Intelligent Octopus Go

I now have a smart meter and am on Intelligent Octopus Go - but have not yet linked the EV charging to Octopus. I charge the EV (from a granny plug) during the cheap period at night (7p/unit) which works OK most of the time except when it needs a full charge as this takes a bit longer than the 6 hr cheap period. If I allow Octopus to control the charging, it will sometimes be charged during the daytime. Octopus will charge 7p per unit whenever this happens. The problem is that my battery is set to power the house during the day time so if Octopus charges the car during the daytime, the power will be taken from my battery rather than coming from the mains. Is there any way to prevent this? The EV is currently connected to the main consumer board which is connected to the battery/grid via the Gateway unit. I also note that we can specify the Octopus tariff in the 'settings' - what does this do? Does it just help record how many units are used in the peak/off-peal periods or does it do more than this?

OIG tells you it’s planned charging times when you plug in. You could then manually “pause” (or set your battery automation to pause) your battery when the cheap “additional” windows are in effect this means all power will be from grid at cheap rate. In fact probably worth force charging the battery vice pausing it when this occurs.

Must say though I though for IOG you needed a home charger and not the granny plug but you learn something new every day

Yes, that is an option but a bit of a faff to have to adjust battery settings each day. As you say, setting the battery to charge during any daytime EV charging periods would achieve the desire result. Our EV charging requirements vary day by day (from nil to partial charge to full charge) but I don't know if Octopus take any notice of this (other than wanting the car fully charged by 8am) or how often day time charging slots are provided. Our full charge takes about 7-8 hrs so we only tend to overrun the 6 hr night time cheap rate once or twice a week.

Yes, you can either register the charger or the EV with Octopus for IOG. There was recently a problem registering BMWs so they let me onto IOG without registering a device. BMWs are now back on the list of compatible cars so I'm debating whether I should now connect the car to Octopus or leave it as it is.

SteveUK If I allow Octopus to control the charging, it will sometimes be charged during the daytime. Octopus will charge 7p per unit whenever this happens. The problem is that my battery is set to power the house during the day time so if Octopus charges the car during the daytime, the power will be taken from my battery rather than coming from the mains. Is there any way to prevent this?

If you just unplug the car during the day I believe you won’t be allocated any day-time cheap rate periods.

These periods are from what I’ve heard a bit random and depend on grid capacity, eg windy or sunny days

SteveUK The problem is that my battery is set to power the house during the day time so if Octopus charges the car during the daytime, the power will be taken from my battery rather than coming from the mains. Is there any way to prevent this?

Running a granny charger your only option is a software solution such as Predbat in Home Assistant. Works really well and takes advantage of the additional off-peak slots to charge your house battery at the cheap rate too.

SteveUK There was recently a problem registering BMWs so they let me onto IOG without registering a device. BMWs are now back on the list of compatible cars so I'm debating whether I should now connect the car to Octopus or leave it as it is.

I've been on IOG for nearly 4 years now and recently sold my Tesla for a BMW before Christmas. I'm still trying to onboard and my Octopus app is still saying they're not compatible.

browellm I managed to join IOG in November via my online account on the web. This let me join but advised I set the car (an i3) to charge during the off-peak hours whilst they were sorting out the problem with BMW (something to do with BMW changing log in requirements). I've heard nothing further but noticed on the app that the list of BMWs has re-appeared in the list when you ask to connect an EV.

SteveUK The list has reappeared, but if you select your model and attempt to onboard you still get a message saying they aren't compatible. Fingers crossed it gets resolved soon. Either that or I get the promised Hypervolt v2 integration that's been promised for a while and has been put back to end Q1 when I last asked Hypervolt.

SteveUK Our EV charging requirements vary day by day (from nil to partial charge to full charge) but I don't know if Octopus take any notice of this (other than wanting the car fully charged by 8am) or how often day time charging slots are provided.

Yes, octopus should be able to read the car's current SoC, and calc. how much is needed each day.
I get slots after 5:30 relatively often - rarely past 6:30 during the week, but often as late as 10am on a Saturday morning. (I usually allow Octopus until 11am to charge.)

I have a granny charger for my Tesla on IOG. I can pretty much get a slot whenever I plug in.

I tend to toggle off the smart charging in the app if I don't want it to charge (I have a charger at work)