Octopus Plans and renewals

[mosraza]

Nope

You're not charging at 1kWh, you'll be charging at between 7 and 8 kWh.

Ahhh so if I’m getting 7kWh it’ll be:

16.03p x 7 and 0.055p x 7 etc. More like £10-12 ish?

The issue that I would highlight is that charging at home from 0 to 100 (or nearly 0 to 100) is so rare for most of us that it could be discounted as a useful example. I have had my car for 2 years and have never done that. On the few occasions that I have charged to near 100% it was charging from probably half full and I can easily do that within 4 hours. This means that for my SR+ my charging is all within my 5p/kWh cheap hours bar a handfull of extras that probably only comes to a few quid a year. (However your calculation doesn't make sense anyway 72kWh even at 5p is £3.60 and if you managed to squeeze it into you own 5 hour 5.5p/kWh it would be £3.96 ... yet you seem to be suggesting charging outside your cheap rate ...?)

Yeah my plan is to get all my charging done within the 5 hour period. I was just trying to figure out the cost for a full charge which would obviously have to include some off peak and peak charging rates.

 

[btc1k]

Nope

You're not charging at 1kWh, you'll be charging at between 7 and 8 kWh.

What he said.

Those prices are per kWh so you need to multiply them by the number of kW you are putting into the car (dependent on your charger), at the time you are doing it.

If you've 5 hours charging on a 7kw charger (7.5kw x 5 hrs = 37.5kw @ 5.5p = £2.06
Then assuming your LR battery is 75kw capacity.
You'll need another 37.5 kWh to fill it, at your peak rate of 16p per kWh = £6.

Total cost for a full battery maximising one off peak period and rest in peak (i,e 0 to 100% in one go), would be £8.06, for that example.

 

[btc1k]

For my Octopus Go (4hr period) at 5p, with peak at 15p, for my LR, the costs look like this:

Full battery (off peak only) = £3.75
Full battery (peak only) = £10.73

Full battery (one off peak period and rest in peak) = £8.25

In reality, 95%+ of my own charging is all done in the off-peak periods, adding 40% each time which works for me just fine.

 

[mosraza]

Unfortunately not. You'll be charging at around 7kWh - so it is 7 x 16.03p for each hour.

In reality, you won't be charging from 0% to 100%. I have Octopus Go and charge almost every night using the 4 hours at 5ppu. I have the charger set not to charge above 5.1ppu, and this looks after everything. The only other thing I change is the charge level in the car between 90% and 100% depending on what I'm doing the next day.

4 hours charging at 7kW puts in between 38% and 40% charge on a M3LR. If I don't have any long trips, I just use this to charge up over a couple of nights to get me to 90%. Works well for me and I've covered 12K miles in 3.5 months.

4 hours charging to give 40% charge uplift at 5ppu is £1.40 per session. This gives me 110 to 140 miles - so around 1 pence per mile.

This makes more sense. Thank you.
First time owning an EV, so I take it it’s not good to charge it to 100%? I see a lot of people set the limit to 80% or is this because the final 20% trickle charges and takes longer, costing more money?
I have a home charge unit (bp chargemaster , now called pulse) but I get free charging a 10 minute walk from my house.

 

[btc1k]

Explains it succinctly under "Charging Habits" here

Range Tips

 

[Adopado]

First time owning an EV, so I take it it’s not good to charge it to 100%? I see a lot of people set the limit to 80% or is this because the final 20% trickle charges and takes longer, costing more money?

It's good for battery longevity to only charge to 100% when you really need to. Frequent charging to 90% is fine and 80% is fine if you don't need more. Top it back up to 90% and don't wait for it to get low ... little and often works well so you always have some decent range onboard without having to think about charging during the day. There is little slowdown for charging when charging at the speeds you can do at home so that "final 20%" thing only applies at Superchargers or other DC rapids. The convenience of home charging for most of us trumps a free public option. It's cheap to charge at home anyway but the other issue is that some people have no choice but to use the public chargers so you are potentially taking up their only option.

 

[Dilly]

There was a post recently by someone on a single rate tariff. Their cost equated to 4p per mile which in the grand scheme of things is still pretty cheap.

 

[Jagdipa]

There was a post recently by someone on a single rate tariff. Their cost equated to 4p per mile which in the grand scheme of things is still pretty cheap.

I am still on a single rate of 15p, and getting around 4.1p per mile. But I need to renew at the end of September and all the prices have gone up substantially (about 25% to 20p per kWh), so I if I stay on single tariff, it would go up to about 5-6p per mile. Still much better than ICE cars, but I will be changing octopus go.

 

[GRiLLA]

This makes more sense. Thank you.
First time owning an EV, so I take it it’s not good to charge it to 100%? I see a lot of people set the limit to 80% or is this because the final 20% trickle charges and takes longer, costing more money?
I have a home charge unit (bp chargemaster , now called pulse) but I get free charging a 10 minute walk from my house.

The answer depends on which version, the SR+ has a different battery and is recommended to be charged to 100% at least once a week, the LR and Performance the recommendation is to charge to not more than 90% unless you are about to go on a long trip and need the full range.

However, as others are suggesting as you move to an EV it's best not to think of it like a tank of petrol where you would only fill up once the warning light comes on. If you can charge at home just plug it in every night and schedule it to start charging with the 5p rate. In 5 hours you could add about 50% of the battery, so 100-150 miles, what is your average mileage per day? If you do have a longer trip you could catch back up over a couple of nights. I only ever charge at the 5p rate, and would use that in your calculation of charge.

 

[GRiLLA]

It's good for battery longevity to only charge to 100% when you really need to. Frequent charging to 90% is fine and 80% is fine if you don't need more. Top it back up to 90% and don't wait for it to get low ... little and often works well so you always have some decent range onboard without having to think about charging during the day. There is little slowdown for charging when charging at the speeds you can do at home so that "final 20%" thing only applies at Superchargers or other DC rapids. The convenience of home charging for most of us trumps a free public option. It's cheap to charge at home anyway but the other issue is that some people have no choice but to use the public chargers so you are potentially taking up their only option.

Just to add, that's true of all Tesla except the latest SR+ with the CATL battery where the opposite is true, it's better to charge them to 100% as per the manual below. For new LR and P models absolutely stick to 90% or below and only use 100% when you are about to make a longer trip that will need it.

 

[Adopado]

The answer depends on which version, the SR+ has a different battery and is recommended to be charged to 100% at least once a week, the LR and Performance the recommendation is to charge to not more than 90% unless you are about to go on a long trip and need the full range.

@mosraza refers to LR in original post ... though quite right to point out the MiC SR+ differences.

 

[N0ddie]

Sunday was my first day as an Octopus customer after switching over from Igloo Energy. Immediately on Sunday morning I "applied" to join Octopus Go. This morning I got the email to say I was "ready to switch to Octopus Go". A quick acceptance of terms and that's me signed up to Go.

Website does say it can take 2 weeks worth of meter readings before being able to switch. I was only 4 days.

 

[page3]

Sunday was my first day as an Octopus customer after switching over from Igloo Energy. Immediately on Sunday morning I "applied" to join Octopus Go. This morning I got the email to say I was "ready to switch to Octopus Go". A quick acceptance of terms and that's me signed up to Go.

Website does say it can take 2 weeks worth of meter readings before being able to switch. I was only 4 days.

I just switched from Igloo too Smart meters installed yesterday, but not yet anything on the Octopus site to indicate they're configured.

 

[Adopado]

I just switched from Igloo too Smart meters installed yesterday, but not yet anything on the Octopus site to indicate they're configured.

In most situations it’s more likely to be 10 days or so. However, I would phone up after a week just to keep them on the ball! The reason is that sometimes everything’s working but nobody has actually noticed so haven’t thrown the magic switch.

 

[RedMod3]

Anyone on Octopus GO using a 5-terminal Smart Meter? If so, is the 5th terminal only alive during the GO reduce rate period?

I ask as I only need to power my immersion heater during the 5p period and not 24hrs/day.

 

[Adopado]

Anyone on Octopus GO using a 5-terminal Smart Meter? If so, is the 5th terminal only alive during the GO reduce rate period?

I ask as I only need to power my immersion heater during the 5p period and not 24hrs/day.

Or have a timer on the immersion heater circuit if not. Provides easy option for exceptional use during peak if ever needed.

 

[tj333]

Anyone on Octopus GO using a 5-terminal Smart Meter? If so, is the 5th terminal only alive during the GO reduce rate period?

I ask as I only need to power my immersion heater during the 5p period and not 24hrs/day.

Sorry for pure speculation (and I don't have a 5 terminal smart meter) but FWIW as an Octopus customer of 2+ years I'd be very surprised by if they cater for a 5th terminal for off-peak rate in the way an E7 meter would do. They have Go, Go Faster, Agile; all on different unit rates at different times, as I understand it they get the half-hourly meter readings and charge accordingly for the rate at that time. Why (would they) bother with different physical terminals.

Would be interested to be proven wrong though!

 

[RedMod3]

Sorry for pure speculation (and I don't have a 5 terminal smart meter) but FWIW as an Octopus customer of 2+ years I'd be very surprised by if they cater for a 5th terminal for off-peak rate in the way an E7 meter would do. They have Go, Go Faster, Agile; all on different unit rates at different times, as I understand it they get the half-hourly meter readings and charge accordingly for the rate at that time. Why (would they) bother with different physical terminals.

Would be interested to be proven wrong though!

Why shouldn't the Smart Meter power the 5th terminal during the cheap rate? How else would E7 users who have storage heaters connect to the cheap rate if the 5th terminal isn't powered? My E7 meter has a 5th terminal for just this purpose and the 5th terminal could just as easily be programmed that way. The problem is I ask Octopus the question, and they don't answer the question and despite requests, I've not been able to speak to anyone in Tech Support. It's very frustrating.

ps, I have a consumer unit on the off-peak circuit, and it's not just an immersion heater there.

 

[RedMod3]

Just spoke to an Octopus Smart Meter Technician and he confirmed that the 5th terminal can be activated during the E7 or GO period - they can set that up...... I'm now going to initiate a switch to Octopus.

 

[Jason71]

I am doing 10k miles a year I do 95% of my charging at home during a 3 hour go faster period which starts at 8:30 so we also run dishwasher washing machine etc at that time. Octopus bills give me my average cost per kwh which seems to consistently be between 9.5-10p per kwh even though we use what I think is a lot in the day (12-16kwh per day without charging).
There is no way you can get a flat rate close to that these days so it seems to me almost any EV owner would be better off on Go than a flat rate these days unless you are growing cannabis all day on the side.