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Octopus Go Intelligent Tariff - recent changes
Comments
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why would you rate limit a higher rate charger ? What’s the benefit in doing that 🤷♂️. It’s hours not kw limited. To me that’s the issue hence maybe they need to look at the charger , charge rate max capacity and hours / usage as a formulae. The API’s they use have the capability as it’s already used to negotiate with the car regarding its max charge rate. Seems ill thought through to me.
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ah I understand now, I hadn’t realise octopus allow the low rate to be used until the car is charged so people benefit from wholesome low costs. Yea there are defo better ways round that but I also don’t see a huge issue with a 6 hour limit either. I suspect they will come up with a tarrif that has 6 hours low, plus peak rate with a peak mid priced EV charge rate that only applies to EV charging to use cheap slots more fairly. They can tell when a car is being charged via the car / app api for granny charges or ohm chargers etc. frankly they’ve done well to modernize the whole industry and trying to make it better in general.
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The reason Granny charges are blamed, as Octopus said that one of the issues was people charging car at lower speeds (In many cases lowering in car) to get longer cheaper periods.
Given the way that a granny works (very slow charge) this looks exactly the same to Octopus.
In reality Octopus should have been making it part of the T/C that only proper 7kWh chargers are allowed on IOG. Maybe that will come in time.
Personally the £1K Octopus cost of the charger, was paid back in 9 months in saving between what I spent on fuel & electric. I only do around 6K a year. So the higher the mileage the quicker the payback👍
Life in the slow lane1 -
Just wait until bi directional EV charging launches later this year. With EV size batteries able to power the home, and export to the grid, there's a whole world of tariff changes coming!
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Expect uptake to be slow and painful, the cost of the home units is relatively high and of course in most cases people will need to buy a new EV to access these features.
Still, it will be interesting to see where this goes, especially for those low-mileage drivers not taking the car away from the home for most of the day…
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I am that low mileage driver who has been waiting for precisely this technology prior to purchasing my first EV. I'm sure I'm not alone. Yes the charger will cost more however most EVs launched in the previous 12 months reportedly have the technology built in, just waiting for the chargers...
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As an ev driver I don't get it.
It will be like adding huge mileage to the car without driving it, the battery life is limited by cycles, this type of use will kill them.
It's akin to leaving an ice vehicle running on the driveway powering a generator.
The `damage' to the expensive car batteries is more costly than just buying home battery storage.
And prospective future buyers of the heavily used ev will be able to see exactly how the batteries have been used.
Is this really a good idea?
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With the number of charging cycles a car battery can handle (still a guess by manufactures, as well as the std 8 year warranty to around 70% usable battery) can't see it making much difference.
Uptake will be slow, due to lack of cars supporting & also people will not want to buy a new charger, unless the like of Octopus are going to supply them. Make current chargers look cheap
Life in the slow lane0 -
As an EV driving solar owner etc, I agree. The whole life costing of a battery seems questionable at the best of times. Adding leather seats, climate control and SATNAV to the cost of a battery doesn't seem like it will improve it.
Maye it will look cost effective when someone compares it to bi-directional EVTOL personal transport… That will be suggested on day……. 😯
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I have a background in maths and electronics, however I freely admit to not being that knowledgeable about battery chemistry / technology. I don't want to degrade a £50k EV's battery, or invalidate the battery warranty so, being aware of valid concerns regarding the charging and discharging of EV batteries whilst stationary, with the assistance of Gemini, I have done some research. From what I have seen and followed up, I am confident that:
- Kia (in my case) would like to see their EV batteries regularly charged / discharged in the 20% - 80% range and warrant their batteries for 3000+ cycles over 8 years. This actually optimally conditions them compared to being occasionally unused.
- This range of cycle / discharge is no different to those with long commutes. I used to have jobs with 70 mile each way commutes.
- Real world data (admittedly only over the last 2 - 3 years) validates the above.
So, I'm happy to proceed on that basis. EV manufacturers are building EVs with bi directional charging in mind. In fact my research discovered something, that I was previously unaware of, that proves that bi directional is the way forward. The government have mandated that from January 2027 all EV chargers, private (new sales no doubt) and public (new installations?) must, by law, be bi directional.
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