Octopus Energy UK Inteligent Tariff now open to Audi eTrons

16254 Views 213 Replies 29 Participants Last post by Stu-99, 5 d ago

thebb

Discussion Starter · 6 mo ago (Edited by Moderator)

Just to let anyone looking for cheaper home charging, Octopus energy have extended their Intelligent tariff to include Audi electric cars.

While the daytime rate and standing charge is the same, the off peak rate covers 6 hours and is currently 10p per Kwh

<<<referral links removed, warning applied >>>

Or just find out more here Octopus Energy

I’ve been on it about a week now and it’s great how it plans a timer schedule through the night directly with my Q4.

FYI my home charger is the Pod-point installed under the Audi UK offer.

Hope this helps a few save some £’s over the winter months as our range gets hit by the cold!

181 - 200 of 214 Posts

Andrew Lee

· #181 · 3 mo ago

Weevil1 said:
Looking at moving to IO but wondering exactly how things work!? I've got a Pod Point and the app. The app has a charging schedule but then I hear you schedule with an Octopus app?

Yes, you tell the Octopus app you need a target state-of-charge (e.g. 80%) by a certain time (e.g. 7:30 AM), plug the car in at home, and let it do the rest.

The have a good frequently asked questions list at Intelligent Octopus: your questions answered

Reactions: 1

benUK

· #182 · 3 mo ago

Weevil1 said:
I have SB 35 coming at the end of the month from a Nov 21 order. Trying to get me head straight on charging and which supplier to go with. With British Gas for electricity but only offering 12p between 12 and 4 I think. Looking at moving to IO but wondering exactly how things work!? I've got a Pod Point and the app. The app has a charging schedule but then I hear you schedule with an Octopus app? Which is the best approach and reliable? Also a little confused by all the many apps/cards for using public charging stations. Octopus have an Electroverse card which seems to cover nearly all public chargers. It also offers 8% discount for IO customers. It sounds like the way to go but not sure the experience of others?? Thanks all and apols for all the newbie questions!

Sent a direct message Weevil1, happy to help you out with this.

Reactions: 1

benUK

· #183 · 3 mo ago

Andrew Lee said:
Yes, I’ll try to remember to take a screenshot next time. I get a ‘start’ and ‘stop’ for each segment Octopus schedules within the charging session. Sometimes duplicates. Are you sure you’ve given myAudi permission to provide notifications?

From what Ive seen so far in my limited two and a half week ownership, IO does not set timers through the Audi app, this remains diabled.

Just to provide a datapoint that someone else mentioned on cost of an EV, by charging at home I estimate Im spending 25% or what I used to on diesel.

Andrew Lee

· #184 · 3 mo ago

Weevil1 said:
Looking at moving to IO

I forgot to mention there is also a referral offer with Audi that gets you £90 credit for joining Octopus. This is better value for you than an existing customer referral code where you will receive only £50.

See Octopus Energy. The referral page talks about Octopus Go, but you can get the £90 credit when joining other tariffs such as Intelligent Octopus. I did.

Reactions: 1

benUK

· #185 · 3 mo ago

Andrew Lee said:
I forgot to mention there is also a referral offer with Audi that gets you £90 credit for joining Octopus. This is better value for you than an existing customer referral code where you will receive only £50.

See Octopus Energy. The referral page talks about Octopus Go, but you can get the £90 credit when joining other tariffs such as Intelligent Octopus. I did.

And you can join the Audi charging service Pro plan (normally £12.95) for free for 12 months. Appears to give heavy discounts on fast chargers. Haven't tried it myself yet as waiting until nearer the summer when longer distances during family holidays will be needed.

Reactions: 1

blodnik

· #186 · 3 mo ago

Just did my first charge via Octopus Intelligent last night. Had the smart meters installed a week before, slight issue with the app set up (electricity meter wasn't showing) but their email support was quick to resolve it. One tip - on the Audi app turn off charge notifictions, my phone was pinging all night...

Reactions: 1

Weevil1

· #187 · 3 mo ago

Big thank you to Ben and Andrew for great advice and tips. Have initiated the to move to Octopus. I'll have to go onto a standard tariff first, get smart meter installed and then onto IO. Thank you all again.

Reactions: 2

benUK

· #188 · 3 mo ago

blodnik said:
Just did my first charge via Octopus Intelligent last night. Had the smart meters installed a week before, slight issue with the app set up (electricity meter wasn't showing) but their email support was quick to resolve it. One tip - on the Audi app turn off charge notifictions, my phone was pinging all night...

Yeah mine goes off all night but at least I know its working then 😂
Also do not trust the in home display to provide accurate cost of electric used as its not clever enough to keep up with the KWh rate changes.

Reactions: 2

Andrew Lee

· #189 · 3 mo ago

benUK said:
do not trust the in home display to provide accurate cost of electric used as its not clever enough to keep up with the KWh rate changes

Sign up for the Octopus Home Mini trial. It doesn’t show costs, just kWh but not showing any costs is better than showing inaccurate costs. It’s live data just like an in-home display but via their app.

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See Meet the Octopus Home Mini

See less See more

Reactions: 1

benUK

· #190 · 3 mo ago

Thats a much better idea, thanks Andrew I signed up.

Reactions: 1

Andrew Lee

· #191 · 3 mo ago (Edited)

6

Andrew Lee said:
Yes, I’ll try to remember to take a screenshot next time. I get a ‘start’ and ‘stop’ for each segment Octopus schedules within the charging session.

An example from last nights charging session.

Hope this helps others understand what Intelligent Octopus does in practice when you are using it. You don’t need to go into this level of detail, in my experience it is as simple as:

Set ‘charge limit’ and ‘ready by time’ in Octopus app.
Ensure target state-of-charge on your vehicle (via MMI or myAudi app) is equal to or greater than the limit set in step 1, as the Octopus app doesn’t override the vehicle’s own target. In a lot of cases this can be set once and then not worried about. You can set a location based charging target via the MMI if you wish to make it easier to have different targets for home and elsewhere.
Plug-in
Optionally, stop the charge straight away via the MMI’s ‘Goodbye’ or ‘Charging’ screens. This step is useful as it minimises the amount of peak rate electricity you’ll consume before Octopus notices your vehicle is charging and suspends the charging session. Normally, Octopus notices quickly but it can take up to 30 minutes.
Optionally, check Octopus app after 10 mins or so to see what schedule it has picked.
Wake up in the morning with a charged vehicle using cheap off-peak electricity at times that benefit grid load and maximises the use of renewables.

—

I asked the Octopus app for 80% by 6:00 AM please. I plugged in shortly after 8:00 PM with 61% state-of-charge. In this case, it created a schedule with five separate periods overnight:

Wheel Car Light Automotive lighting Vehicle

Checked myAudi app. It didn’t set any charging timers directly:

Font Material property Rectangle Screenshot Number

Instead it sends ‘start charging’ and ‘stop charging’ commands to my Q4 at the appropriate times:

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I have my phone set to ‘do not disturb’ overnight.
I think the duplicate notifications are a myAudi app issue. I’ve seen duplicates for remote climate conditioning notifications too.

Q4 reached its target as expected (around 4:50 AM according to the notifications):

Font Line Magenta Screenshot Parallel

The Octopus app shows the Q4 took 14.56 kWh overnight:

The Pod Point app estimates 16.9 kWh, but that includes charging overheads (as the transfer from the supply to the battery isn’t 100% efficient) and some climate preconditioning whilst still plugged in for about 8 minutes or so from 5:55 AM until I unplugged at 6:03 AM:

See less See more

Reactions: 1

Weevil1

· #192 · 3 mo ago

Andrew Lee said:
An example from last nights charging session.

Hope this helps others understand what Intelligent Octopus does in practice when you are using it. You don’t need to go into this level of detail, in my experience it is as simple as:

Set ‘charge limit’ and ‘ready by time’ in Octopus app.

Ensure target state-of-charge on your vehicle (via MMI or myAudi app) is equal to or greater than the limit set in step 1, as the Octopus app doesn’t override the vehicle’s own target. In a lot of cases this can be set once and then not worried about. You can set a location based charging target via the MMI if you wish to make it easier to have different targets for home and elsewhere.

Plug-in

Optionally, stop the charge straight away via the MMI’s ‘Goodbye’ or ‘Charging’ screens. This step is useful as it minimises the amount of peak rate electricity you’ll consume before Octopus notices your vehicle is charging and suspends the charging session. Normally, Octopus notices quickly but it can take up to 30 minutes.

Optionally, check Octopus app after 10 mins or so to see what schedule it has picked.

Wake up in the morning with a charged vehicle using cheap off-peak electricity at times that benefit grid load and maximises the use of renewables.

—

I asked the Octopus app for 80% by 6:00 AM please. I plugged in shortly after 8:00 PM with 61% state-of-charge. In this case, it created a schedule with five separate periods overnight:
View attachment 8732

Checked myAudi app. It didn’t set any charging timers directly:
View attachment 8734
Instead it sends ‘start charging’ and ‘stop charging’ commands to my Q4 at the appropriate times:
View attachment 8736
I have my phone set to ‘do not disturb’ overnight.
I think the duplicate notifications are a myAudi app issue. I’ve seen duplicates for remote climate conditioning notifications too.

Q4 reached its target as expected (around 4:50 AM according to the notifications):
View attachment 8739

The Octopus app shows the Q4 took 14.56 kWh overnight:
View attachment 8737

The Pod Point app estimates 16.9 kWh, but that includes charging overheads (as the transfer from the supply to the battery isn’t 100% efficient) and some climate preconditioning whilst still plugged in for about 8 minutes or so from 5:55 AM until I unplugged at 6:03 AM:
View attachment 8740

Thank you and this is so helpful! Just to clarify, there's 3 apps on the go here (Octopus, Audi and Pod Point)? They all have scheduling features. Does Octopus schedule override the others? So, I'm thinking do I switch off all schedules in Pod Point app (and Audi?) and Octopus is the one? Just wondered if multi app schedules clashed with each other...

Reactions: 1

benUK

· #193 · 3 mo ago

Weevil1 said:
Thank you and this is so helpful! Just to clarify, there's 3 apps on the go here (Octopus, Audi and Pod Point)? They all have scheduling features. Does Octopus schedule override the others? So, I'm thinking do I switch off all schedules in Pod Point app (and Audi?) and Octopus is the one? Just wondered if multi app schedules clashed with each other...

Switch off schedule on everything, let Octopus take full control. You dont need to look at the PP app, the above was just for illustration of whats happening.

Reactions: 2

Andrew Lee

· #194 · 3 mo ago

benUK said:
Switch off schedule on everything, let Octopus take full control. You dont need to look at the PP app, the above was just for illustration of whats happening.

I agree with everything Ben said here.

I also have the Tronity app which was the source of the ‘your vehicle is charged to XX%’ notifications, but you don’t need it. It was another way I was using to illustrate the process.

Reactions: 1

Weevil1

· #195 · 3 mo ago

Andrew Lee said:
I agree with everything Ben said here.

I also have the Tronity app which was the source of the ‘your vehicle is charged to XX%’ notifications, but you don’t need it. It was another way I was using to illustrate the process.

Thank you again Ben and Andrew – really appreciate all your help.

Reactions: 1

Stu-99

· #196 · 3 mo ago

Completed our switch to Octopus Intelligent just over a week ago and it's been flawless so far.

We were pushed into it when all the free public charging ended in our area, but the convenience of cheap, at-home charging is what we always wanted with the EV, so it's nice to finally have that.

Fingers crossed the daytime unit rate drops over the course of the year, 40p per kWh is still a little hard to stomach 😂

Reactions: 1

Chasing Cars

· #197 · 3 mo ago

I agree that it is.

To be honest 10p seems pretty high to those of us who have enjoyed 5p for the last couple of years or so. I doubt that we will ever see the likes of that again

AMHmcmlxxii

· #198 · 3 mo ago

Finally took the plunge and joined IO. Don’t think I can stomach seeing the car charging at 37p for several hours any more!

Reactions: 1

Lordy

· #199 · 2 mo ago

Juat about to take delivery of a Q4 E-tron. Does anyone have expirience of using the Hypervolt charger in conjunction with Intelligent Octopus? I'm guessing it should be ok as the car itself is compatible so the charger doesn't need to be? The only charger on offer that is compatible with IO is the Ohme but theres no where to store the cables and we are a bit tight for space. Many thanks.

Andrew Lee

· #200 · 2 mo ago

Lordy said:
Juat about to take delivery of a Q4 E-tron. Does anyone have expirience of using the Hypervolt charger in conjunction with Intelligent Octopus? I'm guessing it should be ok as the car itself is compatible so the charger doesn't need to be? The only charger on offer that is compatible with IO is the Ohme but theres no where to store the cables and we are a bit tight for space. Many thanks.

It should work fine. Intelligent Octopus requires a smart meter providing half hourly usage data, and a supported charge point and/or a supported vehicle.

I have a Pod Point Solo 3 and a model year 2023 Audi Q4 e-tron 40 (running software version 3812). Octopus manage the home charging sessions via the vehicle (indirectly via enode’s API communicating with Audi Connect’s backend servers).

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