Toyota HomeCharge unit and Octopus Intelligent Go

[Martbassman]

Just about to sign the deal on a new BZ4X but can’t seem to find out if the supplied Toyota home charger will work with Octopus Intelligent Go. Anyone out there know the answer?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Have you tried the following: Intelligent Octopus Go | Octopus Energy - Will it work for me

[Martbassman]

23 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Have you tried the following: Intelligent Octopus Go | Octopus Energy - Will it work for me

I have but can’t find the Toyota charger in there so don’t know if that means it’s compatible or not.

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Martbassman said:

I have but can’t find the Toyota charger in there so don’t know if that means it’s compatible or not.

It means that it is not compatible - at least not currently. If you want the Inteligent Octopus tariff you will need to choose a compatible charger (from Octopus).

[Martbassman]

1 hour ago, philip42h said:

It means that it is not compatible - at least not currently. If you want the Inteligent Octopus tariff you will need to choose a compatible charger (from Octopus).

Thanks….fortunately I haven’t signed the paperwork yet. May move to plug in RAV4 instead.

[JonathanP]

I think the unit is a rebadged British gas unit so I doubt it will work with octopus unfortunately 

[Martbassman]

Found out Octopus Go is available in my area so 8.5p kWh night tariff - so probably still doable.

[adidev]

18 minutes ago, JonathanP said:

I think the unit is a rebadged British gas unit so I doubt it will work with octopus unfortunately 

What I found is that is Hive charger, but not specified. From the photos it looks like EV Charger not the new EO Mini Pro 3, but we all know, the photos say one, delivered might be different. I applied for the Toyota charger, will post here if I find some more info.

[philip42h]

8 hours ago, adidev said:

What I found is that is Hive charger ...

Not so - British Gas used to install Hive units, but the new HomeCharge system is an ABB Terra 3 home charger. Its key benefit is that it integrates with My Toyota App ...

[adidev]

27 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Not so - British Gas used to install Hive units, but the new HomeCharge system is an ABB Terra 3 home charger. Its key benefit is that it integrates with My Toyota App ...

You're absolutely right. I forgot that but remember now saying to my wife that they are using ABB.

[Andy BZ4x]

Octopus Go tariff works fine for me, especially now they've increased it to 5 hours, (4 hours was a little short for me).

[adidev]

3 hours ago, philip42h said:

Not so - British Gas used to install Hive units, but the new HomeCharge system is an ABB Terra 3 home charger. Its key benefit is that it integrates with My Toyota App ...

It hurts, I have just been thinking and wonder how it is as in response to ordering Toyota charger, Hive got in touch. Does it mean that Hive will install ABB unit or, I'm the "unlucky" one, and will have Hive charger not ABB? This all is so confusing 🤔

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, adidev said:

It hurts, I have just been thinking and wonder how it is as in response to ordering Toyota charger, Hive got in touch. Does it mean that Hive will install ABB unit or, I'm the "unlucky" one, and will have Hive charger not ABB? This all is so confusing 🤔

Honestly, I haven't (much of) a clue ... This was discussed in the RAV4 forum and I posted a link to: Toyota launches new home charging box with British Gas which implies that the offer from Toyota is for the ABB unit (linked to the My Toyota App).

However:

1. What you get may well depend on what you ordered and when you ordered it.
2. When first released and installed there was no support for the charger on the App (rendering it delightfully useless) - this is now resolved!

I'm slightly surprised that you would be contacted by Hive - I would expect contact from British Gas installers, but quite how they would identify themselves is anyone's guess ...

Good luck!

[adidev]

16 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Honestly, I haven't (much of) a clue ... This was discussed in the RAV4 forum and I posted a link to: Toyota launches new home charging box with British Gas which implies that the offer from Toyota is for the ABB unit (linked to the My Toyota App).

However:

1. What you get may well depend on what you ordered and when you ordered it.
2. When first released and installed there was no support for the charger on the App (rendering it delightfully useless) - this is now resolved!

I'm slightly surprised that you would be contacted by Hive - I would expect contact from British Gas installers, but quite how they would identify themselves is anyone's guess ...

Good luck!

I ordered it a couple of weeks ago. Toyota said that the supplier will contact me direct. And Hive did contact me a few days after. It's annoying, how fragmented is the EV charging market - some work with this, some with that. Mine charger was on the offer from Toyota, so I can't moan too much, as it's "free". I'll wait and see.

[Martbassman]

Ultimately I decided that I couldn’t face the potential earache from she who must be obeyed if the charging side proved unruly so I switched my order to a RAV4 plug in GR sport. I’m poorer but….

Still, I get the free charger and will most likely go full EV in a couple of years.

[Gray86]

IOG only works with Ohme & Zappi chargers I think. We have the former, and it’s fantastic, can add a certain amount of charge (Useful with my wife’s EV that doesn’t have a charge limit you can set). The Ohme works around the grid so it’s a more ‘sustainable’ way of charging & helps minimise the risk of blackouts as more & more EVs are charged at night. 

[ChrisJohn]

I have just had a "free" Toyota branded ABB Terra AC Wallbox 7.0 kW installed by the Scottish Gas engineer ("Hive" is the division of British Gas responsible for smart technology). He failed to get it registered on the Toyota (Android) app and was been told by Toyota EV support that the app is being rewritten as they know there is a problem. He also tried with my iPad and the IOS app failed as well. Toyota CS told me that their branded charger is not supported (and there are no plans for it to be supported) by the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff as it would mean giving Octopus access to their vehicle telematics. What I would love know is to what extent is the charger customised for Toyota as the ABB Terra AC Wallbox 7.0 kW itself is supported by Octopus. Can I ignore the Toyota app as it cannot find the charger at present, and just treat it as a standard ABB unit?

I should add (as per my profile) that I have now a C-HR PHEV. I am in an all electric retirement property and am looking at installing some High Heat Retention Heaters instead of the standard electric panel heaters to maximise the use of the low night time rates. These heaters require 7 hours to fully charge whereas the fall back tariff of the "non intelligent" Octopus Go tariff only gives 5 hours.  I would prefer to be able to use the intelligent tariff which has a long period at lower rates.

[forkingabout]

On 7/29/2024 at 6:48 PM, ChrisJohn said:

Toyota CS told me that their branded charger is not supported (and there are no plans for it to be supported) by the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff as it would mean giving Octopus access to their vehicle telematics.

It would seem Toyota don't want the same headache that JLR had earlier this year.

JLR sent out a software update to increase security but at the same time it stopped third parties like Octopus from accessing the EV vehicle telematics so killed the Intelligent Octopus Go for owners. 

 

[ChrisJohn]

I am now on the more basic Octopus Go tariff which so far, seems to be working well. It will be interesting to see when the first bill is issued what the split is as the IHD cannot cope with this more complex tariff.

[Andy BZ4x]

On 8/20/2024 at 7:29 AM, ChrisJohn said:

I am now on the more basic Octopus Go tariff which so far, seems to be working well. It will be interesting to see when the first bill is issued what the split is as the IHD cannot cope with this more complex tariff.

You need an Octopus home mini - this gives you live usage, also i thought they had updated the IHD so that it does now give accurate spend for the Octopus Go tariff.

https://octopus.energy/blog/octopus-home-mini/

[ChrisJohn]

Only this week I had a message from Octopus stating "Unfortunately, the In-Home Display (IHD) you currently have won't be able to keep up with the split tariff information. It's not advanced enough to accurately reflect the different rates you're on, which is why it’s still showing the previous standard tariff. To effectively track your consumption and usage through the app, you would need to use the Octopus Home Mini instead."

I do have a "mini" which is great for seeing live usage. What I really want to be able to track is the number of kWh I use at the two different rates. I guess I will have to wait for the bills to start appearing since I changed tariffs. I have the car Battery charging starting at 00.30 and when I get up in the morning I can easily see that is has been successfully completed via the Octopus app.

[philip42h]

30 minutes ago, Andy BZ4x said:

You need an Octopus home mini - this gives you live usage, also i thought they had updated the IHD so that it does now give accurate spend for the Octopus Go tariff.

https://octopus.energy/blog/octopus-home-mini/

An interesting post Andy, thanks ... 🙂

It would appear that the energy supply industry has learned from the SMETS 1 > SMETS 2 debacle and has come up with ways to make supplier lock-in more solid and reduce effective competition in the market.

Oh well, that's progress ... 😉