Octopus Go Charging

[Dougall1248]

My wife has a Kona EV and I have a M3LR. We charge with a Rolec charger on Octopus Go. The Kona is a joy. You only put in start charge at 12.30 and stop at 4.30 and ready to leave whenever you want. Hey presto the car is charged at the right time, stopped at the right time and ready to leave at the right time. The Tesla can only behave properly if you want to leave at 4.30am otherwise you will get a big electricity bill. I have used TeslaFi and it works up to a point but not nearly as neatly as the Kona. Energy ev app is poor and since my pod is tethered I don't want to spend hundreds on new leads like Zappi and I don't see why I should have to pay for 3rd party apps to do what seems very simple on a Hyundai. Surely it is not beyond the software geniuses at Tesla to put a simple on/off timer into the charging infrastructure.

 

[Adopado]

My wife has a Kona EV and I have a M3LR. We charge with a Rolec charger on Octopus Go. The Kona is a joy. You only put in start charge at 12.30 and stop at 4.30 and ready to leave whenever you want. Hey presto the car is charged at the right time, stopped at the right time and ready to leave at the right time. The Tesla can only behave properly if you want to leave at 4.30am otherwise you will get a big electricity bill. I have used TeslaFi and it works up to a point but not nearly as neatly as the Kona. Energy ev app is poor and since my pod is tethered I don't want to spend hundreds on new leads like Zappi and I don't see why I should have to pay for 3rd party apps to do what seems very simple on a Hyundai. Surely it is not beyond the software geniuses at Tesla to put a simple on/off timer into the charging infrastructure.

You can put in approximately 28kWh in the 4 hour window. You just work out what that means in percentage for your car. Set the car to commence charging at 12.30m with the charge percentage limited to that number (in the car or with the Tesla app). One you know your maximum in the 4 hour window you hardly have to think about it. I still do that even though I could control it from the Zappi.

 

[GRiLLA]

Set your charge limit on the Tesla to be 40% more than it is currently using the handy mobile app.

 

[Jason71]

Set your charge limit on the Tesla to be 40% more than it is currently using the handy mobile app.

I always go 38% to be safe.

 

[Dougall1248]

Set your charge limit on the Tesla to be 40% more than it is currently using the handy mobile app.

I tried that but when I set departure at 8.30 it didn't start charging until 4.30am even though I had stipulated 12.30. I didn't notice until I looked at my smart meter. When I got the tesla I could not believe it wouldn't do a simple on/off task.

 

[Dougall1248]

You can put in approximately 28kWh in the 4 hour window. You just work out what that means in percentage for your car. Set the car to commence charging at 12.30m with the charge percentage limited to that number (in the car or with the Tesla app). One you know your maximum in the 4 hour window you hardly have to think about it. I still do that even though I could control it from the Zappi.

I get all your kind replies and have tried and failed to get the car to charge between 12.30 and 4.30 AND be ready for departure at 8.30 without getting out of bed or remembering to set departure half an hour before I leave. The Kona will do that by itself all week without any intervention other that plugging it in.

 

[Jason71]

I tried that but when I set departure at 8.30 it didn't start charging until 4.30am even though I had stipulated 12.30. I didn't notice until I looked at my smart meter. When I got the tesla I could not believe it wouldn't do a simple on/off task.

that approach is not compatible with scheduled departure. It only works with scheduled charge start

 

[Dougall1248]

that approach is not compatible with scheduled departure. It only works with scheduled charge start

That is my point. It should be surely.

 

[Jason71]

I get all your kind replies and have tried and failed to get the car to charge between 12.30 and 4.30 AND be ready for departure at 8.30 without getting out of bed or remembering to set departure half an hour before I leave. The Kona will do that by itself all week without any intervention other that plugging it in.

Sadly there is no way to set it to charge specifically between 2 times AND have a scheduled departure time for preheat without using 3rd party solutions of which there are many. As Donald Trump would say. It is what it is.

 

[Jason71]

I don't think they have quite the same as Octopus Go in the US. If you put it on scheduled departure I think what it does is assume the power is cheap overnight and try to do the charging then to finish by 6am I think on the basis that that is when the cheap rate is ( its in the manual). Then pre heat as required. Unfortunately that is not how it works for most of us in the UK so it is trying to be too clever rather than let us choose and it does not work. I'm sure it's on the backlog somewhere to improve one day

 

[Adopado]

That is my point. It should be surely.

why would you set departure at 8.30 if you want the charge to end at 4.30?

 

[Adopado]

That is my point. It should be surely.

Given that these kind of features can change with over the air software up dates I suppose it could be modified in the future .. at least you have some hope!

 

[Jason71]

why would you set departure at 8.30 if you want the charge to end at 4.30?

He wants charging to start at 0:30 stop at 4:30 but he wants to depart at 8:30 so he wants to preheat at that time.

 

[Jeeves]

ev.energy

 

[Medved_77]

ev.energy

Just not right now...

 

[Dougall1248]

why would you set departure at 8.30 if you want the charge to end at 4.30?

I want to charge up till 4.30 because it is cheap until then but don't want to leave until 8.30

 

[Dougall1248]

ev.energy

Ev.energy is really not great. I got Teslafi to do what I wanted but it is far from as neat as the Kona. Also I understand Tesla is now blocking 3rd party apps.
Let's get this in proportion. The Kona doesn't even have a phone app. The Tesla can drive itself, do wonders with sentry mode and lock itself when i walk away but it can't do a very simple timing function. Is there a way to press for this in a future update?

 

[Medved_77]

Ev.energy is really not great

It's a shame you don't like it. I think it's really clever and has been extremely reliable at charging my car at the cheapest possible rates with Octopus Agile.

 

[Dougall1248]

It's a shame you don't like it. I think it's really clever and has been extremely reliable at charging my car at the cheapest possible rates with Octopus Agile.

Thanks. Perhaps I should give it another try. The main problem is getting the car prepared in the morning in spite of stopping charge at 4.30. Winter is coming.

 

[Dougall1248]

It's a shame you don't like it. I think it's really clever and has been extremely reliable at charging my car at the cheapest possible rates with Octopus Agile.

Just tried ev.energy again. Couldn't connect to charger and listed my last charges at several locations I have never been to. I think it needs a Zappi or OHME or perhaps Tesla has blocked it as well as TeslaFi.