By Tom Seymour

Last updated: Sep 3rd 2024

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Looking to take advantage of the low BIK rate an EV has to offer, Andrew brought an Ohme ePod to charge his Toyota BZ4X

Are you looking to take advantage of the low charging costs Intelligent Octopus Go offers but don't have a compatible vehicle? With the Ohme Home Pro or Ohme ePod that's not a problem, thanks to having Intelligent Octopus Go compatibility built-in.

To find out if your vehicle is compatible with Intelligent Octopus Go whilst also seeing how much money could be saved by switching to an EV energy tariff, be sure to try our cost to charge tool!

Switching to an EV and choosing a Home charger

What made you choose the vehicle that you bought?

I'm self-employed so I was looking at the tax benefits that are available for choosing an EV.

It seemed like too good an opportunity to get very low benefit-kind-kind and it made perfect sense to go for an EV for my next vehicle.

I already had a Toyota hybrid, but I had a basket of models to consider, including the Volvo EX30, Polestar 2, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Toyota bZ4X. I couldn't test drive the EX30 as that was my first pick, but they didn't have any in the UK yet. So I had a go in the others and it came down to the Toyota having the ride, interior and price that worked best for what I needed.

What kind of mileage do you do and do you think you'll be using the public networks too?

We do around 8,000 miles a year.

The majority of my trips are local, but there are some trips that I do further afield.

I have a destination charger that I can use at one of my regular stop offs and then I might have to use some rapid chargers on visits to family, but it's not something I have any concerns about at all.

What made you decide to get a home EV charge point installed?

I have the facility to park off-road and I'll be charging 90% of the time anyway, so it just made perfect sense to put in a home charger.

I've switched to Octopus to take advantage of Intelligent Octopus Go specifically for this switch to EV as my previous energy provider didn't offer something like that.

Did you initially find the world of EV charging at home confusing?

I like to do my research. I'm fully aware of the hysteria whipped up in the press and click bait articles.

I didn't really have any concerns and I work in tech anyway so I felt comfortable making the switch to EV.

Finding us and browsing our website

How did you find Smart Home Charge?

As part of researching and reading up I watched a video with the EV Man and he was sponsored by Smart Home Charge so that prompted me to check them out. I was also looking up Government approved installers. I compared across three quotes, including Smart Home Charge.

What made Smart Home Charge stand out from other installers?

Others weren’t as clear about installation costs, whereas Smart Home Charge let me know the price I would pay and I felt it was in line with my expectations and inspired confidence with the price quoted would be the price I would pay.

How was your experience when browsing our website?

There are a lot of guides and help on the website so I felt the company was very supportive on my journey from start to finish. There’s all the information before you order, then clarity around the process of installation and then helpful advice of living with an EV which I appreciated too.

What made you choose the charger you bought? Is design important?

I'd narrowed my options down to the Ohme ePod. I wanted something untethered, but my friend who already has an EV had also already switched to Octopus Intelligent Go and had an Ohme as well, so there was a recommendation from a friend that influenced my decision as well. I did a little bit of research about how the charger communicates with the meter and the energy provider. I liked that level of intelligence, integration and management with the charging sessions that I felt I would get with the Ohme. The ePod is a very small and discreet box and you hardly notice it on the front of the house, which is something that appealed to me too.

Did you browse our accessories whilst on our website?

I bought a 5 metre cable. I wanted to make sure I had a spare one and it made sense to pick that up at the same time too.

The Installation Experience

How did you get on with the online site survey? Did you find it easy to follow?

All really easy to follow. Much more preferable to having to arrange for someone to come round and do a physical quote at the house. I like that I’m in control of that process. It just took a few minutes to take some pictures of the metre box and a quick video of the cable route. As soon as I submitted it, it came back that it was a standard install and the price quoted is what I would pay.

How would you rate your installer(s) and the work they did?

The installer called me a few days before to introduce himself and arranged a day that would work. He actually wanted to do it on a Sunday morning, which I thought was unusual, but it worked with us. He'd looked at the pictures before on the survey and he just got on with it.

Would you recommend us?

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Smart Home Charge. My experience was really good.

I anticipated that it might be a long drawn out process to get a home charger installed, but it was much more straightforward and I was kept updated on the progress which gave me a lot of confidence.