EV's and best Tarrif

[steelman99]

My present fixed electric tarrif comes to an end soon, so Im free to move to wherever, but over the last few months a lots changed so im looking for others views and experiances

Our setup is an elctric car with a 7kw home charger - we also have solar and batterys - over the summer the solar can charge the batterys and keep the car fairly well charged so we buy next to nothing from the grid - thats the easy bit .

In the winter the solar can keep the house going in the daytime, but by 7 or 8pm anything stored in the batterys is used up and we have to draw from the mains to charge the car and run the house overnight.

going forward it looks like theres 2 options , 1 is to go with someone like octopus or OVO where you get a tarif where they control the car charging at a low rate of something like 7p per KWH , or 2. go with someone like EDF, British Gas or Eon who give you x number of hours at 10p per KWH usualy overnight so you can charge the car or do whatever you want
looking at our batterys I can command them to charge up from the grid at preset times so im undecided if to go for the cheaper charge the car only tarrif or if to go for the slightly more expensive tarrif where i can charge the car at night plus fill the batterys up with the hope of running the house throughout the day with a mixture of solar and cheap battery power

if it makes any diffrence , we are both retired and the car is often at home for most or part of the day - we only use it to go shopping , and out for the odd days

Has anyone got any experiance of either or any views on which is best ?

[scrumpyjack]

As far as I can see the EON Next drive deal is the best with a much longer period (midnight to 7am) of cheap rate (9.5p) than others.

I will be moving to that tariff as soon as my smart meter is put in next week.

They also pay 16.5p for exports.

(By early December I will have 9kw of solar panels, 20kw of batteries and an automatic switch to battery when the mains fails. I currently have 4kw of solar put in in 2011 so on the highest FIT). I too have an EV (ID4) and a 7kw charger.

I think this setup will mean virtually all our mains consumption will be at the 9.5p rate

[DrFfybes]

A whole host of considerations.....

How big is your battery, how much solar do you generate/export, how much electric do you need for the car, when is your peak use, can you time shift it, can you use the car as an extended house battery, etc.

You say your solar keeps the house going and charges the batteries during the day in winter, so it sounds like you have a large array and therefore export price in Summer might be a higher priority

I'd think about making things simpler and ignore the domestic batteries though, it sounds like you probably have 5kWh or so and therefore the amount of cash saved using them is probably small compared to charging the car.

If you can get 15p exporting your solar and do very little mileage it might be better to go for that rate and charge your car from the mains in winter.
If you do a lot of miles and only have a few solar panels, then you want a cheap import tarrif.

Alternatively switch tarrifs throughout the year - you could use something like Octopus Flux in summer with half price electric between 2 and 5am (for the car and house battery) but 40p between 4-7pm. However export is 15p/kWh and 30p in the peak time. Then in winter switch to one of their BEV tarrifs.

Paul

[TurboukToo2]

Intelligent Octopus gives 6 hours at 7.5p (assuming a compatible car / charger). In the 6 hours you can use the power for whatever you wish - i.e. charge home batteries / dishwasher / ASHP etc (unlike OVO). They also can add additional slots at 7.5p during peak times if your car is plugged in awaiting a charge. 15p export and no exit penalties, therefore can swap to their Flux product for the summer and back to intelligent for the winter.

Just waiting for them to support the Zappi charger so I can switch so am on Octopus Go at the moment (9p off peak four hours and 8p export). Again no switch penalties.

[funduffer]

I have solar panels and an electric car + charger, but no battery.

I use the Octopus Go tariff, which is about 28p per kWh (depending on the region) and 9p per kWh for 4 hours at night (00:30 to 04:30). I export my excess solar to Scottish Power, who pay me 12p per kWh. 4 hours EV charging gives you roughly 120 miles of range.

So it is cheaper for me to charge the car at night at 9p and export my excess solar at 12p, than to charge the car from solar.

If I had a battery, I would also charge it at night for 9p, unless 4 hours is too short for car + battery. In which case I would divert excess solar into the battery, foregoing the 12p I could have received from export. I sometimes charge the car from solar if it is a sunny day and 4 hours will not be enough to charge up the car to the level I want. I have a myenergi Zappi charger that allows this.

Intelligent Octopus may be a better option, but you need a car and charger that are compatible with the scheme - not all are. Mine aren't.

FD

[TurboukToo2]

Intelligent Octopus may be a better option, but you need a car and charger that are compatible with the scheme - not all are. Mine aren't.

FD

Zappi is in the final stages of beta testing with Intelligent Octopus. Should be very very soon that its available.

[TurboukToo2]

Intelligent Octopus may be a better option, but you need a car and charger that are compatible with the scheme - not all are. Mine aren't.

FD

Zappi is in the final stages of beta testing with Intelligent Octopus. Should be very very soon that its available.

Zappi on Intelligent Octopus now open to all.