Electric cars and solar panels

Narc0lepsy

1. I'm likely to buy a small EV in the next few months.
2. I've got solar panels, not a storage battery (i.e. I don't sell back to the grid exactly what I produce), so I get a certain amount of electricity "free" when it's bright, and a quarterly payment. The FIT system.
3. In the past, I've not been able to have a smartmeter because I'm in a poor rural area for signal; however, the utilities company are coming round to check and review that next week.
4. My utillities company has a cheap, overnight tariff for EV owners. If you have the smartmeter version, this reduces again and any appliances during that time will also be on cheap rate.

So, given the above, is my understanding correct that I could get cheap/free electricity during the day and also cheap electricity in the night cheap hours - all resulting in a low overall cost for charging my EV? Or as a total EV newbie have I misunderstood something obvious?

chuffinnora

Are you planning to get an EV charger installed or looking to use a granny charger? The latter is not generally recommended as a long term or frequent option, unless you know its connected to an appropriate power point. Some people use them like that, but a choice to make.

Have you got a supplier/tariff in mind or currently investigating? There are various options out there for EV charger integration, or just making use of a ToD tariff for example overnight.

Bigwheels1111

After watching YouTube, It’s advisable not to change using solar, as it can be exported for more than you can buy energy at night.

I think they sold at 12p kWh, charged overnight at 7p.

When I move in the next 18 / 24 months, I want solar, battery storage 32 / 64kwh Forgstar look good.

Car charger and split zone Aircon in 2 rooms, probably heat pump as looking at new houses.

Plus an EV.

Keep_pedalling

I charge the car overnight for 7p pkWh because I get paid 12p pkWh to export via the SEG payments I get From Octopus.

facade

When you say "a small EV" are you thinking of an economical one that will give at least 5 miles/kWh?

What is your weekly mileage?

The average is less than 100 miles per week. This would use around 20kWh a week, and you will not break even on an EV tariff, as the day rate is hugely inflated.

We use around 300kWh a month (including about 30kWh of EV use), and pay 21p a unit (at the moment), so around £63.

Octopus Go offers 31p day rate and 10.5p for the wee small hours.

if I changed and used 270 kWh at 31p that would be £83, plus £3 for the EV so £86. We'd have to become nocturnal to have any chance of breaking even, never mind winning 😉

(My car won't work with Intelligent go which is cheaper)

You need to do all the sums before choosing a tariff, you could even be better off with the payment for estimated production than an actual export tariff.

QrizB

I charge the car overnight for 7p pkWh because I get paid 12p pkWh to export via the SEG payments I get From Octopus.

I do the same (although my off-peak rate is 8p).

The FIT system.

When you get a smart meter, you can keep your FIT generation payments and switch to metered export. You're likely to be better off by doing so; see my experience here.

You need to do all the sums before choosing a tariff, you could even be better off with the payment for estimated production than an actual export tariff.

Agreed, although most FIT customers who don't have home storage batteries seem to export 60-70% of the electricity they generate so switching to metered export is usually quite beneficial.

There's an example of the sort of calculation you need to do (albeit without the FIT export complication) here.

Narc0lepsy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997810#Comment_81997810

Yes we're planning to get a charger installed. Our current utilities supplier is sending an engineer out soon to see if we are able to have a smartmeter. He may only know about smartmeters, but we're hoping he can give us some advice on the charger situation. Fortunately our neighbour over-the-road is an electrician and has an EV so at some stage we will seek his advice as presumably he's gone into the options for his own car.

Narc0lepsy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997827#Comment_81997827

The YouTube video which advises that is referring to those with a SEG system; as I mentioned, we have FIT so that is different. With FIT you get 2 payment rates - 23.05p/kWhr for total generated and a presumed 50% "export" paid at 7.39p/kWhr.

Good luck with your change; my brother has just had solar, battery storage and heat pump fitted and is now gas-free.

Narc0lepsy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997945#Comment_81997945

Yes, ours is FIT not SEG though.

Narc0lepsy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997958#Comment_81997958

Yes I am thinking of a small economical one; I've road tested 1 so far (Renault 5) and will test the Hyundai Inster Cross (likely to be my preference) on Saturday. Most of my journeys are local so below 100miles per week apart from once a month I drive 130miles and back to visit my Mum. Hence the cars I'm considering need to be capable of a range in excess of 200miles (and yes I understand it depends on a lot of things - how I drive it, the conditions etc) and not just a city runaround.

My current electricity is 19.47p a unit; their night rate on the NextDrive tariff is 9p and if I can have a smartmeter that drops to 8p. I haven't yet asked what the daytime rate will go up to if I choose one of those as I'm waiting for them to tell me whether my area can have a smartmeter yet. The person I spoke to at Eon/Next seemed to accept that I may be able to charge during the day using the solar, and at night using the cheap rate - hence my posting as it sounds too good to be true.

Narc0lepsy

QrizB thanks for the link and understanding the difference between FIT and SEG!