revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:38 am

KungFooBob wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 9:01 pm I've been with them for years, I took out a fixed tariff in Feb, I've not looked yet, but assume they'll let me switch to the overnight EV tariff. Looks like it works best with the Ohme charger?

I only use a granny charger as I don't use my car that often. With Octopus, it logs into the Tesla and stops its charging and only charges it in cheap rate periods, but it'll often charge it in peak times but stilll at cheap rates. It creates a schedule to make sure you achieve the charge required by the time you requested it to be readyd by. I am mightily impressed by all this sorcery and assume Octopus can do all this with other makes EVs?!

Octopus can control some brands of charger rather than the car, it seems they like Ohme branded ones best.

I think this is good? Pretty bizarre if all its cost me in ownership so far is £18 as we've been on a few trips out and about?1 It does seem weird not putting juice in your car each month?

We've all just grown up with and become used to the comedy bad efficiency of ICE and the inconvenience of having to pour a liquid fuel into it, thus EV running costs seem like witchcraft.

Yeah but even though I like the performance and power of the EV, its a boring way to go fast. I've been used to rip snarling, vibey ICE performance and EV is just too sterile in its gruntiness. Not sure i'll ever get past that? Fortunately I rarely go fast and the sliky smooth power of the EV is the flip side of that coin and its a lovely smooth way to travel.

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:49 am Yeah but even though I like the performance and power of the EV, its a boring way to go fast. I've been used to rip snarling, vibey ICE performance and EV is just too sterile in its gruntiness. Not sure i'll ever get past that? Fortunately I rarely go fast and the sliky smooth power of the EV is the flip side of that coin and its a lovely smooth way to travel.

Assuming your 3 is the Long Range Dual Motor rather than the 'Performance' model?

The M50 I test drove was utterly bonkers. When you floored it the car felt like it was trying to twist in half with the torque... and it played the special Hans Zimmerman sound effects!

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:38 am I am mightily impressed by all this sorcery and assume Octopus can do all this with other makes EVs?!

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:51 am Octopus can control some brands of charger rather than the car, it seems they like Ohme branded ones best.

Octopus can connect to either my charger or my car - it gives me me both options.
I've had it connected to my car so far, but the Cupra app seems a bit glitchy (tells me it's failed to charge when it's charged fine), so I've decided I'm going to swap it over to be connected to the charger instead today, and see if that reduces the erroneous error messages.

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:36 am

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:49 am Yeah but even though I like the performance and power of the EV, its a boring way to go fast. I've been used to rip snarling, vibey ICE performance and EV is just too sterile in its gruntiness. Not sure i'll ever get past that? Fortunately I rarely go fast and the sliky smooth power of the EV is the flip side of that coin and its a lovely smooth way to travel.

Assuming your 3 is the Long Range Dual Motor rather than the 'Performance' model?

The M50 I test drove was utterly bonkers. When you floored it the car felt like it was trying to twist in half with the torque... and it played the special Hans Zimmerman sound effects!

Sound effects might make it feel better, but I just find it odd/wrong to feel power without noise and feel. Not even saying its absolutely wrong, just for me it is, sort of...

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:42 am

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:38 am I am mightily impressed by all this sorcery and assume Octopus can do all this with other makes EVs?!

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:51 am Octopus can control some brands of charger rather than the car, it seems they like Ohme branded ones best.

Octopus can connect to either my charger or my car - it gives me me both options.
I've had it connected to my car so far, but the Cupra app seems a bit glitchy (tells me it's failed to charge when it's charged fine), so I've decided I'm going to swap it over to be connected to the charger instead today, and see if that reduces the erroneous error messages.

Hmm, I swapped it over, and it's on intelligent charge mode but has done a chunk of charging this afternoon.
The Ohme app is linked to my Octopus tariff, and says 'All of your dynamic charging will be billed at the off-peak rate.' So...

I wonder how long this one takes to charge?

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:47 pm I wonder how long this one takes to charge?

Twenty minutes but it has a range off three miles.

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 5:19 pm

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:42 am

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:38 am I am mightily impressed by all this sorcery and assume Octopus can do all this with other makes EVs?!

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 9:51 am Octopus can control some brands of charger rather than the car, it seems they like Ohme branded ones best.

Octopus can connect to either my charger or my car - it gives me me both options.
I've had it connected to my car so far, but the Cupra app seems a bit glitchy (tells me it's failed to charge when it's charged fine), so I've decided I'm going to swap it over to be connected to the charger instead today, and see if that reduces the erroneous error messages.

Hmm, I swapped it over, and it's on intelligent charge mode but has done a chunk of charging this afternoon.
The Ohme app is linked to my Octopus tariff, and says 'All of your dynamic charging will be billed at the off-peak rate.' So...

Yup, thats right. People manipulate it too and specify a charge by time to make Octopus schedule different hours so they can bung their washing on etc!

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:05 pm

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 5:19 pm

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:42 am



Octopus can connect to either my charger or my car - it gives me me both options.
I've had it connected to my car so far, but the Cupra app seems a bit glitchy (tells me it's failed to charge when it's charged fine), so I've decided I'm going to swap it over to be connected to the charger instead today, and see if that reduces the erroneous error messages.

Hmm, I swapped it over, and it's on intelligent charge mode but has done a chunk of charging this afternoon.
The Ohme app is linked to my Octopus tariff, and says 'All of your dynamic charging will be billed at the off-peak rate.' So...

Yup, thats right. People manipulate it too and specify a charge by time to make Octopus schedule different hours so they can bung their washing on etc!

Genius!! (And thank you for allaying my fears of a surprise huge bill!)

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:13 pm

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:05 pm Yup, thats right. People manipulate it too and specify a charge by time to make Octopus schedule different hours so they can bung their washing on etc!

Genius!! (And thank you for allaying my fears of a surprise huge bill!)

This is one of those things where people think they're being really clever and getting one over, but it's exactly what the supplier wants you to do They want you to buy electricity when it's cheap, because it means they can sell excess capacity which would otherwise make them no money at all.

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 8:05 am

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:13 pm

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:05 pm Yup, thats right. People manipulate it too and specify a charge by time to make Octopus schedule different hours so they can bung their washing on etc!

Genius!! (And thank you for allaying my fears of a surprise huge bill!)

This is one of those things where people think they're being really clever and getting one over, but it's exactly what the supplier wants you to do They want you to buy electricity when it's cheap, because it means they can sell excess capacity which would otherwise make them no money at all.

The energy generation, trading and balancing business has changed immensely since it was set up. Octopus are an interesting one because they actually have generating capacity from wind, solar etc so they can sell excess during some daytime periods rather than the old 'off-peak' which was just night time (and weekends?). They'll have supply contracts with generators too so will be obliged to take contracted amounts or pay penalties if they can't take it. Storage is a useful thing to have in that case too.

Smaller retail suppliers won't have generating capacity and simply act as traders between generation, (+transmission) and end-user.

The odd one out is BG who, you'd think, would have all the advantages and would be doing smart stuff like Octopus but, as far as I can see, they haven't taught that elephant to dance yet. (BG don't have electricity generation capacity....but the parent, Centrica does and it's all a very arms length generator/retailer relationship so they're waaay behind some of the agile newer lot).

It's all very interesting (if you happen to be interested in that sort of thing ).

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 8:05 am

Sunny wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 11:13 pm

Taipan wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 10:05 pm Yup, thats right. People manipulate it too and specify a charge by time to make Octopus schedule different hours so they can bung their washing on etc!

Genius!! (And thank you for allaying my fears of a surprise huge bill!)

This is one of those things where people think they're being really clever and getting one over, but it's exactly what the supplier wants you to do They want you to buy electricity when it's cheap, because it means they can sell excess capacity which would otherwise make them no money at all.

And of course even better than this is their Agile tariff where it's entirely variably priced dependent on supply and demand. From around 10am to 4pm today it's 5p/unit max, dropping just about into negative territory for one 30min period at 1pm, so we can charge the car for about a quid and do all our washing etc.

And if you have a powerwall/battery at home you can charge that too.

My parents have said powerwall, roof solar and an EV. They basically don't pay for electricity (or petrol) any more - the combination of their own generation and using power when it's very cheap, or even better when they pay YOU, means their bill is pennies. The standing charge is the only significant aspect.

That's why standing charges have been creeping up more than price per kWh, that and other hidden costs (VAT relief only if you spend on overpriced labour from approved companies) have stopped me buying into renewables.
As long as the hidden costs don't keep increasing then at some point it will reach a tipping point and I'll go all in, I'm expecting that will happen if our plan to move somewhere more isolated bears fruit.

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 9:31 am And if you have a powerwall/battery at home you can charge that too.

My parents have said powerwall, roof solar and an EV. They basically don't pay for electricity (or petrol) any more - the combination of their own generation and using power when it's very cheap, or even better when they pay YOU, means their bill is pennies. The standing charge is the only significant aspect.

What was the total investment to get there, and when does that investment "balance-out" with the previous situation?


(really only asking for curiosity: we live in a thatched, listed, cottage with parking on the other side of the road: there's no way we're getting permission for solar or have the infrastructure for a leccy car.)

If you take your test in a lecky car, is it auto or manual license. ??

Dodgy69 wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 1:52 pm If you take your test in a lecky car, is it auto or manual license. ??

No idea - but I'd imagine most would qualify as autos ?