We’re currently on Intelligent Octopus, which gives us cheap power overnight – 7.5p per kW overnight for 6 hours between 23:30 and 05:30. To get on this tariff you need to have a compatible charger or a compatible electric car. My new car (Audi Q4 e-tron) was listed as compatible, however it apparently isn’t. It needs a software update that hasn’t been released yet.
Fortunately, my wife’s new car, a plugin hybrid VW Golf, is compatible, so we were able to get on the tariff using that car.
It’s actually smarter than just 6 hours cheap overnight. It checks how much power your car needs to charge, and when you need the car by, and tells your car when to start and when to stop charging. If there is oversupply of power on the grid at any time outside of the 6 hours overnight, it also tells your car to start charging at those times too – so long as it’s plugged in obviously. Some people are getting 10 hours of cheap electricity a day. The standard rate outside of the cheap times is expensive – currently 38.5p per kW and a high standing charge.
We’re going to integrate this with our solar install and battery array, to charge the 15kW of batteries overnight, giving us cheap energy in the morning, followed by solar power when it starts generating.