Octopus partners with smart EV cable Ohme

Octopus Energy has announced a partnership with smart electric vehicle (EV) charging cable Ohme for customers on the suppliers’ Agile Octopus tariff.

The renewable energy supplier said the deal will enable its customers to utilise smart charging in their homes when electricity is cheapest.

Charging is operated via an app – when the customer is ready to charge they enter the amount they would like to charge their vehicle by and at what time before Ohme manages the process by using Agile’s application programming interface (API)

By optimising charging in this way, both companies estimate customers using the charger in parallel with Octopus’ Agile tariff “could save £300 a year on their charging costs” in comparison to  charging on a typical industry standard variable tariff (SVT).

David Watson, chief executive of Ohme, said flexible home charging “is the key” to mass EV adoption.

Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, said: “Octopus is relentlessly driving easy-to-use technologies which help customers reduce costs by embracing the smart grid.

“Delivering such a smart electricity system will be fundamental to the transition to sustainable energy.

“The partnership with Ohme is a really exciting addition to the growing array of Agile-enabled products.

“It demonstrates again the opportunity to go green whilst cut costs and tackles the outdated notion that we can’t afford to be sustainable. Indeed, we believe we can’t afford not to be.”

Fiona Howarth, chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles, said: “Many EV drivers plug in their car at home – just like their mobile phone – and start each day with a full charge.

“Doing so is hugely convenient, and now the Ohme and Octopus partnership is a huge step forward to offer all EV drivers green electricity at the cheapest times, by using technology to optimise charging for them.”