The Electric Car Thread

Pressing N usually leaves invertors and motors “live”. You’ll still get eddy currents, depending on what car, you might have roll away and autobraking functions active as well. Can also have weird effects in an AWD if on a suspended tow.

Most manufacturers have tow modes either in progress or in volume already.

Has any switched to Octopus intelligent while using a 3 pin charger?

I am currently on Octopus agile but the rates have been really poor recently. I usually just plug car in when it’s a home apart from 4pm to 7.30pm as rate are always above the price cap price then

My car is compatible while Octopus intelligent but is there a max amount of time it will let me charge at 7.5p for? If I am only going to get 6 hours I think I would be better staying on agile

You get 6 hours guaranteed. But usually end up getting longer once IO has decided when to charge. In my experience it’s rare not to get as much charge as you need in a night.
In fairness 6 hours per day = 150 miles or so per day so you’d need to be driving a lot for this not to be enough.

Thanks for the reply, sorry should of made it clearer than I am currently using a granny charger so require more than 6 hours charging most nights

They’ve been doing some promo video work and pictures of this in town the last couple of days. At a casual glance it looks very smart. Not the greatest of names though!

https://www.mgcyberster.co.uk/

Agile tariff for me when I get my EV.

I’ll take the occasional 15pkwh and offset it against all the times it goes below 7.5pkwh and negative.

I’ll be maxing out on cheap electric house heating as well this winter.

Above 7.5pkwh I’ll consider using gas.

If I’m at home during the evening I might light the 🔥 🔥 .

This could be my cheapest winter yet apart from the EV cost. 🤔

@subduedsupernova that’s probably your issue, the slow charging. I know Agile prices haven’t been great of late, but I’m still managing to average 6.63p/kWh Car and 13.01p/kWh house so far 1st-15th June on Agile tariff, but that will be because I can zap the car to full in the very few occasions it’s been really cheap. It might be worth investing in faster charging,  could you get a charger installed at the very least a commando socket installed and buy a type2 to commando socket cable? I’m pretty certain they can be 7.2kw or is installing some form of charger completely out of the question?

Has any switched to Octopus intelligent while using a 3 pin charger?

I’ll gets that the answer is no.

You need a charger (and car) that is smart and controllable by octopus to use their io tariff.

How many miles are you doing a day? Could you start charging at 8pm for the typical 24pkwh or less all the way through to 0500 when prices start to rise on agile?

9hrs times 2.2kw hopefully should equal over 15kw which should give you 45 miles.

My other half with the Corsa e has all the fast home charging capability but only drives 10 miles a day. Which isn’t with the expenditure. But it does give her the simplicity of plugging in and forgetting about it.

I could get a charger installed but it will take a long time to pay back for the £1000 investment so trying to avoid for now.

I believe it’s only the car or charger that needs to be compatible and my car is. My mileage varys day to day and that is pretty much what I am doing but feel the price isn’t dropping enough especially to offset the 36p ish peak time charge which I still need to use some electricity for dinner etc

Salad for dinner 😉

You need a charger (and car) that is smart

I think @subduedsupernova is right, it’s car OR charger. However I’m not sure if 7kW charging is mandated. Best thing to do is ask Octopus, they are good.

Also you can get a dumb charger for £350 these days.

I can’t select my car and 3 pin charger on octopus website and its listed as compatible, I am more curious about how many hours I will get at the reduced rate

What car is it?

2024 Audi Q4

I put Audi Q4 and “no charger (3-pin)” into the website and it says it’s compatible.

Not sure how it would schedule charging itself though. With my Ohme the charger creates the schedule which varies all through the night.

I checked Octopus with a compatible car (i4) and a 3 pin charger.
That combo is acceptable, and would actually work – the off peak team is enough to charge my 80kW.hr battery to full each week, and would actually cover the majority of my use as the car slowly charges through he weekday nights ready for the weekend.

I’m going to an EV event at the main dealer later. IDK if it’s a ‘lecture’ or a sales promo (suspect the latter really) but it’s been billed as answering all the questions I may have about EVs. I’ve got a load of info from this thread but any specifics you want me to ask about. On the list is definitely how home charging and different energy tariffs work.

On the list is definitely how home charging and different energy tariffs work.

In all honesty, the dealership probably won’t have all the knowledge on this, at least compared to the well established FB groups etc..

I think the most basic thing to appreciate is that all ‘fuel’ (i.e electricity) for the car is the same, regardless on how it’s delivered.. The thing that changes is the delivery speed and cost. From either very fast, to very slow. And whether it cost £2 or 6p per kWh of ‘fuel’, it’s no better or worse.

Thus, figure out how fast you’ll need the fuel delivered on a regular basis, and work from there.

As some have posted above – some people can happily tolerate charging V slowly (via the 3 pin wall plug, which deliveres about 2.4 kW/hr) as they probably top up the car daily, overnight.

I’ve an EV wall charger that deliveres 7kW/hr… therefore it’ll fill the car up faster, AND will intergrate with octopus to allow a cheaper EV tarrif.

The two options above are all you need to really know about HOME charging.

Fast charging (i.e BIIIG cabled motorway chargers) is only really relevent when topping up on longer journeys.

For me, i don’t really get bogged down by how much this’ll cost (tip – it’s pointlessly expensive!!!) because my useage of motorway charging is SOOOO rare, that it’s just a cost I’m accepting of.

DrP

Sometimes it’s cheap , sometimes it’s expensive so charge when it’s cheap via a smart charger? They may not be able to comment on particular electricity contracts

Main dealer for which brand?  I’d ask VW very different questions to Hyundai for example

Test driving a Leaf later. I had one years ago on a 7 day trial and I liked it then but range anxiety was a thing. Fully charged it was less than 100 miles on the dash and my wife drove it to work (winter) the next day, only a 40 odd mile round trip however it was a perfect storm, heavy rain, bitterly cold and a diversion on the way home… She arrived home with plenty in reserve but said she was getting nervous… it was the shorter range model.

Fast forward a few years and we have Solar, home battery and an ASHP but still an ICE vehicle. I am retired and Mrs Surfer only goes into the office 1 day every few weeks so our mileage is quite low. Also have a T6 which we will keep forever hopefully. Our circumstances seem perfect for an EV but our car is a C class estate which is ace and perfect for our 2 dogs. Mrs Surfer reluctant to change to a car that is not as plush inside or offers the practicality of an estate. I dont want an SUV and the MG estate is a nice drive but again cant compare to the C class interior so many of the options are a difficult sell. Hopefully the Leaf will be practical enough. We would buy second hand, maybe a couple of years old.

It’s Kia, fwiw

Hopefully picking up an ID.5 this week so just looking at getting a charger for home to use with Octopus, I would need a 10-12m long cable to get past the top bit of the drive if there is another car parked up there. Any issues with an untethered charger and a long cable?

I’ve an EV wall charger that deliveres 7kW/hr

No, you have a charger that delivers 7kW.  If you run it for an hour, it will have put 7kWh into your car, of which only about 6.5kWh will have stuck.

I had one years ago on a 7 day trial and I liked it then but range anxiety was a thing. Fully charged it was less than 100 miles on the dash and my wife drove it to work (winter) the next day, only a 40 odd mile round trip however it was a perfect storm, heavy rain, bitterly cold and a diversion on the way home… She arrived home with plenty in reserve but said she was getting nervous… it was the shorter range model.

Very different story now. Our Hyundai (just as cheap as a Leaf and a much better car IMO) has fully accurate range indicator and only drops about 10% in winter.  A modern Leaf is better than the older one you had before (presumably the 30kWh version) but still ultimately the same tech.  Before you buy it get yourself behind the wheel of an Ioniq Electric, a Kona or an e-Niro.

Any issues with an untethered charger and a long cable?

Not AFAIK – the fact they sell long ones suggests it’s ok.  The cable on the granny charger that came with my Leaf was nearly that long IIRC.

Any issues with an untethered charger and a long cable?

Just don’t use it coiled up, it’ll get hot. Make a snake.

No, you have a charger that delivers 7kW.  If you run it for an hour, it will have put 7kWh into your car, of which only about 6.5kWh will have stuck.

Sigh…i mean, it’s as good as 7kW in an hour!! And if we’re being totally anal about it… what rate it actually delivers is totally dependant on other leccy useage in the house and the state of charge of the car… But I guess, for a brief intro into the whole EV world, what I ACTUALLY said was good enough and likely understood adequately..

Drp

My opinion: Getting kW and kWh mixed up doesn’t help people who aren’t scientifically literate  If I were saying miles when I meant miles per hour I’m sure I’d get called up on it; or if you wanted to inject someone with three square centimetres of some drug or other :)

Before you buy it get yourself behind the wheel of an Ioniq Electric, a Kona or an e-Niro.

Mate has a Kona, loves it. Not really a fan of the Ioniq, ex boss had one and good car but just didn’t like the look. One thing that I like about the Leaf is the V2H option which may be useful for us.

Yes that is nice however I think you need a special charger for it and I think only Octopus offer the service.

It’s not the only car that is capable of this but I think it’s the only supported option in the UK currently and the Leaf is probably the only cheaper car that can do it.

Ioniq Premium SE is the only car I have heard of outside luxury brands (and then only top spec models) that has ventilated seats!

One thing that I like about the Leaf is the V2H option which may be useful for us.

Does support still exist to actually do this, though? It requires special chargers which iirc aren’t normally available, I think they’re still just part of a few trials that have knocked about over the years.

Does support still exist to actually do this, though?

Mm it’s actually V2G not V2H but: https://octopus.energy/power-pack/

I think you need a special charger for it and I think only Octopus offer the service.

You are right and more than that, they only support a V2H charger that is no longer available. I suspect it will become more popular and having at least a car that supports it is the important thing. I am surprised it hasn’t taken off more given the popularity of home batteries.

Mm it’s actually V2G not V2H but

The Leaf supports both but the Octopus deal only the former.

A month or so into our Model Y ownership, for our typical weekly usage we could easily manage without a 7kWh charger but find with the tariff reduction and some shifts in our home usage patterns to take advantage of the low rate for 5 hours over night, our power costs are about the same as without the EV and the previous non-EV tariff.. ie. ‘free’ fuel… time will tell.

Popped down to Whitstable this weekend for an afternoon by the sea, 120 odd miles round trip for 27kWh at 9p/kWh..

Total convert here, would never go back to an ICE car (we still have an old manual petrol campervan).

Ioniq Premium SE is the only car I have heard of outside luxury brands (and then only top spec models) that has ventilated seats!

.

The top spec Niro and eNiro have it too, I would expect that all the Kia/Hyundia line would probably be the same but just a guess (my dad’s MHEV Niro has them).

(we still have an old manual petrol campervan).

Same as us plus Mrs Surfer likes the Model Y as it is an estate, as oppose to the Model 3 which is not great for the dogs. Still a bit spendy for me on the 2nd hand market but as we have solar etc and do shortish trips, having it on charge regularly is easy for us and we use the camper anyway when we do our longer trips.

I’m planning a trip and I’d like to choose a hotel where I can charge my car. I assumed that I’d be able to filter for that on booking.com, but no. So much for the energy transition. Is there a resource to find hotels with EV charging, or do I just have to guess ?

Good question. There’s an opening for an app that combines zap map and booking.com.

EDIT Zapmap are already on it: https://www.zap-map.com/ev-guides/hotels-with-electric-car-charging-points-what-where-who

You can filter for EV charging on booking.com and Airbnb.

You might need to contact the operator/owner to confirm the actual charging arrangements.

My opinion: Getting kW and kWh mixed up doesn’t help people who aren’t scientifically literate

I’m with you. I’m naturally pedantic but I see people on other forums get hopelessly confused about this which is actually pretty simple. No wonder folk get in a muddle with their electricity bills.

Ioniq 5 arriving for a week today. Will see how it compares to the EV6.
Tested an ID4 single motor, it felt unbearably slow. Having a tesla really has created a proper first world problem 🤦🏻‍♂️.

You can filter for EV charging on booking.com and Airbnb.

You’re right – what can I say – I’m blind :-(

(Surprisingly few Cambridge hotels with EV charging at the affordable end of the spectrum)