Octopus EV Smart Charger — Misleading Compatibility Info and Incomplete Resolution

ujamaflip

In 2021, I paid Octopus Energy £545 for a smart EV charger installation so I could use their Intelligent tariff. Octopus told me the charger would be compatible with my car — a 2015 VW Golf GTE Advance — and even now in 2025, their website still says it is. However, the manufacturer confirmed that the car is not compatible with the EO Mini Pro 2 charger (the model installed by Octopus), meaning it cannot access the smart charging features required for the cheaper tariffs.

I’ve since replaced the car with a newer EV that is compatible with the Intelligent tariff — but the EO Mini Pro 2 charger still isn’t. I can now only use the most basic overnight tariff by manually setting a timer inside the car itself. The charger does not support the smarter scheduling or cheaper off-peak integration I originally signed up for.

After raising the issue again, Octopus acknowledged the frustration and offered a £150 goodwill gesture — but they are not offering any support toward installing a compatible charger.

Has anyone had a similar experience or advice on next steps?

Keep_pedalling

IO Go can either operate through a compatible charger or a compatible car it does not need both. What EV do you own now? 

MattMattMattUK

ujamaflip said:

In 2021, I paid Octopus Energy £545 for a smart EV charger installation so I could use their Intelligent tariff. Octopus told me the charger would be compatible with my car — a 2015 VW Golf GTE Advance — and even now in 2025, their website still says it is. However, the manufacturer confirmed that the car is not compatible with the EO Mini Pro 2 charger (the model installed by Octopus), meaning it cannot access the smart charging features required for the cheaper tariffs.

I’ve since replaced the car with a newer EV that is compatible with the Intelligent tariff — but the EO Mini Pro 2 charger still isn’t. I can now only use the most basic overnight tariff by manually setting a timer inside the car itself. The charger does not support the smarter scheduling or cheaper off-peak integration I originally signed up for.

After raising the issue again, Octopus acknowledged the frustration and offered a £150 goodwill gesture — but they are not offering any support toward installing a compatible charger.

Has anyone had a similar experience or advice on next steps?

I am slightly confused, EO say that charger is compatible with all EVs, it has a Type 2 connector so that would make sense. Looking around lots of instsllers also say it works with all EVs and PHEVs, from the spec there is no reason it should not charge any of the Golf GTE models, or indeed any other EV. 

Can you explain why you believe it is not compatible and can you copy and paste the text from EO where they say it is not so we can try and understand why?

ujamaflip

Thanks for questions. In the octopus app setup to connect it all up you have to select your car and your charger in order to get onto the octopus go EV cheap rate. At that point it throws up an error when you try to connect to the VW system which it needs. VW say that it was never compatible with the 2015 Golf GTE. Does that help answer? 

ujamaflip

You can connect and charge with the GTE and EO mini pro 2, you just can’t do it at the cheaper rate of 7p/8p per KwH.

I now have a 2022 Niro EV. 

MWT

ujamaflip said:

In 2021, I paid Octopus Energy £545 for a smart EV charger installation so I could use their Intelligent tariff. 

I don't think that Intelligent Octopus Go was released before May '22, so at the time you would have been told the charger/car was compatible with 'Go' which it was...

 

Keep_pedalling

MWT said:

ujamaflip said:

In 2021, I paid Octopus Energy £545 for a smart EV charger installation so I could use their Intelligent tariff. 

I don't think that Intelligent Octopus Go was released before May '22, so at the time you would have been told the charger/car was compatible with 'Go' which it was...

 

That is correct that tariff did not exist when the OP purchased the charge point, so they are certainly not entitled to a free replacement. 

Keep_pedalling

ujamaflip said:

You can connect and charge with the GTE and EO mini pro 2, you just can’t do it at the cheaper rate of 7p/8p per KwH.

I now have a 2022 Niro EV. 

Not sure where you are getting the info that the Nero is compatible, but Octopus had to withdraw IG for all Kia EVs as Kia’s 12 volt battery management system could not cope with the 30 min polling and people were waking up to find they could not unlock their car because they had a flat battery.

If you want cheaper charging then switch to e-on Next Next Drive.

born_again

Neither you charger or car are compatible with Intelligent Octopus

https://octopus.energy/smart/intelligent-octopus-go

I fail to see how the charger in not compatible with the Niro. Unless it is a tethered type 1 or chademo cable. 

Best option upgrade to one of the compatible chargers for IOgo & then you have no worries about changing cars. Could leave old one in place as a back up.

QrizB

ujamaflip said:

In 2021, I paid Octopus Energy £545 for a smart EV charger installation so I could use their Intelligent tariff. 

As stated above, there was no Intelligent Octopus Go tariff in 2021. At the time, regular Octopus Go was offering 5p/kWh for 4 hours overnight and you also had the option of 3 or 5 hours with Go Faster.

Your car and charger remain compatible with Octopus Go, which now offers 8.5p/kWh for 5 hours a night.

MattMattMattUK

QrizB said:

ujamaflip said:

In 2021, I paid Octopus Energy £545 for a smart EV charger installation so I could use their Intelligent tariff. 

As stated above, there was no Intelligent Octopus Go tariff in 2021. At the time, regular Octopus Go was offering 5p/kWh for 4 hours overnight and you also had the option of 3 or 5 hours with Go Faster.

Your car and charger remain compatible with Octopus Go, which now offers 8.5p/kWh for 5 hours a night.

Yep, the charger still works as intended on Go, the OP can still schedule charging in that window using either the charger at specific times, or leave the charger in charge anytime mode and use the car. 
https://octopus.energy/smart/go/

If they wanted to change the charger to use Intelligent Go then that would cost them under £500 as the wiring is already in place, so just a quick change for an electrician, but it would take them 33,333 kWh of usage to break even on that cost, so almost certainly not worth it at this point in time.