Octopus Electric Universe. One app for nearly all chargers?

[TheDeuce]

Anyone else been gifted a surprise £10 to sign up to this new service? I just had a quick look at the app and so far as I can tell all of our local chargers are included, this could really simplify things.

The benefits seem to be:

- One app for all chargers
- Billing direct to your Octopus account
- Comes with a tap to charge card instead of needing to use the app to start the charging, which has been a pain for some chargers in the past.

[paradigital]

I keep mentioning it to people any time a “charging is a mess of apps” thread pops up, but few seem to reply or comment regarding it.

I’ve been using it since it was branded Electric Juice, and yes it’s very convenient and seems to cover 90% of the chargers I pass by.

If you don’t have an Octopus energy account you can still have an Electric Universe account tied to a credit card IIRC.

[TheDeuce]

paradigital said:

I keep mentioning it to people any time a “charging is a mess of apps” thread pops up, but few seem to reply or comment regarding it.

I’ve been using it since it was branded Electric Juice, and yes it’s very convenient and seems to cover 90% of the chargers I pass by.

If you don’t have an Octopus energy account you can still have an Electric Universe account tied to a credit card IIRC.

I'd honestly never heard of the service before Octopus mailed me the card and info with £10 credit today. I guess this is their big push to get a lot of people to sign up ASAP.

And you're right, you don't need an octopus account, although if you do have one you can use the same sign in for the app.

[Minsky]

I have just downloaded it but will promptly delete it. It has loads of chargers missing - including all but one of the chargers near me and my favourite chargers (Gridserve). The one they do have (Genie Point - 50kw - the only 50Kw in the area) has been broken since summer despite me reporting it at least twice.

My go to is Zap Map for a list of everything. Plugsurfing is then checked as I still have a large credit provided by Polestar (thanks Polestar - you are amazing). I also have Bonnet - they have got all the Genie Points (which have loads of 22Kw chargers in my area) and now have a subscription for a couple of pounds a month where you then get 10% off the price. They are missing some like Instavolt (which are good but very expensive).

If we could just combine all three that would be great.

[TheDeuce]

Minsky said:

I have just downloaded it but will promptly delete it. It has loads of chargers missing - including all but one of the chargers near me and my favourite chargers (Gridserve). The one they do have (Genie Point - 50kw - the only 50Kw in the area) has been broken since summer despite me reporting it at least twice.

My go to is Zap Map for a list of everything. Plugsurfing is then checked as I still have a large credit provided by Polestar (thanks Polestar - you are amazing). I also have Bonnet - they have got all the Genie Points (which have loads of 22Kw chargers in my area) and now have a subscription for a couple of pounds a month where you then get 10% off the price. They are missing some like Instavolt (which are good but very expensive).

If we could just combine all three that would be great.

I suppose this is Octopus's stab at making an app that they hope will become 'the standard' and eventually all networks will sign up to it. I'm sure the others in the marketplace all want to be that standard solution too - and I just hope one of them gets there sooner rather than later!

Although I suspect that in the end I'll mostly use Tesla chargers when they fully open up to all EV's. They seem to have superchargers along pretty much any route I can imagine travelling.

[cheeky_chops]

Hmm, surprised i havent got email as im on ocotpus with a EV tariff

If its a "generic" code could someone post with link?

[RobbyJ]

To be fair the Shell Recharge app and free card have been fantastic too. Used the card on chargers that weren't even in the app and had no instructions to work them.

[rewild]

https://xkcd.com/927/

Substitute "standards" for "apps" and you've got my opinion on the subject.

ZapMap and a contactless payment card will do fine.

[TheDeuce]

rewild said:

https://xkcd.com/927/

Substitute "standards" for "apps" and you've got my opinion on the subject.

ZapMap and a contactless payment card will do fine.

So far as I understand it, a big part of the Octopus solution is to also allow contactless tapping of chargers that don't natively accept contactless card payments. IE: Older chargers that can't process card charges can be updated to allow recognition of the Octopus Electric Universe tap card to allow charging and billing. As opposed to diving into an app.

[JonnyVTEC]

It’s work well in France too and rest of Europe I assume.

Probably had my card for a year now and I also use it as the RFID for units like GeniePoint after linking it on a first charge to your account. Takes a lot of hassle out.

[phil4]

TheDeuce said:

- Billing direct to your Octopus account

I'd heard about that, but when one landed through my mailbox, and I set it up, it wouldn't do anything unless I added a credit card. And that's with it knowing I'm an Octopus customer (ie. shows on my Octopus dashboard, with credit)... so how does that work?

[TheDeuce]

phil4 said:

TheDeuce said:

- Billing direct to your Octopus account

I'd heard about that, but when one landed through my mailbox, and I set it up, it wouldn't do anything unless I added a credit card. And that's with it knowing I'm an Octopus customer (ie. shows on my Octopus dashboard, with credit)... so how does that work?

I just signed in to the app with my octopus account credentials and in account>payment methods I selected direct debit.

[phil4]

TheDeuce said:

I just signed in to the app with my octopus account credentials and in account>payment methods I selected direct debit.

Shame that never did that for me... forced me to put a CC in. And even now, despite listing my Octopus account number, showing in the dashboard etc... can't add DD, can't remove CC without adding another CC. I'd tap up Octopus customer support, but I hear they're bit too busy for minor stuff right now.

Cheers

[Mark-ri571]

TheDeuce said:

I just signed in to the app with my octopus account credentials and in account>payment methods I selected direct debit.

Same for me - after sign up it just automatically selected direct debit but allows me to change to credit card. Shame my local Pod Point chargers aren’t included - all the local chargers on the App are 75p a kWh whereas Pod Point start at 28p and go up to 50p. Will use the free £10 but continue to charge for 4 hours overnight at home at 12p per kWh.

[sjg]

Been using it since very early days, it's particularly good for having lots of the smaller or local networks on there which won't necessarily do contactless. Did some family visiting in Coventry and meant a hassle-free slow charging session for a few hours at one of the on-street ones.

None of these will get to blanket coverage but hopefully this gives momentum for networks to open up to others like this - some like Osprey have been great at it from the start.

As well as taking it off your Octopus bill if you use them, they do excellent automatic receipts if you need them for work. Nice PDF with location, time, session details, cost, etc emailed to you straight after.

[Mark-ri571]

cheeky_chops said:

Hmm, surprised i havent got email as im on ocotpus with a EV tariff

If its a "generic" code could someone post with link?

No it’s an individual code. The card and code comes out to you by letter and not e mail. Due to postal strikes your letter might be delayed. To get the £10 you need to redeem the code by 31st December- after that it’s just £5.