Struggling to charge in the Octopus Go window

[littlecharva]

Finally got switched over to Octopus Go, but it doesn't seem to want to charge within the window. I don't know if the issue is with the M3, the charger, or maybe the stats in the app are wrong.

I've set the M3 to start charging at 00:30, and it appears to be waiting until then before the charge starts. Good.

Our charger is a Pod Point Solo, and the Pod Point app reports the following for last night:

Energy Added: 8.5kWh
Start Time: 00:30
End Time: 07:28
Duration: 6 hours 58
Cost: £0.66

So that appears to be adding 1.2kW per hour? Surely it should have been done in just over an hour and cost me about 7p?

Looks like a Pod Point issue at this point, but then I checked another night's stats and got:

Energy Added: 28.3kWh
Start Time: 00:30
End Time: 07:27
Duration: 6 hours 57
Cost: £1.46

So it seems the M3 is sipping the electricity at the appropriate amount to reach its charge level in 7 hours!

I do have the climate control scheduled to kick in at 7:30 for when my wife sets off for work, which I suspect is the issue here.

The schedule settings seem unreasonably confusing. I want the car to start charging at 00:30 and ideally be done by 04:30, but continue charging beyond that if need be. I also want the climate controls to kick in at 07:30, ideally Mon-Fri only. Can someone point me towards the right settings for this?

 

[Jeeves]

It's been a while since I tried them, but I never found the Tesla or my charge point intelligent features very effective. I've found the ev.energy app to be excellent.

 

[bctomuk]

I find my PodPoint doesn't accurately measure the end time. Is it possible that the end time 7.28 and 7.27 is the time your wife is unplugging the charger?

What limit do you have it set too? Was the 8.5kWh charge almost at the limit? Meaning it did finish within about an hour.

Download the agile octopus app, its designed for users on the variable tariff but it gives an excellent graphs showing your actual usage by half hour.

 

[Dilly]

I‘d skip prewarm entirely and just put it on from the app when you get up

 

[tomorrowman]

Also have the pod point and to be honest it's fine and adds about 110miles juice in the 4 hours.

Worth noting I had the pod point guys out 2-3 times to 'fix it' due to a problematic 'sub contractor' install and an issue with the charging cable. dodgy install resulted in interrupted charge (and nearly caused fire in my fuse box) and the charging cable issue resulted in slow/stopping charge (swapping cable resolved that)

One point worth noting I also used the tesla 'charge from 00:30' to control it, but after recent pod-point app update have the pod-point set to a 00:30-04:30 charging window and switched off the 'charge from' in the tesla - works fine and prevents those charging overruns

 

[Mr_Dave]

PodPoint reports the end time as the time the car is unplugged, regardless of when charging actually stopped.
I have Octopus Go and PodPoint Solo. I set PodPoint to charge between 12.30 to 4.30am but also set car to start charging at 12.30.

 

[Cardo]

Forget setting a schedule in the car. Use the PodPoint’s schedule instead and set it to 0030-0430 every day. Works a treat.

 

[drewuk88]

Finally got switched over to Octopus Go, but it doesn't seem to want to charge within the window. I don't know if the issue is with the M3, the charger, or maybe the stats in the app are wrong.

I've set the M3 to start charging at 00:30, and it appears to be waiting until then before the charge starts. Good.

Our charger is a Pod Point Solo, and the Pod Point app reports the following for last night:

Energy Added: 8.5kWh
Start Time: 00:30
End Time: 07:28
Duration: 6 hours 58
Cost: £0.66

So that appears to be adding 1.2kW per hour? Surely it should have been done in just over an hour and cost me about 7p?

Looks like a Pod Point issue at this point, but then I checked another night's stats and got:

Energy Added: 28.3kWh
Start Time: 00:30
End Time: 07:27
Duration: 6 hours 57
Cost: £1.46

So it seems the M3 is sipping the electricity at the appropriate amount to reach its charge level in 7 hours!

I do have the climate control scheduled to kick in at 7:30 for when my wife sets off for work, which I suspect is the issue here.

The schedule settings seem unreasonably confusing. I want the car to start charging at 00:30 and ideally be done by 04:30, but continue charging beyond that if need be. I also want the climate controls to kick in at 07:30, ideally Mon-Fri only. Can someone point me towards the right settings for this?

I have a tethered podpoint. I dont do anything in the car except plug it in in the evening. I then schedule the charge directly from the podpoint app.

 

[littlecharva]

Thanks for all the responses. Yes, it seems the issue is with the stats the Pod Point app is reporting!

@bctomuk Thanks for pointing me to the Octopus app - it's clearly showing that it's working as expected. The car starts charging at 00:30 sucking 3.6kWh every half hour and shuts off when the charging limit is met. The PopPoint app clearly IS reporting the end of charge as when my wife unplugs it. Daft, as it can clearly tell when the M3 starts charging, but not when it stops. Could the M3 be drawing a bit more power when it starts the climate controls and PodPoint sees that as a continued charge?

@Dilly There's no way either of us would remember to put the climate on manually! I love the scheduled feature.

All those recommending using the scheduling from the PodPoint app - I don't want it to stop at 04:30 if it hasn't finished charging. I'd rather pay a little bit more if it needs to than end up in a situation where I'm expecting a full tank and I don't have one.

The upshot is, it's working as I want it to, just not giving me the accurate figures.

 

[MrBadger]

What is the charge rate (amps) you are getting? Its kind of a vital piece of information. I've found that it often defaults to 16A at a new location - its location specific, which will double a typical charge time and a quick eyeball of the numbers that is not far off your second set of stats.

 

[Dilly]

@Dilly There's no way either of us would remember to put the climate on manually! I love the scheduled feature.

I only do it for me. Mrs D doesn’t bother with the heater. By the time she remembers how to work it, she’s arrived

 

[David T]

PodPoint reports the end time as the time the car is unplugged, regardless of when charging actually stopped.
I have Octopus Go and PodPoint Solo. I set PodPoint to charge between 12.30 to 4.30am but also set car to start charging at 12.30.

Tesla app will tell you when charging stopped. Pod point end time is when car is unplugged. I have exactly the same set-up

 

[MrBadger]

I only do it for me. Mrs D doesn’t bother with the heater. By the time she remembers how to work it, she’s arrived

I haven't told the misses how the heater works - she gets great winter efficiency!