Octopus Go or not Go?

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tencherman
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:17 pm

Post by tencherman »

I am a new Honda e owner (1 month) having been nudged (i.e. forced) into EV ownership by our wonderful, Range Rover chauffered, London mayor. However, I now have to admit the litttle Honda is a great car and huge fun to drive so perhaps I owe him a small nod of gratitude :D .
I'm still coming to grips with the shift to EV ownership and a trip to the dealer is on the cards as I cannot get the My Honda+ app to work and link with the vehicle - it was 2nd hand* so probably a registration thing?

Prior to purchase our friendly electrician surveyed the house for the installation of a charging point and explained this would be far from straightforward and therefore much more expensive than the 'standard' £600- 900 cost bandied around. He did however explain that for our intended useage a standard 3-pin charger would suffice as 90% of our charging could be done overnight - indeed, he does this with his own Nissan van instead of installing a dedicted charge point as he'd originally intended. He was right and I've only used public charging to see how easy/frustrating/expensive it was rather than because of any immediate necessity. Fortunately, our part of West London is well served by Shell & BP rapid chargers and one free fast charger in the local Sainsburys if required in an emergency.

I'm now considering changing to Octopus Go for the cheap overnight charging tariff (I'm currently on their standard tariff without a smart meter) but don't know if the additional cost per kWh of that tariff's standard rate offsets the 4 hrs at 7.5p if the Honda's annual mileage is probably only going to be between 4-5k per annum?
At present it only needs charging from 10% - 95% once a week altho' occassionally twice when we go for drives just for the fun! It'll probably setttle down to once a week.

My instinct is that unless we time other household utilities like washing machine; dishwasher & dryer to turn on during the 7.5p period (4hrs) it probably isnt worth it but the feed back of anyone with similar useage on Octopus Go would be very much appreciated.

*our e was just under 2 years old and like new with only 2,700 on the clock - another London vehicle I guess!

betonos
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:05 am

Post by betonos »

Just keep in mind that 10-90% charge with 3-pin would take around 13-14hrs or something in that ballpark. So, either you're not taking advantage of the 4hr window during night or you need to get wallbox, then 10-90% could be closer to 5hrs probably.
tencherman
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Post by tencherman »

Apprecite the reply betonos. The cost of a wallbox would be around £2k to us (to do it properly) because of the distance from our consumer unit (which is at the front of the house) to where it would be installed (rear of kitchen extension at rear of house - in garden). This would also involve complcated routing under Victorian tiled floor and kitchen - wife (rightly) won't allow ugly cabling or conduits inside the house. Routing via the front of the house would rely on having a free space directly opposite and routing a cable across the pavement - bit anti-social ... and potentially dangerous.
All this means installing a wall box would negate any saving .... or at least until we're annexed by Putin! - so not an option for us.
Of the two tests done to date the 'granny' seems to do rather better than 13-14 hrs - I wasn't standing there with a stop watch but closer to 10-11 hrs to full from c. 15%.
I think that without a wall charger (uneconomic, per above) it simply isnt worth moving to 'Go' or do you think I'm missing something ?
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EEEE
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Post by EEEE »

If you don't have your e yet, you can roughly work out what your usage would be.

at 5k miles pa, at an average of 3.5m/kwh + 10% charging heating losses, you are probably going to use around 1,500kwh on the car charging front. At the cheap rate (assuming always charge in the cheap 7.5p rate using a 7kw charger) it's only £120 electricity cost.

Check your bills for your annual household usage (assuming no existing EV in use), and then work out the difference. For low usage, I suspect that the standard tariff works out cheaper, and avoids having the have the smart meter installed and a 7kw charger which are extra time and expense.

Its worth considering however if:

1) you plan to have more EVs in future or if your usage increases significantly - And you don't use much at home in the daytime/evenings.
2) you plan to stay at the property and make use of the charging infrastructure. If you move - it's likely you will need to fork out again.
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
tencherman
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:17 pm

Post by tencherman »

Thanks EEE - I was hoping you'd chip in!

We have had the e for a just over a month now and it was a bit of a knee-jerk buy as we sold an old (1996) Mercedes convertible somewhat quicker than anticipated altho' we had browsed various EVs in anticipation. Ours came up by chance - and we'd driven an e already - and for a ultra-low mileage vehicle, in excellent condition for a £5k saving on new it was an impulse buy. we've never purchased a car so quickly!

As regards your considerations:

1) you plan to have more EVs in future or if your usage increases significantly - And you don't use much at home in the daytime/evenings.
Living in London and shortly to retire so it's unlikely we'll change the e anytime soon but it's possible if our lifestyle changes. Over 60 you get free tube/bus travel in London too. Now our children have recently 'migrated' there's been a marked drop in electricty useage so then next few months will be interesting.

2) you plan to stay at the property and make use of the charging infrastructure. If you move - it's likely you will need to fork out again.
No intention to move - too stressful and expensive - so installation of a proper wall charger is only on hold until perhaps installation and unit tech improves and/or a new vehicle means faster charging a necessity.

I'm considering having Octopus install a smart meter (free) so useage can be more closely monitored - I'm assuming the combo with the app means you can access all sorts of data in real-time and historically?
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

It looks like you’ve got the answer.

As you’re not doing many miles it looks like using a granny charger is the way to go, just keep an eye on the granny plug & household socket to make sure it’s not over heating due to an old or poor quality socket.

A friend bought a Leaf a year ago and switched to Go and he only uses a granny charger because he can charge enough in 4 hrs for his daily commute and like you needed a long cable run from the front of his house to the back garden for a dedicated EV charger.

If you switched to Octopus Go and only charged in the cheap 4 hr window you could save approx £450 pa assuming a std rate of 40p/unit & 1,500kwh but then is the Go day rate more than your current rate, if so then then your general house usage will then increase negating some/all of this saving.

Not knowing where your power socket is and whether you want or can leave the granny charger plugged in all of the time I’d suggest that you consider buying a smart plug that can support 3kW (though from memory I think the granny charger only draws 2kW), the reason being is that you can then remotely turn the charging on & off manually, via an app or via a timer. Again check every now and then for an over heated socket.

Also don’t forget that you can set different maximum charge limits for home and away from home (you must set your home location in the built in sat nav). This can be useful if you don’t want the car sitting for long periods at or near 100% charger (ignore if this is a lease/PCP and you don’t intend owning the Honda yourself).

Just for reference a dedicated 7kW EV charger should be able to charge the Honda by approx 85-90% in 4 hours.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
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1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
Parker87
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Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2021 9:30 am

Post by Parker87 »

Hello tencherman,

Like you, I'm driving up to 5k miles p.a. and am an Octopus customer. I considered switching to Go from Flexible and getting a 7kw charger but I decided that the increase in non off-peak unit rates and the cost of charger installation would cost me more than sticking with Flexible.
I just use the Granny charger connected to a socket in my garage where the e lives when not in use, and I've found that the time to charge is perfectly acceptable (and less than I'd expected). I'm retired so have plenty of time to spare but like you, I also have some rapid chargers nearby which I could use if I needed to get charged up in a hurry.
So, I'd agree with your electrician and save yourself expense and hassle by just relying on dear old Granny (while keeping comparative Octopus Plan unit costs under review of course).
Glad that you're enjoying your e - I'm a big fan.
betonos
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:05 am

Post by betonos »

I would suggest the same. And it leaves you with psychological flexiblity when to charge, leaving out the anxiety of "I need to charge overnight because of lower rates so I can't drive the car today because I need to wait until night to charge ;)"
Wee Peem
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2020 4:54 pm
Location: Callander, Scotland

Post by Wee Peem »

I too would recommend the granny charger route. I am also lucky enough to have 4 free fast chargers at our local sports centre about 100yards away should I need a lot of juice in a hurry. Checking that your 13amp socket is up to the job as mentioned by someone else is also vital. I had a "cheapo" switched-one that overheated and the plastic operating "bump" on the switch melted and hence switch no longer gave power to the socket.
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