Intelligent Octopus and Cupra

[mangobay]

I’m using OI with the Born too and I’m very happy with it.
To be honest I have got a bit fed up with the intelligent part so have optioned the car as a dumb device and now I just use the cars timer to access the 6 hour discount window.

It’s really helpful to have the discounted rate for the wheelie household at that time.

[Dalgal]

I’m on IO and I’m using the octopus app to control the charging. So far (4th charge now) it’s gone smoothly. I plug-in when I get home, stop the charge on the Cupra app and then let octopus set the charge schedule.

[BornSean]

Just ordered our Born and switched to Octopus, we have solar panels with battery storage, ordered our Zappi off Octopus as well, so hopefully any excess can go towards the car now instead of back to the grid.

Just like to thank one of the forum members on here for the referral link. I will thank him when I get to 5 posts.

[RKJM30]

I am finding IO great and it works provided Cupra keep their backend online (updating their certificates seems to be an issue). Regarding using a smart charger with solar capability and IO, the system logic does not work well. There are additional logic quirks when using battery storage with smart charger in solar mode.

The IO logic issue: In IO logic, Octopus sends a stop charge command to the car, so if the smart charger makes surplus Solar power available to the car, the car won’t start charging because it has been told to stop.

The solar surplus issue: Assuming the car has been told to charge after Octopus has sent its stop command, when there is surplus solar power the smart charger recognises this when the CT clamp sees power being exported. The smart charger then charges at the rate of the export it sees. If more power is exported (I.E. the solar power increases) then the smart charger increases its output to the car to reduce the export back to zero. The problem comes when the sun goes in (behind a cloud for example) and the battery takes on the “house” load. In this case the “House” load includes the power being sent to the car. The smart charger does not see any reversal of the exported power, which is what would be expected if there were no battery, so it does not reduce its output. The end result is that the battery gets drained when the sun goes in (or when it sets).

The only solution I have found to this is using a home assistant running on a raspberry Pi with some automations to work around each of the issues above.

[sunpower]

I recommend ditching the idea of charging your car from solar panels, just get a SEG agreement from Scottish Power who will pay more /KWHr than Octopus charge at night time. Makes life so much simpler as you can let your house export as much as possible, even when it's just a low rate due to clouds / low sun etc, and charge your car at 7KW at night time for less. So effectively you get a gain over the maximum electricity you could have exported. It does feel wrong to do it this way, and not use the solar power directly to charge the EV, but I find the efficiency of charging an EV at low rates is quite poor and worse, if you use too much "sun" to charge your car, you may end up paying "full daytime rate" to run your home, which totally ruins the point. Given the unpredictability of UK weather I find this a far simpler solution.

[Bunnyiam]

I am with you sunpower, I made the same decision last week.
I have Solar charged my car with just over 1000kw (zero cost) this year which I thought was great.
However, I would have been £75 better off if I exported that 1000kw @15p (Octopus Fixed 12 month) and IO charged my car @ 7.5p.
I am really impressed with IO, its easy to use, works well and hasn't failed me yet.

[pacajara]

Intelligent Octopus is working very well for me with charge scheduling (First month in) it charges for a couple of minutes when you first connect, which I don't think you get charged for, then it decides when it will complete your overnight charge generally in the 11.30pm to 5.30am window, it can be outside these times, but always at your off peak rate of 7.5 pence. A little bonus, if you google "Cupra Octopus Referral" you get a nice little referral code providing you have the invoice number from the purchase of your car. Alternatively, if you would like me to send you a referral link, please get in touch and we both get £50 credit on our accounts. Good luck and happy charging. Cupra Born V2 58kW.

[Born1978]

Does Intelligent Octopus still save you money if you don't charge that often?
The daytime rate is slightly higher to make up for the cheap rates so if you don't use enough at the nighttime rate you lose out I think. Anyone using it that doesn't charge very often (less than once a week)?
I'm on a standard tariff with EDF at 30.89p per kWh but IO's daytime rate is 31.21p - not much difference I know but I guess it can add up.

[dickyp]

I think you have to crunch your own numbers on the effect.
For me I switched to Octo and my day rate was 0.0177p per kw more so based on my std use without car was £59 a year more. However you save that back by delay start on washing machine and dishwasher to run in the cheap zone. Also the standing charge was lower with Octo so a small saving there as well.

Running the car saves me £1200 per year as well.

[Born1978]

I think you have to crunch your own numbers on the effect.
For me I switched to Octo and my day rate was 0.0177p per kw more so based on my std use without car was £59 a year more. However you save that back by delay start on washing machine and dishwasher to run in the cheap zone. Also the standing charge was lower with Octo so a small saving there as well.

Running the car saves me £1200 per year as well.

Thanks for that, it makes sense. I'll do some calculations.
I did some reading up and have just switched to Octopus anyway, will be on Flexible Octopus initially. Both standing and hourly rates are lower than my current provider so I'm already slightly better off.