![]() What if I forget to schedule my EV charge? Like magic, your car will be charged when it’s greenest for the grid. This can be either the time you need your car to be ready or the miles you’d like to add. Both Octopus and OVO do this by connecting either to a compatible charger or by talking straight to your (compatible) EV.įor both suppliers, you use an app to set your schedule. The topline is the same for both: you charge cheaper when you sign up for managed charging. All the while ensuring your car is ready when you need it. Another option is for energy companies to offer cheaper prices in exchange for handing over control of the demand – allowing them to turn charging on or off, up or down depending on what’s happening on the grid. One way is to give energy users a price that varies with each 30 minutes of the day and night (like the Octopus Agile tariff does). Supply and demand need to be properly matched. Smarter managed charging tariffs make your EV’s energy use even greener More to the point, as the EV tariff Octopus Go got popular it started to create its own mini-peak, as thousands of EVs started charging at exactly the same time every night. The supply of green energy from solar or wind energy can peak at any time of the day or night. However, the fixed off-peak window you are given with an EV tariff doesn’t always coincide with the cheapest and greenest energy. Overnight hours have lower demand, which also generally makes them greener because there’s less need to switch on more expensive, carbon-intensive gas power generation. The basic idea behind an EV tariff is to reward you with cheaper energy when there’s energy to spare. But which is the better deal? And, as well as being better for our pockets, how could switching to a smarter EV tariff be greener?Ĭompare tariffs and solar Why are EV tariffs changing? Octopus calculates that Intelligent will save you up to £200 a year compared to Octopus Go. OVO’s new smart tariff makes it the UK’s cheapest for charging. All your home electricity use is charged at your standard unit price. ![]() ![]() The downside of OVO’s new tariff is that you’ll only get your EV charging at the cheaper rate. This means you could currently pay around 34p per kWh (until July at least) for all your other electricity use – roughly 8p cheaper than Intelligent’s daytime rate. OVO’s Charge Anytime can be added to any of their available tariffs, even the basic SVT (the default Standard Variable Tariff). This has always been the small catch with an EV tariff: Cheap off-peak rates also meant you’d pay more during the day, and you may have had a higher daily standing charge too. The big change is that OVO isn’t charging a premium for daytime energy use in the home. Meanwhile OVO Energy have launched Charge Anytime, a managed ‘type-of-use’ tariff, with a charging rate of 10p/kWh no matter when your car charges. Plus, if Octopus starts your charging outside of the off-peak hours, you’ll get some bonus cheap home energy. This is lower than the 9.5p/kWh off-peak on the older ‘time-of-use’ Octopus Go EV tariff. ![]() You pay 7.5p/kWh for off-peak electricity in exchange for handing over the micro-management of your overnight charging. ![]() Last year, Octopus Energy launched Intelligent Octopus, a tariff with a minimum six-hour off-peak window. The next generation of tariffs will automatically charge your car when the grid has more renewable energy. EV tariffs are back… and they’re getting smarter. ![]()
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