UK Electricity Tariffs for EVs

[ME_UK]

Octopus is clearly cheaper overnight, but the lower cost tariff ends earlier than the Bulb one. 4:30 vs 7:00.

Other advisors on the forum suggest battery charging that ends just before the car is driven - I tried this today and got a few extra % points of battery at the end of the commute and my regen working from the outset. It will take a few more runs to see if that was just a one off however.

Is the trade off between cold battery start and cost savings worth it? Wondering about others opinions.....

(And on another note, why can I not set the car to 'finish charging' at a certain time!)

 

[Beady3647]

(And on another note, why can I not set the car to 'finish charging' at a certain time!)

You can - by joining Teslafi - OK it's £4 ish per month but well worth the money for all the other information that's available. DM me if you want a referral.

 

[Mark_T]

Octopus is clearly cheaper overnight, but the lower cost tariff ends earlier than the Bulb one. 4:30 vs 7:00.

The problem with Bulb is the peak rate, it only works if you can avoid the 4pm-7pm period...

 

[ME_UK]

The problem with Bulb is the peak rate, it only works if you can avoid the 4pm-7pm period...

So true! And that's when the children get back from school.......and not everyone in the family has the same 'diligence' at watching the clock (read obsessive behaviour!)

 

[ME_UK]

(And on another note, why can I not set the car to 'finish charging' at a certain time!)

You can - by joining Teslafi - OK it's £4 ish per month but well worth the money for all the other information that's available. DM me if you want a referral.

Just DM'd you, thanks.

 

[Roy W.]

(And on another note, why can I not set the car to 'finish charging' at a certain time!)

You ought to be able to. For some reason Tesla don’t think it is required. AFAIK it’s a standard feature on other EVs, certainly all Leafs, Kona, Zoe, eNiro.

I suggest you do what I did, and request it as a software enhancement through your Tesla account. The more people that ask for it, the more likely we are to get it.

 

[interbear]

(And on another note, why can I not set the car to 'finish charging' at a certain time!)

Some smart home chargers allow you to schedule this. The Konnect app for my Andersen A2, for example, allows me to schedule start and stop time. Not tried it yet though, will do so next time I need to charge.

 

[ME_UK]

You ought to be able to. For some reason Tesla don’t think it is required. AFAIK it’s a standard feature on other EVs, certainly all Leafs, Kona, Zoe, eNiro.

I suggest you do what I did, and request it as a software enhancement through your Tesla account. The more people that ask for it, the more likely we are to get it.

Will do - using the ‘big report’ feature in the car To be clear, I want to set ‘be at 90% charge at 7am’ etc.

 

[MrBadger]

What if the charge rate drops off/stops?
You don’t have enough charge or it starts charging early to ensure it can still achieve the required charge as minimal charge rate ?

I’m sure there will be mix of answers to this.

I can see merit in stop/trickle at hh:mm if certain charge level achieved but not leaving things to chance.

I’m sure it just simplifies down to stop at xx% to cover most bases.

 

[Durzel]

I think you're probably taking a fairly significant risk relying on an EV for daily journeys that would completely deplete the battery, to be honest. On top of charge rates dropping off, what about extended power cuts, some sort of error with the car during charging, etc? There are quite a few scenarios that would see you waking up in the morning finding you don't have the range you thought you were going to have, and need.

At least with an ICE if you've got fuel in the tank then you know you are going to be able to get up and do X miles.

 

[Roy W.]

Will do - using the ‘big report’ feature in the car To be clear, I want to set ‘be at 90% charge at 7am’ etc.

All I want is a “stop” time enabled. So I can set the car car to “start” at 0030 and “stop” at 0430.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

The problem with trying to charge to a pre determined limit at a predetermined time is that conditions can change during charging which affect the charge rate.

When I went to bed last night, the app was reporting it would take just over 2 hours to charge to my limit at 7kW. So I set charging to start at 7am so it would be finished around 9am.

During the night the temperature dropped to below 10C and when I looked at 9am, the app says I still have over 2 hours to go and it's now charging at 4kW.

That's why it not practical to be able to set a charge limit at a particular stop time. But if you just want to set a specific start or stop time, TeslaFi does that and you can schedule different times each day in advance if you want to. It really is a great resource and well worth the subscription IMO.

 

[Roy W.]

The problem with trying to charge to a pre determined limit at a predetermined time is that conditions can change during charging which affect the charge rate.

When I went to bed last night, the app was reporting it would take just over 2 hours to charge to my limit at 7kW. So I set charging to start at 7am so it would be finished around 9am.

During the night the temperature dropped to below 10C and when I looked at 9am, the app says I still have over 2 hours to go and it's now charging at 4kW.

That's why it not practical to be able to set a charge limit at a particular stop time. But if you just want to set a specific start or stop time, TeslaFi does that and you can schedule different times each day in advance if you want to. It really is a great resource and well worth the subscription IMO.

When every other EV already has a start/stop timer built in, TeslaFi seems like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. I realise TeslaFi offers so much more, but I really don’t think I would use the other facilities.

 

[12Pack]

Would recommend the app call "Stats for Tesla". You can set it up to temporarily increase the limit marginally at a set time (just before you leave) to have charging start again. And then it drops the limit back your nominal when done.

 

[Keeper]

I'm not on a special tariff yet but my ev.energy app that came with my Rolec allows me to tell it by which time I want the car to be charged [at the limit I have stated - 90%] at the time of my choice [7am]. In the smart charge setting it says "Your car may charge for a short time when you first plug in. Avoid this by setting a schedule in your car to start charging a long time after your typical connection time (e.g. midnifgt0. We'll override these settings within 30 minute" Hopefully it will override and charge using the off peak charging time. [When I decide on the supplier]

 

[Durzel]

I'm probably being a bit simple but if you need timed charging then why not buy an charger that actually lets you do that?

Shouldn't need to use TeslaFi or some other third party app or service to achieve that. Just buy the right charger? Seems like the Rolec does it, per the above.

 

[Roy W.]

I'm probably being a bit simple but if you need timed charging then why not buy an charger that actually lets you do that?

Shouldn't need to use TeslaFi or some other third party app or service to achieve that. Just buy the right charger? Seems like the Rolec does it, per the above.

That’s certainly one way of doing it. I have the Tesla charger, which doesn’t offer anything like that.

My point is that all the other EV manufacturers build it into the car.

 

[Mark_T]

It really doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for a stop time as well as a start time.

No need for anything more fancy than simply stopping when you hit the time limit.

It isn't about necessarily hitting a particular target just wanting to make sure you don't go over the cheap rate period.

 

[Roy W.]

It really doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for a stop time as well as a start time.

No need for anything more fancy than simply stopping when you hit the time limit.

It isn't about necessarily hitting a particular target just wanting to make sure you don't go over the cheap rate period.

Spot on! I suspect it could be that “time of use” tariffs like Octopus or E7 aren’t as common in the USA?

 

[ME_UK]

Just while we're talking 'charging' for those that didn't know already, if you're charge is set to run overnight, but you like to pre- heat/cool the car, then it does use the charge point rather than the battery (regardless of the time). Tested it this morning, and can clearly see the kWh rise on the meter