 3-pin charges will have different losses, but in my experience, charging with a lower amperage results in higher losses. I used a power measure too. I also found losses were higher in the winter (my car battery does not have pre-conditioning).

QrizB

MeteredOut said:

... granny charger losses can be 20%+.

And

Reed_Richards said:

I measured mine ... that's a 10% loss.  Maybe I'm just lucky?

ADAC did a comparison a few years ago. How's your German?

https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/elektromobilitaet/laden/ladeverluste-elektroauto-studie/

Edit to add: it seems that Germans tend to have three-phase wall boxes, hence the 11kW (or 22kW)  rating. Makes our 7kW single phase ones seem a bit wimpy!

And I'm jealous of the photographed three-phase extension reel ...