Octopus energy now supports Porsche for intelligent tariff.

[D00notD00d]

Just switched from OVO Charge Anytime to Octopus Intelligent. Both using the dumb Porsche charger at 32a. This is to take advantage of the Octopus 7.5p tariff instead of the OVO 10p tariff.
With OVO the requested 85% charge would sometimes be ignored and charging would plough on to 100%
With OI the requested 85% is not being fulfilled but under rather than over charging occurs - 70% yesterday and 78% today, my first 2 charges.
My 4s has the standard 79kw battery, not the larger 93k battery. OI/ENODE should know that from the Porsche integration. But since it is under rather than over charging that doesn’t seem to be the cause. On both nights the 6 hour OI window was sufficient to get the car to 85%.
In the Porsche app you can see beforehand that the profile and timer will not fulfill the Octopus app’s request. Last night I corrected the profile and timer, but overnight Octopus again reduced the target. They also set time periods beyond the ready by 05:30 target.
I have now deleted the device (car) in the Octopus app and will now rely on a Porsche App/Car timer to schedule charging to 85% in the cheap 23:30 - 05:30 period.
Now waiting for Octopus to diagnose and fix this. And credit me for yesterday’s bump charge.
Unless you need additional cheap smart/intelligent charging outside the 6 hour 23:30-05:30 window to get to your target charge % (assuming that would work) there doesn’t seem to be any benefit from involving OI in (messing up) the charging process. Fancy expensive chargers are also unnecessary - a simple cheap 32a commando socket and a basic dumb charger seems enough..

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[D00notD00d]

Does OI work reliably for anyone who is relying on the ‘Car Only’ integration?
I had to give up after the first 5 nights because the OI app target of 85% wasn’t ever fulfilled. In all cases I was just topping up, 6hrs charge time was enough.

I’m relying on OI talking directly to the car, the charger isn’t affectIng scheduling.
I’ve had to delete the car as an OI device and use the car to schedule the charge period and target %.

After 9 days I’m still waiting for Octopus to give any acknowledgment or resolution. They were setting timers 2 days ahead.

 

[Andyjro]

I've been using Intelligent Octopus to charge at home since owning my 4SCT (about 8 charges over a 4 week period). It usually hits my 85% target spot on, but some of time it falls short by 2% or 3%. For me, this is not an issue.

From my observations of how it works, the random 2 day ahead timers, are there to stop the car charging, not to start it.

For example:
Plug car in, car starts charging, green light flashing
Octopus polls the car every 10 minutes or so (24/7), and when it detects the car is plugged in, it sets up a random timer in the future to stop charging
Octopus then sets up a charging schedule (viewable from their app) and then contacts the car again at the start of the charging schedule to switch to Direct Charging and switch off the timer profile. It does this very reliably for me. It may need to apply the timer again to stop charging during the night in accordance with the charging schedule that it has set.

You need to make sure that all smart charging options/ timers on your EVSE are totally disabled (but I think you said you have already done this)

What issues were you experiencing, charging target not hit? Total failure to charge? Something else?

 

[DJ-UK]

Need to check again, but its not working as it should for me. It works fine on night 1 (charges to 85% during the cheap rate window), but if I don't use the car the following day and leave it plugged in, it then charges to 100% the follwing night.

 

[D00notD00d]

I've been using Intelligent Octopus to charge at home since owning my 4SCT (about 8 charges over a 4 week period). It usually hits my 85% target spot on, but some of time it falls short by 2% or 3%. For me, this is not an issue.

From my observations of how it works, the random 2 day ahead timers, are there to stop the car charging, not to start it.

For example:
Plug car in, car starts charging, green light flashing
Octopus polls the car every 10 minutes or so (24/7), and when it detects the car is plugged in, it sets up a random timer in the future to stop charging
Octopus then sets up a charging schedule (viewable from their app) and then contacts the car again at the start of the charging schedule to switch to Direct Charging and switch off the timer profile. It does this very reliably for me. It may need to apply the timer again to stop charging during the night in accordance with the charging schedule that it has set.

You need to make sure that all smart charging options/ timers on your EVSE are totally disabled (but I think you said you have already done this)

What issues were you experiencing, charging target not hit? Total failure to charge? Something else?

A target of 85% was set in the Octopus app and smart charging was enabled.
It didn’t make it to 85% on any night, even when the starting point was low 70s.
One night it went only from 72% to 78%, leaving a completion timer for 20:00 hrs with a target charge of 100% for a couple of days later, and a profile period of 0700 to 0300.
The next day, it had reached only 80%.
The day after that it only charged fro m 41% to 44%, and left an 85% timer for 03:32 the following day. At that point I gave up.
Each day I sent before and after screenshots to Octopus. 9 days on, they haven’t responded with a diagnosis.
After the night it went only from 41-44% I had to bump charge. I asked them to confirm that they’d adjust all standard rate charging to the reduced OI price. On Tues. 8/8 they emailed confirming they’d do that. On Monday 14/8 they retracted that statement and said the standard rate would apply.
I’ve escalated to [email protected].
The amounts involved are small, but I dislike mediocre IT, mediocre support and dislike being out of pocket as a consequence of that even more. If they don’t play fair and reimburse me I’ll raise it with Ofgem & The Energy Ombudsman.
In the 5 nights since I deleted the device from the Octopus app and started using the Porsche Profile & timer set for 2330-05:30 with an 85% completion target all has gone to plan.

 

[DJ-UK]

Need to check again, but its not working as it should for me. It works fine on night 1 (charges to 85% during the cheap rate window), but if I don't use the car the following day and leave it plugged in, it then charges to 100% the follwing night.

It’s still doing as above, charges to 85% correctly on night 1 and then 100% on night 2.

 

[D00notD00d]

It’s still doing as above, charges to 85% correctly on night 1 and then 100% on night 2.

I’d suggest emailing [email protected].
In the app you can suspend smart charging, that may make a difference.
If not, delete the device and just set your own Porsche profile for 2330-0530 and a timer for 85% (or higher if needed) by 0530. The only downside is if 6 hours charging time isnt enough and you need smart charging before 2330.

You probably know this already, but note the target % on your profile is a minimum that will be applied as soon as you plug in, designed so that you always have enough charge for any overnight emergency

 

[n3ophyte]

I’m getting this “Server Error” failure in the Octopus App when trying to register my Turbo S for Intelligent Octopus Go.

I selected the 7kw commando socket option in their charger list.

Is this a “server problem” other people have encountered?

I have contacted [email protected] for support but they haven’t responded in 24-hours.

 

[n3ophyte]

Quick update in case anyone cared. The Intelligent Octopus Go test charge to the Taycan inexplicably worked this evening and I’ve been switched to the 7.5p/kWh overnight tariff. No idea what got fixed or who by sorry ?‍

Now do I cancel the MyEnergy Zappi install and go commando or what ?

 

[darth_maul_80]

Quick update in case anyone cared. The Intelligent Octopus Go test charge to the Taycan inexplicably worked this evening and I’ve been switched to the 7.5p/kWh overnight tariff. No idea what got fixed or who by sorry ?‍

Now do I cancel the MyEnergy Zappi install and go commando or what ?

I think you can as intelligent octopus is done through your car. Can also be done through character and I think zappi is one of the approved chargers.

Not sure why moving to octopus intelligent means you no longer want to wear pants though ?

 

[Matt W]

Assuming OI is charging to how you want in the cheap 6 hours (11.30-5.30), but you have a timer set to pre condition the car outside of those hours (say 7.30 departure), will the car charge in the 6 hours and then pre condition the car with a ‘top up’ charge to suit your departure time. I’m sure I’ve read a timer overrides the profile.

 

[n3ophyte]

… you have a timer set to pre condition the car outside of those hours (say 7.30 departure), will the car charge in the 6 hours and then pre condition the car with a ‘top up’ charge to suit your departure time.

As you probably know, you can set timers to control charging and pre-heating separately so as not to exceed your cheap charging window.

Anyway, I’ve ”Suspended” the Octopus Intelligent charging in my Octopus App as it kept charging beyond the 85% battery limit I‘d set. I just use the car’s profiles and timers now to charge to 85% between 23:30 and 05:30 every day.

 

[BigBob]

Ovo just dropped the charge anytime tariff to 7p kwh.

I've had dreadful problems with this supplier, but have to say the charge anytime service has worked extremely well.

 

[D00notD00d]

Ovo just dropped the charge anytime tariff to 7p kwh.

I've had dreadful problems with this supplier, but have to say the charge anytime service has worked extremely well.

A good move on their part, suspect they lost a lot of customers to Octopus. They need to fix their billing system to avoid retrospective charging credits affecting monthly payments and put household and charging on the same cycle. Otherwise you’ll never see an accurate bill at any point.
If I recall correctly, OVO only offer the reduced rate for charging rather than all overnight consumption being billed at the reduced rate. On that basis, despite OI being less reliable than OVO Anytime, OI with Porsche timers seems the best overall option for me.

 

[BigBob]

A good move on their part, suspect they lost a lot of customers to Octopus. They need to fix their billing system to avoid retrospective charging credits affecting monthly payments and put household and charging on the same cycle. Otherwise you’ll never see an accurate bill at any point.
If I recall correctly, OVO only offer the reduced rate for charging rather than all overnight consumption being billed at the reduced rate. On that basis, despite OI being less reliable than OVO Anytime, OI with Porsche timers seems the best overall option for me.

Yep, probably right, assuming you can work out how to set your dishwasher to start at 2am etc (i can't)

edit - In the short time I've used ovo anytime, it's never failed to fill the car up by my target time of 7am. I think some OI customers report that they end up not fully charged, so i guess ovo has a bigger charging window.

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