Home Charger

[Flippsie]

I’m currently waiting for my EX30 to arrive and want to have a home charger installed by the time I get it. Any recommendations?

I’ve seen a lot of options and was thinking the Ohme Home Pro looked the best option. Then I discovered the API is not available on Volvos, which surprised me. Does anyone know if will be available in the future or does the EX30 do this kind of functionality for itself?

[alphahere]

You wouldn't need an api unless you wanted to check on the car status through the charger. For all practical purposes, Ohme app does what it is supposed to do quite well. If you wanted to limit the maximum charge level you can set that on the car itself and it will cut itself off on reaching it. All the api does is it enables everything to be set on the charger without going into the car settings. If intending to go with Intelligent Octopus then it is enough if either the car or the charger can communicate with Octo energy. No need of both being able. I can't comment on other chargers as I have no experience with anything other than Ohme Home Pro.

[AndyP]

Second That.
If you do go with that and Octopus let me know and I will send on a document from OHME so cheap charging starts at 17:00 to 05:30
Octopus were offering cheap deals too I got an OHME pro for £899 and had a 7 metre tethered one. Svedgetting the cord out each time

[Graham]

We considered the OHME (as my dealer recommended it because he has one). But, we actually decided on the Myenergi Zappi with a Harvi unit and a tethered cable. The reason for the choice was based on lots of positive reviews, but mainly because it would work well with our solar setup. I don't think the OHME did, but that may have changed now. I must say the Zappi has been really good and I can't think of anything negative about it. It works so well with Intelligent Octopus and the solar (if the sun's out and we have surplus power), and the early support from my installer was great too.

[Ste007]

I don’t have an Ohme charger so can’t comment on that though I imagine it will operate similarly to what I do have.

I have a tethered myenergi Zappi charger supplied and installed by Octopus. I chose that particular one because it was recommended for households with solar/battery storage. I have the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff which charges 7.5p between 11:30pm and 5:30am. Charging is mainly managed through the Octopus app whereby you tell it how much charge to add (eg to take the car from say 30% charge to 80% you set the app to add 50%) and by what time you need the car to be available. It then sets up a charging schedule to meet those requirements. Sometimes the schedule lies outside the off-peak hours but the electricity delivered will always be at the cheap rate price. The Zappi app is then used to set the charger to standby and the Octopus app does the rest.

The EX30 app is not involved at all but whatever battery state of charge limit you set in the car (eg 80%) is respected by the Octopus app.

In theory the Zappi charger can be set to charge the car using only surplus solar energy but as I get 15p for solar electricity exported to the grid and only pay 7.5p to charge overnight I haven’t used that option so far.

[Tivver500]

I don’t have an Ohme charger so can’t comment on that though I imagine it will operate similarly to what I do have.

I have a tethered myenergi Zappi charger supplied and installed by Octopus. I chose that particular one because it was recommended for households with solar/battery storage. I have the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff which charges 7.5p between 11:30pm and 5:30am. Charging is mainly managed through the Octopus app whereby you tell it how much charge to add (eg to take the car from say 30% charge to 80% you set the app to add 50%) and by what time you need the car to be available. It then sets up a charging schedule to meet those requirements. Sometimes the schedule lies outside the off-peak hours but the electricity delivered will always be at the cheap rate price. The Zappi app is then used to set the charger to standby and the Octopus app does the rest.

The EX30 app is not involved at all but whatever battery state of charge limit you set in the car (eg 80%) is respected by the Octopus app.

In theory the Zappi charger can be set to charge the car using only surplus solar energy but as I get 15p for solar electricity exported to the grid and only pay 7.5p to charge overnight I haven’t used that option so far.

I would check on your solar FIT (Feed In Tariff) as generally you are paid for what you generate, not what you export to the grid.
So use everything you generate and it's a win/win situation!!

I have a Hypervolt charger, which my local electrician installed for less than £100 (needs a qualified sparky as it's a 'Part P' installation).
It copes well with the solar. Especially useful as we are waiting for our 'cheap overnight rate' to be 'set up'....

[Ste007]

We are fairly recent solar adopters so the feed in tariff (FIT) wasn’t available to us. FIT was replaced in 2019 by the current scheme, called the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), it only pays for electricity exported to the grid. Octopus pays 15p/kWh exported which compares favourably with their cheap overnight rate at 7.5p/kWh.

[Flippsie]

Thank you all for your time and for sharing your experiences. This sort of information is so useful when you’re about to part with £1000 and just not available on the manufacturer’s sites, or at least, not easily found. I guess some chargers are there to support older cars that don’t have more recent smart functionality. Thanks again.

[Flippsie]

Second That.
If you do go with that and Octopus let me know and I will send on a document from OHME so cheap charging starts at 17:00 to 05:30
Octopus were offering cheap deals too I got an OHME pro for £899 and had a 7 metre tethered one. Svedgetting the cord out each time

I’m with Octopus already, so please do send.

Thank you.

[AndyP]

As requested Also posted on another forum post,


For the Ohme integration with the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, as long as you charge the car on an overnight 'Charge Schedule' (set in the Ohme app > My Charger) with a 'Departure Time' for the next morning, all charging will be considered smart charging and will be billed at the off-peak rates.
This is the case whether the charge took place between 23h30 and 5h30 or outside of those times. Octopus and Ohme advise keeping the Price Cap setting disabled in order to benefit from these extra half hour off-peak slots.
Please note Octopus do advise to plug the car in after 5pm and set your Departure Time for between 4am and 11am.
Before plug-in, make sure your charger is online and connected to the Ohme server. You can check this in the Ohme app on the My Charger page.
After plug-in, check that the Ohme app dashboard background stays blue and says 'Smart Charging' at the top, together with the name of your Charge Schedule. This will be the reassurance that all used timeslots for the current session will be billed at the off-peak rates.
If you see a red screen and the words "Max Charging" or "Charge to Full ASAP" at the top, this indicates a boost charge is happening. If it seems the Ohme app has not registered the plug-in, or that charging has started, this might mean your charger is offline. Find out here how to get your charger back online: My charger might be offline - Ohme EV
A boost charge, or an offline charge will mean the current charging will be billed at the higher rate (unless it falls between 23.30 and 05:30am).
If your charger looks to be offline, or something on your charger display doesn’t look right, power cycling is the best place to start.
To power cycle any Ohme charger, you will need to:




1. Locate the circuit breaker that your charger has been connected to. This is usually located in your main consumer unit (also known as fuse box) or it may have been installed as a separate switch. Your installer will have likely labelled the switch, so look out for ‘EV charger’ or something similar.
2. Pull the switch down into the OFF position to turn the charger off and wait for two minutes. This will allow any residual power to drain away and the charger to power down completely.
3. Push the switch up into the ON position and the charger may take up to a minute to power back up

Note: Ohme Go chargers are unplugged after every use, so they shouldn’t require a power cycle. If your Ohme Go charger is offline or having trouble connecting to the server, please contact the Ohme Team.

If your Ohme Home Pro goes offline, Ohme will default to starting a Max Charge and begin charging immediately. After plug in you can stop or delay the start of the charge using the on-device touch controls.

Step 1
If your charger goes offline, as soon as you plug in Ohme will start a Max Charge and begin charging immediately.
Tap ‘Stop’ to pause charging or ‘Delay Charge’ to choose how long you’d like Ohme to wait before charging can start.

Step 2
When charging is paused, you’ll see ‘Charging Paused’ in the top left and ‘Charging Stopped’ under the session stats.
If you would like to delay the start of the charge tap ‘Delay Charge’.

Step 3
Use the Ohme Home Pro buttons to increase or decrease the delay in 30-minute increments. When you’re finished tap done.

Step 4
Once the charge has been delayed, you’ll see ‘Delayed Charging’ in the top left, with ‘Delayed until’ showing you what time Ohme is due to start charging.





Intelligent Octopus Go x Ohme
We're still in the early stages of this project so there's a few important things to note upfront.
• You'll need to use the Ohme app to control your charging; after you've signed up we'll disable the Intelligent Octopus Go app.
• The Ohmes app's price cap feature should be switched off, as all smart charging will be billed at the off-peak rate.
• While you can have multiple charging schedules in the Ohme app, we suggest only having one active schedule; Intelligent Octopus Go will do the hard work in the background.
• You need to set an active schedule in the Ohme app for the time you want your EV charged by, ideally between 4am - 11am. If you don't do this, the Ohme charger will default to 'dumb' charging and you'll be paying a higher rate to charge your EV.
• To override smart charging, you'll need to go into the active schedule in your Ohme app and toggle max charging to ON. This will probably cost you more, but get your car charged sooner.


Charge Schedules
1. Charge Preferences. Here you’ll be able to turn on and off three charging preferences; Save money, Optimise for battery life and Favour green energy.
2. Avoid Peak Charging. This setting will be off while a schedule is enabled. If there are no active schedules, Ohme will automatically enable this setting. When enabled, Ohme will prevent charging between 8am-11am and 4pm-10pm, when demand on the electricity grid is at its highest. This helps to ease pressure on the electricity grid.
3. Toggle to enable or disable the schedule.
4. A schedule. Showing the name, amount to charge, departure time and days of the week the schedule is set for.
5. Add a new schedule.

Charge Preferences
With Save money enabled, Ohme will automatically prioritise charging at the cheapest rates for you.
Optimise for battery life charges your EV at the lowest possible rate to still achieve your charge target, and if you plug-in with a really low battery, it will charge your EV up to 20% right away.
Favour green energy will prioritise charging your EV when more energy from renewables is available on the electricity grid.
Select a schedule to make changes
1. Tap to delete schedule
2. Schedule name
3. Set the amount of charge to be added to your EV’s current state of charge, or set a target state of charge if you’re logged into your car account
4. Select the days of the week you would like the schedule to run
5. Set the departure time for when you’re going to unplug
6. Enable Preconditioning. Ohme will deliver power to your EV for between 5-60 minutes at the end of your charge session. The allows your EV to preheat or cool down as per settings you have enabled in your car or car app, without using any of the energy in your battery to do so.

If you have multiple schedules this shouldn't cause any major issues. However, for now we suggest having just one active schedule, and let Intelligent Octopus Go do the work in the background.

Any settings are passed through to us, so there shouldn't be any major conflicts.

As Intelligent Octopus Go only has two rates - peak / off-peak - we suggest that the Ohme app's price cap feature should be switched off, as all smart charging will be billed at the off-peak rate.