Octopus launches its first ever EV home charger - you could claim 5,000 free miles if you do this one thing
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Octopus Energy is expanding its EV charging empire by launching its first electric car home charger, and it's offering a free driving freebie if you sign up.
Octopus, which recently became the largest domestic household energy supplier in Britain, has designed and built the Octopus Charge EV smart charger to add to its EV hardware stable.
To celebrate, Octopus is giving customers up to 5,000 miles of free charging as a joining bonus - enough to get to Land’s End to John o’ Groats and back again with miles to spare. But there's a snag...
The offer is only available to the first 100 customers, so you'll need to be quick off the mark to snap up the free miles.
However, Octopus Charge is fully integrated with the UK's most popular EV tariff, Intelligent Octopus Go, allowing electric car owners to charge for a little as 2p a mile.
So regardless of the sign up deal, big savings can be made if you charge smartly with the home charger.
Octopus Energy has launched its first EV home charger, adding to its EV energy stable. To celebrate this the first 100 customers will be able to claim 5,000 free charging miles
Costing £899 untethered (cable unattached) and £999 tethered (cable attached, Octopus promises that its new charger will 'shake up the electric car game' with its sleek design and super-smart charging, and make 'driving electric simpler, smarter and greener than ever'.
The charger links up seamlessly with the Octopus Energy app and its tech platform Kraken, so it will know to smart charge automatically when electricity is at its cheapest and greenest.
Customers just have to set a charging time and amount, and the smart tech takes care of the rest.
Solar panel customers will be able to use Octopus Charge to power their EVs with any surplus solar electricity, turning free, home-grown electricity into miles on the road.
While smart integration of Intelligent Octopus Go is already covered, other smart tariff integration isn't set up yet but Octopus says it will follow soon.
Already, just over two years after launching, Intelligent Octopus Go is the UK's most popular EV tariff with 200,000 customers. Over 280 EV and charger models are compatible, making it a go to choice for EV owners and manufacturers.
It also has built-in 4G, and fits snugly into tight spaces thanks to a uniquely designed charging cable holster.
Octopus Charge has built-in 4G, and fits snugly into tight spaces thanks to a uniquely designed charging cable holster. It has Intelligent Octopus Go already integrated
Intelligent Octopus Go is the UK's most popular EV tariff with 200,000 customers. Over 280 EV and charger models are compatible
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Chief Product Officer at Octopus Energy, said: 'Charging at home is already better than queueing up at the petrol station – and now we’ve made it even simpler.
'Octopus Energy was the first energy company to launch a smart tariff, an EV tariff, an export tariff, and our very own heat pump.
'We're delighted to add Octopus Charge to our stable, initially designed to work seamlessly with Intelligent Octopus Go, and with other features to follow shortly.'
Initially Octopus Charge will be exclusively available for customers of Octopus Electric Vehicles.
It will then launch to all Octopus Energy customers in August.
Drivers can register their interest in Octopus Charge online to be one of the first 100 to claim 5,000 free miles.
Owning an EV and smart charging at home can save you a whopping £1,327.92 a year compared to driving a petrol car
Last year, the Andersen Index compared a 1.2-litre Vauxhall Corsa to a Vauxhall Corsa Electric over a monthly average of 1,000 miles to see how much EV drivers could theoretically save.
Live pricing from six popular energy providers at the time (including Ovo Energy, Octopus Energy, British Gas and e.on) gave an average smart charge rate of 7.9p/kWh.
When multiplied by the 230kWh of battery energy required to power the Corsa E for 1,000 miles, an EV owner would pay £18.17 a month, or £218.04 a year.
An equivalent petrol Corsa would need around 87 litres of unleaded petrol to drive 1,000 miles (at 52mpg, that's 11.42 miles a litre).
Using the RAC average at the time the research was conducted (148p a litre), a petrol driver would have been forking out £128.76 per month, or £1,545.12 a year.
That's a difference of £1,327.92 that could be saved by driving an EV and smart charging at home.
People who don't use a smart charger, or don't take advantage of EV-specific tariffs, pay a monthly cost of £56.35, based on Ofgem's energy price cap average standard rate tariff of 24.5p/kWh. Each year this EV driver would pay £676.20.
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