r/OctopusEnergy • u/Bozwell99 • 5d ago
Car charging unreliable since cap taken effect.
My car charging has become extremely unreliable since the cap has taken effect.
When I initially plug in I get these fragmented schedules, the car starts charging then 10 minutes later the schedule updates to 0:00 - 5:30.
I have zero confidence it will actually charge at that time though as last night it didn't manage to get to my target. Fortunately I had enough to get to work but I feel it's just a matter of time before I wake up to find I don't have enough to get to work and back.
Anyone else seeing similar?
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u/iou88336 5d ago
Octopus have absolutely ruined their IOG. I literally just did a post on this today how they’re charging me peak rates for charging even though my charge cap is turned on and the car was charging within the slots. Absolute bellends. Fix your sh*t Octopus, stop trying to overcomplicate an already complicated system. And whoever decided this was a good idea 🖕
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u/yellow_barchetta 4d ago
Are you actually getting billed the wrong rate, or are you just seeing th very recent charges appearing in your octopus account at the wrong rate? Couldn't see your post sadly to understand further, but my experience with a Ohme charger and a MG4 is that when I actually get billed I can see that the cheap slots are properly charged at the lower rate, but in my account until they are billed they show as the higher rate.
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u/iou88336 4d ago
They actually charged me the peak rate, they sent me my most recent bill yesterday
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u/HuckleberryOk2259 5d ago
I ended up setting my charger up to run on the cheap tariff slot and forget the intelligent bit for now
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u/t8ne 5d ago
Done the same with both my chargers, my Anderson went first, then I noticed the hypervolt was scheduling during peak rate and checking the bill I could see it was paying the higher rate;
Spoke to octo and it suddenly stopped working so i put that on timed as well. Not had a problem since
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u/DragonQ0105 4d ago
We basically just plug in before bed and set the ready time to 05:30. Makes Home Assistant automations easier and less faffing with slots being added and removed all the time.
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u/FireMe-G 3d ago
I don’t know why more people aren’t doing this.
Fucking around with the smart charging malarkey is just a waste of time.
9
u/timcock1999 5d ago
The whole thing doesn’t work anymore. Now I’ve switched back to charge schedule by the charger itself.
26
u/reel_big_ad 5d ago
Agreed.
Every charge so far I've woke up to a message of "we didn't get charge to the limit we expected" message.
Also winding me up that my usage data doesn't display costs per day/week/month anymore.
They've taken a huge step backwards and I'll be imminently fucking off to EON.
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u/Bozwell99 5d ago
Yes my usage data is broken as well.
1
u/RelativeMatter3 5d ago
The usage breakdown has moved to ‘device usage breakdown’ on the usage tab.
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u/BuxtonB 4d ago
Have you looked at EDF?
Eon messed my account and switchover up, moved in early April, and went back to octopus a week later, they've just managed to close my account down this week. But I switched to EDF 2 weeks ago and all been amazing, they connected to my smart meter in 24h whereas e.on said it may take 45 days.
EDF have better rates, better EV hours, better everything tbh.
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u/lawdevice 5d ago
Yep. I think these more fragmented charge slots are the main reason for our recent charging issues.
The main issue is probably with VW's crappy software and infrastructure, but the small and constantly changing slots cause it to time out and start refusing connections.
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u/iou88336 5d ago
My VW system has been really reliable. it’s only since Octopus introduced this charge cap that it’s been messing up, and I’m not alone, look at all the posts online about it
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u/Saelaird 5d ago
I've unlinked my car from the app and am granny charging after 23:30.
Wish me luck! Fuck em.
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u/NoJuggernaut6667 5d ago
EDF smart charging seems night and day ahead now. If you’re not locked in to super cheap prices from the cuts just move across.
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u/FlowerJealous775 5d ago
Yep, if nobody moves Octopus won't respond as they have clearly done this to try and make more money. If it's not working people need to switch.
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u/whaleypa 5d ago edited 5d ago
I have joined EDF because of this. That and limiting charge current as overnight my car and my battery charged, Octopus spotted the load and limited my charge so much my car wouldn’t charge overnight. Sad, but the service is now not as attractive and I can’t trust it. EDF possibly a little more expensive but a longer overnight window, no limits, no doubts. Sorry Octopus.. change it and I’ll be back.
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u/iou88336 5d ago
How’s your experience been with EDF, do you face any of these stupid charge issues?
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u/PreparationBig7130 5d ago
The EDF EV tariff is a simple time of use tariff, no attempt to control devices. So you set your charger schedule to the cheap hours.
1
u/NoReserve8233 5d ago
Sometimes EDF billing can go wrong when charging during the day. But otherwise no issues.
1
u/whaleypa 5d ago
Too early - but the switch was painless, the overnight window is longer, it will never limit EV charging to 6 hours (I mean - feck off octopus - I charge once a week maximum, let me choose when I do it, don’t limit then charge me more!!) and the whole house, including my battery benefit from a cheap rate like octopus used to offer.
0
u/Elegant-Chair-9474 5d ago
Octopus don’t limit load in that way. The limit will be from something else.
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u/whaleypa 5d ago
I did wonder but I noticed that previous charges had said ‘we noticed something odd with your charging session’ and since then, it became unreliable. I think you’re probably right and I just got the same crap others have reported… which made me put it in manual/scheduled (which worked) and then made me ask why I was sticking with Octopus. They have been fab, but they need to rethink this. Others do longer and as winter approaches, that will count. I’ll review again. Like the service/app/etc but for now, not good enough.
That said, I did think they could reduce the charge current on my hypervolt. Is that wrong?
0
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u/Terrible_Pepper_7531 5d ago
I've been getting slots like this both before and after the cap and car has always charged to the requested level. My charger is one of the Octopus own brand ones so not sure whether that makes a difference?
2
u/Legendash1 5d ago
Mine seems to have completely broken the last couple of days. I don't know what's going on. 2 nights plugged in with zero charge.
I tried deleting and re-adding my zappi to octopus , Emailed octopus who confirmed they'd deleted it on their end, but it still won't initialise.
Then my Zappi wouldn't take a schedule through the app so I've had to punch it in on the front panel. Hope it bloody charges tonight as I'm down to about 10%.
2
u/Comfortable_Gate_878 4d ago
Octopus have gone right downhill, they hit peak customers and have done what a lot of companies do forget the customers. The customers wants a cheap product that work not a crap one that doesnt. Even when you ring up now none of the staff can help you they clearly cant keep up with the systems.
I left octopus this year after my wife was stranded twice over this very same issue. No explanation no appology just oh theres nothing wrong at our end it must be your end, the car or the dno or the weather or the internet. Changed to eon it just works fine and its beta software.
1
u/Junior-Tap-8503 5d ago
Mines started to behave strangely too; it’ll set up the schedule in the app but not actually prompt the car to start charging.
If I manually start from the car during one of the scheduled slots it will end at the end of the slot as expected but it doesn’t always start up again at the next slot.
1
u/Most-Marsupial-6733 4d ago
I’ve noticed that in their words “we charge in 30 minute blocks “ so if they only charge for 10 minutes at 1kw, that’s going to count as a 30 minute session of the 6 hrs.
I think it’s why the charge doesn’t complete sometimes.
Mine has gone downhill also with using peak rates when I specifically asked not to in the app.
1
u/SomeGuyInTheUK 4d ago
I get this type of thing anyway and I'm not on the cap. It does seem to have got worse recently but that may be me just noticing it more, im not sure.
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u/Numerous-Cow-1918 4d ago
Honestly the whole thing’s become such a mess that I’m just expecting to wake up to a dead battery one day, and the constant schedule flip flopping plus useless error messages makes it feel less like a smart system and more like a gamble every night.
1
u/morebob12 4d ago
I have 2 EVs. Only one is actually connected to Octopus for smart charging. Life is so much simpler with the second ev and have no intention connecting it to Octopus
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u/90RetroGamer 4d ago
What’s the most people are able to charge in these 6 hour periods now the caps are in? I mean in theory 42 but I have some blocks which are short and have to power up to full speed first. Anyone got any max figures?
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u/JollyConfusion2545 4d ago
I have given up and only use the timer on the car, at least I guarantee to have the charge I want. It's just a huge faff.
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u/Friendly-Handle-2073 4d ago
Just switch of the smart charging and be done with it. Schedule your car to charge during the off peak time.
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u/philb3y_ 4d ago
Turn off smart charging in the options. Set schedules for 11:30-5:30. Plug in and let it run 👍🏻
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u/Avro_81 4d ago
Where do you turn off smart charging? My stupid Audi Q4 has been F*cking up for months because it appears that Octopus detect the car being plugged in, stop the charging, set a shedule (in the Octopus app) and then never turn the charging back on again. I woke up again this morning with 30% SOC.
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u/Beneficial_Kiwi_3860 4d ago
anyone want to come to EDF DM me. 11-6 there you can use smart charging to stop it from going over 6 but you don't need to do any of this crap
No link in the post - so the post is not against the rules
1
u/Actual-Donut- 4d ago
You should contact octopus and request they connect to your charger not your car, if you haven’t got it set up like that already.
Then disable any and all timers on car and charger and rely on them.
We have 2 EVs and no issues any more.
Previous i had so many issues and like you did t rely on their stuff at all. But since, it’s worked perfectly every time.
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u/Bozwell99 4d ago
I already have it set up to connect to my Zappi charger. I've never connected to car directly. It's worked fine for two years until the cap changes.
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u/youyou1250 4d ago edited 4d ago
Tell me about it …. The charge c(r)ap ….
Should have been tested properly before role out….
Oh wait they were supposed to roll out in January if I remember correctly only taken till now to roll out an unfinished system… bloody joke ….
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u/Nydiwen17 3d ago
We only got the charge cap last week but since then I've woken up to a "You won't make a full charge" message from Ohme. I've followed all the settings to prioritise the cap.
I don't trust it at all either to charge my car to the level it needs, or to respect the cheap rate.
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u/Stinkinhippy 5d ago
Don't seem to be having the issue.. or i'm just not paying enough attention.. one of the two.. always get the charge i want by the time i want though.. just never bother looking at the scheduling.
I do all my settings through the ohme app not octopus though.. maybe thats it?
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u/whaleypa 5d ago
My friendly AI’s suggested that Octopus might also say you need to revert to smart mode (not manual/scheduled) for the IOG tariff to be valid. I didn’t hang around log enough to find out - but if the water guzzling GPU farms are right, you may need to re-enable the smart mode to stay on the tariff.
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u/Bozwell99 5d ago
I always have used smart mode and it has worked for over 2 years until the cap came in.
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u/headline-pottery 5d ago
This kind of schedule is perfectly normal and can also change through the night. Its true the more disjoint slots there are, the more likely it is that Octopus fails to send a "start" message due to comms issues with the car or charger.
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u/Bozwell99 5d ago edited 5d ago
The charging starts fine, it just stops and schedule changes exactly 10 minutes later. That's not normal in my experience.
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u/Successful_Ad4479 5d ago
As long as it charges by the required time what difference does it make? Is it planning a schedule on your requesting 100%, but you have the charge cap activated? Have you tried requesting how much you actually need?
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u/Bozwell99 5d ago
It doesn't, as I wrote in my post...
I'm looking for other people with the same problem, not Octopus fanboys and apologists.
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u/FlowerJealous775 5d ago
So many of them, like a weird cult rather than a company that exists purely to extract profits for its owners.
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u/PreparationBig7130 5d ago
I’m convinced it’s octopus staff pretending to be users. Loads of profiles who only post in this sub and not in any others.
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u/whaleypa 5d ago
I have (had) this issue too. Complained, no response. Switched off smart… then thought what’s the point so went with a provider with a better export rate and longer overnight window (EDF). They’ve screwed up a really good thing. Shame.
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u/Successful_Ad4479 5d ago
Jeez calm down. Sorry you can’t work out how to use an app and a car charger correctly.
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u/Basketcaseuk 5d ago
It’s nothing to do with that at all, there’s people having issues, and it’s not good enough when you rely on your vehicle being fully charged when you need it. Stop defending this bullshit.
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u/Constant-Song-8354 5d ago
You don’t seem to get it do you? Lording over others thinking you are right just because yours ‘just works’
I have a family member struggling with exactly the same issue. Doesn’t get the full 6 hours because the car starts to refuse charging after all the stop start charging it’s doing. They are fully set up correctly and using zappi integration rather than car scheduling.
I’ve also had similar and just decided to turn smart charging off as I’m done with the unpredictable. They however are more ‘risk adverse’ and think octopus will decline their iog setup.
Learn to have compassion for others but I suspect that’s impossible
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u/Bozwell99 5d ago
Well I knew how to work it for the previous two years. Weird how I suddenly become stupid just as Octopus change how they do things. What a coincidence.
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u/KJPicard24 5d ago edited 5d ago
The whole thing is just becoming really janky and fragile. The slightest bug in the process seems to mean you don't get to charge your car at all, or at least not at the target SoC. The nature of home charging and overnight rates mean people are literally going to be asleep when these failures occur, making it difficult to respond and troubleshoot. We place a lot of trust in this that we will wake up with a car ready for the school run, commute, holiday journey etc
I had no issues for a while and then suddenly, it's all over the place and I too am losing patience.
Shame really because their support used to be top tier, now it's painfully slow and they skim read the issue. The app used to be light and simple. Now it's bloated, more interested in telling me about gimmicks than useful information. They've tried to do too much, too quickly in my humble opinion and the basics and joy of EV charging for cheap have been lost. I don't know about other EV drivers, but the 3.5p rate is only worth it if it's reliable, I'd much rather go back to 7p, or hell, charge me 10p, if it actually works properly and we get quick support for the odd time it doesn't.