Intelligent charging or not...

[thegadgetman_uk]

I'm looking at getting an RZ and am an Octopus energy customer.

So I've read about the Octopus EV tariffs and found that Lexus is not a supported manufacturer but it would work as long as I use a supported charging point (Ohme or myenergi).

Having dug a bit deeper I see the charging point vendors don't support Lexus either meaning they simply let charge flow to a schedule without communicating with the car and understanding things like charging level.

The issue then is that the car will always charge to 100% (which isn't good for the battery) as neither Octopus nor the charging point know how full the car is - is that right? Are there ways around this?

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

[HGUS]

2 hours ago, thegadgetman_uk said:

I'm looking at getting an RZ and am an Octopus energy customer.

So I've read about the Octopus EV tariffs and found that Lexus is not a supported manufacturer but it would work as long as I use a supported charging point (Ohme or myenergi).

Having dug a bit deeper I see the charging point vendors don't support Lexus either meaning they simply let charge flow to a schedule without communicating with the car and understanding things like charging level.

The issue then is that the car will always charge to 100% (which isn't good for the battery) as neither Octopus nor the charging point know how full the car is - is that right? Are there ways around this?

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

May I enquire, why isn't charging to 100% good for a Battery?

I have an RX450h+ and a myenergi zappi and Octopus Intelligent Go.

During the day, when sunny, I charge to 100% from solar panels.  My Lexus app tells me when the car has completed charging to 100%.

Overnight, I charge from the solar storage batteries and then if not enough juice available it switches to cheap rate (between 23:00ish - 05:00ish) from the grid. Again, my Lexus app tells me when the car has completed charging to 100%.

I don't appear to experience any problems and it all happens automatically.

[ColinBarber]

1 hour ago, HGUS said:

May I enquire, why isn't charging to 100% good for a battery?

Letting a Lithium Ion Battery sit at 100% will accelerate aging of the Battery and you will therefore lose capacity faster than if you try to keep it to 80% or below (and ideally don't let it drop below 20%). The difference is minimal, so unless you are keeping the vehicle for 5+ years it isn't an issue, and even then you are only going to lose a few percentage points more than if you avoided 100%.

If you need to go on a long journey, then charging to 100% is fine, but ideally you want to start driving soon after (i.e. don't charge it to 100% and let it sit for 8 hours before driving).

[ColinBarber]

3 hours ago, thegadgetman_uk said:

The issue then is that the car will always charge to 100% (which isn't good for the battery) as neither Octopus nor the charging point know how full the car is - is that right? Are there ways around this?

Yes, I believe the charger cannot tell what the Battery SOC is - unlike DC charging, the car doesn't send back data to the charger.

I thought (though I may be wrong) that when Octopus is controlling the charger and not the car that you set the amount of extra charge you require rather than the total amount. e.g. if you were at 50% and you want to go to 80% then you set the charge for +30%. You might want to speak to Octopus to confirm.

[HGUS]

I've pulled this from my Octopus App if it is of help/interest to anyone ....

My charge is set to 100% but it can be altered to lower.

[ColinBarber]

3 hours ago, HGUS said:

My charge is set to 100% but it can be altered to lower.

Thanks for this, it is as I thought - you state how much charge you want to add. You need to know how much charge the car currently has and then do a quick bit of maths if you don't want to end up at 100%.

[AWC]

9 hours ago, thegadgetman_uk said:

I'm looking at getting an RZ and am an Octopus energy customer.

So I've read about the Octopus EV tariffs and found that Lexus is not a supported manufacturer but it would work as long as I use a supported charging point (Ohme or myenergi).

Having dug a bit deeper I see the charging point vendors don't support Lexus either meaning they simply let charge flow to a schedule without communicating with the car and understanding things like charging level.

The issue then is that the car will always charge to 100% (which isn't good for the battery) as neither Octopus nor the charging point know how full the car is - is that right? Are there ways around this?

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

You tell smart charger about your car, Battery capacity etc. and it does all the controlling. If you are concerned about keeping the charge to below 80% then you will need to tell it the current state of charge and what you want it charged to but I just connect it and let it do its thing. I've spoken to both the dealer and Lexus UK about keeping the charge state to a given maximum routinely and they say there is no recommended charge state to work to so I'll continue to charge to 100% whenever I want to.

[HGUS]

17 minutes ago, AWC said:

You tell smart charger about your car, battery capacity etc. and it does all the controlling. If you are concerned about keeping the charge to below 80% then you will need to tell it the current state of charge and what you want it charged to but I just connect it and let it do its thing. I've spoken to both the dealer and Lexus UK about keeping the charge state to a given maximum routinely and they say there is no recommended charge state to work to so I'll continue to charge to 100% whenever I want to.

I'm not going to calculate each time.  I'll also continue to charge to 100%.  For me it's plug in and I expect it to be 100% on my return.