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I’m just about to pull the trigger on octopus intel go and one of their fitted ohme chargers
Word of warning
I bought and paid for a charger install with octopus at the start of November. They'll take all the money up front. They then leave you to sort out your own install by speculatively clicking on a link they'll sporadically send you which is highly unlikely to give you an appointment for an install. It certainly hasn't in the 500+ times I've tried
I'm now 2 months since paying for an install that they haven't delivered. I tried to cancel it directly with them via phone and email, and they ignored me.
I had to resort to using chargeback via my bank as luckily I'd paid for it using my credit card
On the octopus Reddit forum, my experience isn't unique.
I would strongly advise against getting Octopus to do the install. Get someone local instead
.....
as per above - regularly see folk moaning about the above on both octopus and the two ev forums im a member off for looking after a family members car....
by contrast we had a zappi glo fitted within 3 weeks of enquiry by a local independent
Got a Zappi charger on the new build I’ve just moved in to and very happy with it. Can programme it for scheduled charging and monitor wider household use as well in terms of energy consumption. I’ve set mine up with EON which gives me 7.5p between midnight and 6am which I think is pretty much standard now.
Trying to find out the features and car compatibility of each of the types of charger available seems to be impossible.
I'm looking at a VW or a Skoda and am thinking about getting a Hypervolt Home 3 Pro charger or the Ohme Home Pro on Intelligent Octopus Go.
Now, I can see that the Ohme chargers will read the info from the car and allow settings to be configured in the Ohme app - things like charge to 80% by 4AM or stop when charged to 60% and even cabin preconditioning.
I cannot see any details anywhere of whether or not the Hypervolt will "talk" to the car but my question is is this a problem?
I would imagine the car will have a setting that will stop it charging past a certain point and will handle cabin preconditioning. Presumably it would be easier if all this was in one app so all done via the Hypervolt or Ohme app. Presumably IOG has some useful settings in it also.
Anyone know any answers or have experience of VW/Skoda on either Hypervolt or Ohme via IOG?
If you are on IOG you have to let the octopus app do all the controlling, and effectively set the car and charger to dumb, with no commands coming from either of them.
Ohme website says you lose access to any of the app settings (like being able to lock the charger) if you let IOG control charging..
Are there other ways to integrate with IOG?
Yes. Intelligent Octopus Go can also be integrated with other devices, such as your EV, allowing you to control charging through the Octopus app. However, problems can occur if more than one device is trying to control charging at the same time.
If your Ohme charger is connected to the Ohme app, we’ll create charging schedules based on the information available. However, if you also link your EV directly to the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, Octopus Energy will generate its own charging schedule through your EV. This means both systems will try to manage charging at the same time, which can lead to conflicting schedules. This can result in a failed session where your EV only charges a little or not at all.
If you choose to keep the integration with your EV, you will need to disconnect your Ohme charger from your Ohme app account. This will allow Octopus to manage the schedule independently via your EV, without conflicting with Ohme. However, this will mean you lose access to the Ohme app and its features, such as the security settings and your charging history.
The above suggests to me that the app is the best place to control everything and the Ohme charger will do things like interrupt the charging and only charge in bursts throughout the configured charging period which it has calculated based on the set charging requirement in order to preserve battery life.
Does IOG link with the car API and do all of these things as well?
Anyone know any answers or have experience of VW/Skoda on either Hypervolt or Ohme via IOG?
I have an early Audi with OIG and a Hypervolt. 3. I can use the Audi app for setting charging limits and cabin heating etc and the IOG controls the charging schedule. Not sure if that helps. I can use the Hypervolt app for monitoring charge rate / locking the charger and changing the lighting colours.
@binman I think that if the app is linked to the API from the car manufacturer it will report state of charge and things like that in the Ohme app. Presumably the car's own app will also show that sort of thing and whether or not it is actually charging etc. Does yours do that?
@iainc The Octopus website says the Ohme needs to control the charging:
We’re continuing to develop the integration between Intelligent Octopus Go and Ohme. To get the most out of your charging there's a few important things to note.
- You'll need to use the Ohme app to control your charging; after you've signed up, you’ll see a new devices page in your Octopus app with an option to ‘Go to Ohme’.
- Check your charger is online via the charging screen of the Ohme app. If your charger is offline, you'll be billed at peak rate.
- Ensure Dynamic Charging is on with the amount of charge you’d like to add or the target you want to reach and a Ready by time set for the following morning. Ohme and Octopus will work to charge at the cheapest and greenest times to help you meet your charging goal.
- The Ohme app's price cap feature should be switched off, as all smart charging will be billed at the off-peak rate, even if Ohme has scheduled to charge outside the 23:30-05:30 window.
- To override smart charging and get Ohme to charge as quickly as possible tap Max Charge: Any charge added during a Max Charge in peak times will be billed at the peak rate.
@binman I think that if the app is linked to the API from the car manufacturer it will report state of charge and things like that in the Ohme app. Presumably the car's own app will also show that sort of thing and whether or not it is actually charging etc. Does yours do that?
My car app shows whether it is charging/ rate etc, but I chose to link Octopus IOG to the Hypervolt, so only the Audi app will show state of charge. It has worked well so while i have been tempted to try linking the car, it's not broken, so not tempted to fix it.
Anyone know any answers or have experience of VW/Skoda on either Hypervolt or Ohme via IOG?
I have an early Audi with OIG and a Hypervolt. 3. I can use the Audi app for setting charging limits and cabin heating etc and the IOG controls the charging schedule. Not sure if that helps. I can use the Hypervolt app for monitoring charge rate / locking the charger and changing the lighting colours.
Hypervolt / kia
I have IOG set to charge at 100% all the time and to be ready at departure time 0700 then I use the Kia app to set the charge limit for car be that 80-90-100%
It has worked well so while i have been tempted to try linking the car, it's not broken, so not tempted to fix it.
Any idea if the Hypervolt will actually link to the Audi API or not though?
Interestingly the instructions on the Octopus website for adding the Ohme and the Hypervolt to your IOG account differ slightly. The Ohme instructions tell you that you will need to use the Ohme app to control charging. The Hypervolt instructions just say connect it.
How to connect your Ohme to the Octopus Energy app | Octopus Energy
How to connect your Hypervolt to the Octopus Energy app | Octopus Energy
I'd really like to know which is the best option. I've read a few threads on forums where people are finding that the car hasn't charged because IOG is connected directly to the car and overrides any settings in the car and then doesn't charge at all or does a bit and then stops because the car goes to sleep and IOG can't wake it up. These things don't happen when the charger controls the car as it maintains a control voltage to keep the car awake or something. A lot of these threads are a few years old though so presumably these issues have been resolved...?
Further info...
How do I set up Intelligent Octopus Go? - Ohme EV
If you have a compatible car then during the IOG setup phase it will ask you for your car's login details (rather than your charger account) and in the case of the Ohme charger where it is recommended by Octopus and Ohme to use the charger to control charging you need to fill in this form to ask Octopus to bypass the car login and use the charger instead... IO Go - enable charger option
However I'm still unsure whether it's best to have the charger or the IOG linked to the car's API....
EDIT - Neither of my car options are compatible anyway so charging will be controlled either by the charger (Ohme) or by IOG linked to the charger (Hypervolt).
Still no idea which is the best most reliable option though.
@iainc The Octopus website says the Ohme needs to control the charging:
ah, it has clearly changed in the 6 months since I came off IOG back to their regular EV tariff.
It has worked well so while i have been tempted to try linking the car, it's not broken, so not tempted to fix it.
Any idea if the Hypervolt will actually link to the Audi API or not though?
Ok, just tried removing the Hypervolt and connecting to the car, it seems to have connected to the car using my Audi login but with no option to use the Hypervolt anymore. Can't see the state of charge of the car in the Octopus app, which is disappointing. Will see if it works tomorrow evening as the battery is at 80%.
@binman - I think that during the setup process in the Octopus app you now don't have a choice to setup either a charger or a car. You put in the details of both and if the car is API compatible with IOG then it will connect to the car and as long as the charger is IOG compatible IOG will control the charger output.
So in the case of Ohme what you then have to do if IOG has linked to the car API is to fill in the form to get Octopuss to switch it over so the charger is linked.
For Hypervolt you either need the car to be compatible or use the settings in the car to do things like limit the max charge and then leave IOG putting 100% in always.
What you see to have to do if there is no API integration is tell it how much charge you want to add rather than the charge limit. So if the car is at 50% and you want it to be 80% you have to tell IOG to add 30%.
I would be interested to know if once you have added an API compatible car in the Octopus app whether or not it allows you to say "charge to 80% each time it's plugged in" instead of having to keep changing the percentage needed depending on how much charge is already in
Presumably if you have a Hypervolt and a car that doesn't have API integration you would say to IOG add 100% and set a charge limit in the car itself of 80%. This runs the risk of it not working out when to charge though I would imagine as it will think it needs to add 100% in 6 hours rather than say 40% (because you plugged it in at 40% and you want 80%).
Now you have added the car can you tell Octopus to charge to 80% or do you have to tell it how much to add?
[quote data-userid="120893" data-postid="13684145"
Now you have added the car can you tell Octopus to charge to 80% or do you have to tell it how much to add?
I think it has changed as it used to ask how much to add.
@binman Yep - that looks correct. Octopus has linked with your car's API. Thanks for testing and posting that. It would seem that the car I am after (PHEV) is not supported by IOG but potentially it is supported by Ohme in which case if I want a fit and forget "charge to 80%" profile then I will need an Ohme charger and will need to use their app to manage this. The Ohme chatbot says the Volkswagen API is available but I'd like confirmation from Ohme as Octopus also support VWs, just not any PHEVs by the looks of it. Ohme could be similar....
[quote data-userid="120893" data-postid="13684145"
Now you have added the car can you tell Octopus to charge to 80% or do you have to tell it how much to add?
I think it has changed as it used to ask how much to add.
I have IOG set to charge at 100% all the time and to be ready at departure time 0700 then I use the Kia app to set the charge limit for car be that 80-90-100%
I find this way easier as you don't have to work out % on the Ollie app. This was how I was told to do it by Octopus.
I have IOG set to charge at 100% all the time and to be ready at departure time 0700 then I use the Kia app to set the charge limit for car be that 80-90-100%
Assume that you have your charger set in IOG rather than the car? I have them set to control the car and set the target SOC in the Octopus app as shown by binman.
With VW there are a couple of things to be aware of. First if you've set your home as a charging location with a schedule you'll need to delete that because it will override IOGs control. Second is to disable "battery care mode" if you'll be charging over 80%. That's a setting that resets the charge target to 80% after charging, but if IOG breaks the charge into chunks it will reset to 80% after the first chunk and you won't get the 90/100% you wanted.
Oh and what I do is to plug the car in then tap "stop charging" on the screen. That means I'm not paying peak rate (or getting my home battery hammered) for the 5mins or whatever that it takes octopus to register the car and set up its schedule.
@thepurist - what charger do you have? Also is your VW a full EV or a PHEV?
Hypervolt and full EV
So - I rang Ohme today and they said that ALL VWs had API access BUT and it's a big BUT - it often goes off for weeks at a time because VW (and many other manufacturers) block API access (or throttle it or prioritise their cars or something) but it's a regular occurrence (it's off currently and has been for weeks) and Ohme can't do anything about it. Id be interested to know if people who have cars linked directly to Octopus like @binman have similar outages. Not that that helps me as my car will be a PHEV most likely and the model isn't currently API linked by IOG.
I think that probably the Hypervolt may be the charger I go for on that basis as it looks smarter (pun intended!) and the API features are potentially useless.
it often goes off for weeks at a time because VW (and many other manufacturers) block API access (or throttle it or prioritise their cars or something) but it's a regular occurrence (it's off currently and has been for weeks)
I use Home Assistant to connect to my car and it's generally OK but there have been 2 short outages in the past couple of weeks. Maybe a different end point to the one Ohme use, but certainly not my experience.
I think I might use the Hypervolt via an ultra EV cable with ethernet also and just connect up three pairs (using the 4th pair for the CT clamp) apart from it only being 100Mbs with only three pairs I can't see that being an issue - hopefully it works as I have poor WiFi outside where the charger needs to go. Otherwise it's back to the Ohme as that uses 4G...
I’m just about to pull the trigger on octopus intel go and one of their fitted ohme chargers to charge my Skoda kodiaq hybrid. The Skoda cannot work directly with octopus so I need a charger that can. Seems to make sense to me to go with one that octopus supply in case of any compatibility issues later on?
@burko73 - how are you finding this combo? One of my shortlist is a Skoda hybrid...
ive had IOG with Hypervolt pro 3 and a mini countryman E for 2 weeks- the octopus guy who did the installation tested that the octopus app would do 'boost' but little else and I think tbh walked away as quickly as possible. I had no end of issues with the charge beginning during a cheap peak period and not cutting off, also it seemed once the octopus generated the charge schedule, only the first charge period would work. Did some research and found that the BMW API seemed to be causing issues, so removed and reinstalled the octopus app, linking it to the charger but selecting an MG (unsupported) from the car selection list. After doing this, an octopus mode icon has appeared on the hypervolt app and it seems to reliably generate a charging plan and switch the charger on and off a the correct times.
API car connectivity needs to be a LOT better IMO. I suspect the way to go is IOG compatible charger and let IOG manage the charging. Presumably you just plug in when you are done for the day and let IOG sort it out by telling it to add 100% (regardless of how much is actually in the car) so that it will just attempt to do that and then be forced to stop when the car is full. PHEV doesn't need to be limited to 80% apparently as the battery is small so it can just be left to go to 100% all the time anyway.
Presumably you just plug in when you are done for the day and let IOG sort it out by telling it to add 100% (regardless of how much is actually in the car) so that it will just attempt to do that and then be forced to stop when the car is full.
I think its against IOG's terms to always try to get to 100% when you don't need it. I just look at the battery gauge when parking up and adjust how much I need to get to 80% in app and what time I need it by. Takes a few seconds and doesn't game the IOG charging schedule.
@binman Yep - that looks correct. Octopus has linked with your car's API. Thanks for testing and posting that. It would seem that the car I am after (PHEV) is not supported by IOG but potentially it is supported by Ohme in which case if I want a fit and forget "charge to 80%" profile then I will need an Ohme charger and will need to use their app to manage this. The Ohme chatbot says the Volkswagen API is available but I'd like confirmation from Ohme as Octopus also support VWs, just not any PHEVs by the looks of it. Ohme could be similar....
I can confirm that it failed to charge overnight. It moved it from 40% to 60% in accordance with the charging plan during the evening, but not up to 80% overnight.
I can confirm that it failed to charge overnight. It moved it from 40% to 60% in accordance with the charging plan during the evening, but not up to 80% overnight.
Was that plan set in your car/Hypervolt app? If so then you need to disable all that.
I think its against IOG's terms to always try to get to 100% when you don't need it. I just look at the battery gauge when parking up and adjust how much I need to get to 80% in app and what time I need it by. Takes a few seconds and doesn't game the IOG charging schedule.
Someone in one of these threads said that that was what Octopus told them to do when there was no API integration. Also on a PHEV you want 100% charge most of the time as the range is a lot less. Additionally you will not be asking for 40kW, or whatever, as the battery will only be 20kW, or whatever. Presumably Octopus understands this. It’s no different really than me saying I want to add 60% charge when it’s already at 50%. Octopus have no way of knowing what the current state of charge is , they will just be calculating how many kWh that is based on what they think the battery capacity is for the model you selected when you set up IOG.
Someone in one of these threads said that that was what Octopus told them to do when there was no API integration.
I thought you needed API integration to be on IOG? I guess with smaller hybrid batteries Octopus aren't as bothered as you're not asking for 60 or 70kWh overnight so they don't need to schedule it so carefully.
I thought you needed API integration to be on IOG?
No, either the car or the charger needs to be linked to IOG. If there is no API access for the car you can still use IOG if you have a compatible charger.
I think its against IOG's terms to always try to get to 100% when you don't need it.
How do they know I don't need it? Do I need to submit a route map of the day ahead
Over 700 posts about charging an electric car. Shouldn’t it just be “plug it in, unplug when finished”? It looks very complicated and has certainly discouraged me from using one.
I can confirm that it failed to charge overnight. It moved it from 40% to 60% in accordance with the charging plan during the evening, but not up to 80% overnight.
Was that plan set in your car/Hypervolt app? If so then you need to disable all that.
No plan set in car or on Hypervolt, the Octopus app was controlling the car.
Over 700 posts about charging an electric car. Shouldn’t it just be “plug it in, unplug when finished”? It looks very complicated and has certainly discouraged me from using one.
It is easy for me, not sure what others are doing that they are having issues. I plug into the car, set the amount of charge I want in the app and it does its thing.
@binnman can you set the octopus at 100% and set your car at whatever charge you want? My Hypervolt is controlled by Octopus not the car
No plan set in car or on Hypervolt, the Octopus app was controlling the car.
Yes but if you had any settings on the app/car then it messes with Octopus even though Octopus is controlling the car. Even things like the charge limit set on the car for example.
@binnman can you set the octopus at 100% and set your car at whatever charge you want? My Hypervolt is controlled by Octopus not the car
That's what @binman was doing - he then switched it, and linked OIG to the API of the car. He should have been able to set the "charge to x%" rather than "add x%" which was done as per the screenshot - except it didn't work!
@binnman can you set the octopus at 100% and set your car at whatever charge you want? My Hypervolt is controlled by Octopus not the car
That's what @binman was doing - he then switched it, and linked OIG to the API of the car. He should have been able to set the "charge to x%" rather than "add x%" which was done as per the screenshot - except it didn't work!
On his screenshot he has the car (Audi in his screenshot) controlling the charger rather than the charger (hypervolt in my screenshot) controlling the charge
Over 700 posts about charging an electric car. Shouldn’t it just be “plug it in, unplug when finished”? It looks very complicated and has certainly discouraged me from using one.
I've got 2 EVs and a pretty dumb charger, there's a phenomenal amount of unnecessary overthinking on this thread!
It is fairly simple really, get an Octopus compatible charger, link the charger to Octopus and let the charger switch on and off when the electricity is cheap. Set the max charge level in the car app and let it control when to stop charging. I just set mine up to charge to 80% as recommended to protect the battery. Once all that was setup, took an hour 5 months ago all I do now is plug in when I get home and unplug when I go out.
That's what it used to look like, but it won't let me revert to this setting.