Charging at Home

[trebor]

EV newbie - collecting my Born next week and having the Cupra provided Ohme charger installed.

Do I set an overnight charge period via the Ohme App or the Cupra App ?? I am kind of assuming they talk to each other so whichever app is set it will charge?

 

[James_R]

My best advice would be to set any charge schedule through the vehicle/Cupra app rather than the charger app.

 

[trebor]

Thanks, I'll try that way first.
I will need a pretty full charge the first evening after collection as have a 270 mile round trip to cover the next day.

Charger being installed Monday.
Collect Car (V1 79kWh) Tuesday afternoon. Charge up overnight.
Real world range test Wednesday.

 

[jezyg]

EV newbie - collecting my Born next week and having the Cupra provided Ohme charger installed.

Do I set an overnight charge period via the Ohme App or the Cupra App ?? I am kind of assuming they talk to each other so whichever app is set it will charge?

I have set via the Ohme app for overnight, you have Smart which uses the cheapest rate/chosen time and then max to charge quickly straight away. The Ohme app is pretty decent, as I have found the Cupra app freezes or crashes occasionally.

If using scheduled smart charging just plug in and the Ohme app will start charging at your chosen time and ensure completion at your chosen time or during your off-peak rate if you have one.

My bug bear is that you have the car, a EV charger and supplier all interconnected with separate apps or preferences adding unnecessary complexity to the charging. The Born is designed to just plug and charge at least hence using the Ohme app not the Cupra app to control charging schedules. However, I am in early days having only had the charger finally installed this week. You are only every one update from a software disaster these days...

 

[trebor]

I’m on Eon Next Drive so currently cheap rate 00:00 to 07:00.
I know it’s not long enough for a full charge from empty but I don’t generally have long distances to do day after day so hopefully home charging will work out OK.

 

[trebor]

Have to admit I am a bit nervous about EV life, massive petrolhead and have not looked favourable on EVs, still can’t really believe I’ve done this, but as they say ‘can’t knock it till you’ve tried it’ … but kind of looking forward to learning about EV life, driving to get the range when necessary etc

 

[jezyg]

Have to admit I am a bit nervous about EV life, massive petrolhead and have not looked favourable on EVs, still can’t really believe I’ve done this, but as they say ‘can’t knock it till you’ve tried it’ … but kind of looking forward to learning about EV life, driving to get the range when necessary etc

I am exactly the same, but have found the Born to be a decent drive and by far one of the better EVs to drive. The weight and lack of engine does remove some of the engagement of a petrol car. Offset by instant power which is great for quickly pulling out of a road or roundabout and running cost. We are now £6 a week in electricity compared to £20 in petrol and no need to visit a petrol station.

Although, I still have my DSG Beezer for some thrummy three cylinder fun, as use that for my longer work drives

 

[trebor]

That agrees with quite a lot of the Born reviews I have seen which do suggest it is a decent drive.
I had planned to try electric with our smaller daily runaround car first and keep the larger ICE car (the Leon Cupra) for longer duties and work trips, but it hasn’t worked out that way for a couple of reasons. The current offers on the Born just made it the right time to give it a try.
There will be times I have to charge out on the road, like holidays etc and the longer work trips but with the 79 kWh battery I hope these will be the exception to the rule and I can charge at home 95% of the time.

I do have a Lotus Elise for weekend fun and raw driving engagement though

 

[jezyg]

That agrees with quite a lot of the Born reviews I have seen which do suggest it is a decent drive.
I had planned to try electric with our smaller daily runaround car first and keep the larger ICE car (the Leon Cupra) for longer duties and work trips, but it hasn’t worked out that way for a couple of reasons. The current offers on the Born just made it the right time to give it a try.
There will be times I have to charge out on the road, like holidays etc and the longer work trips but with the 79 kWh battery I hope these will be the exception to the rule and I can charge at home 95% of the time.

I do have a Lotus Elise for weekend fun and raw driving engagement though

Offers with the government grant are the best I have seen, we were not far off 11K with the charger thrown in for free. I used Autotrader to find a stock car in white or blue after the local dealer being as useless and arrogant as always... Then our Mini Cooper was sold for £300 less than we paid for it new 9 months ago.

Wow, a Lotus Elise is a proper drivers car! Almost the other extreme of the Born being so light and chuckable in a spirited drive

 

[trebor]

Offers with the government grant are the best I have seen, we were not far off 11K with the charger thrown in for free. I used Autotrader to find a stock car in white or blue after the local dealer being as useless and arrogant as always... Then our Mini Cooper was sold for £300 less than we paid for it new 9 months ago.

Wow, a Lotus Elise is a proper drivers car! Almost the other extreme of the Born being so light and chuckable in a spirited drive

I found a stock car that was already UK bound via my local dealer (only made the decision like 2 weeks ago) as was the only way to take advantage of all the offers. On the 79 kWh it was slightly less but still like £9k towards it
Traded my 2020 Leon Cupra 290 and after deposit this returns me £6k cashback (that’s the en-suite refurbishment covered so the wife is happy).
Been putting at least £55 petrol in that a week, so looking forward to that saving as should be sub £10 for home charging.

Yeah the Elise is something special, 920kg, and 240 bhp supercharged Toyota 4-pot, but not much by way of interior, not even carpets! Not for everyone, it rattles, it leaks, it’s tricky to get in and out of, you have to work hard to drive it quick (lots of gear shifts to get the best from the engine) but it is so engaging and rewarding.

 

[trebor]

Not off to a good start.
Ohme install was pushed from AM to PM at 0930 then cancelled around lunchtime.
Hope they turn up tomorrow morning else I'll have the car with no way to charge it at home overnight ready for my 260 mile trip on Weds.

 

[James_R]

Do you have a three pin granny cable? If you start charging with it now, you might have enough to get you where you're going by Wednesday

 

[trebor]

Do you have a three pin granny cable? If you start charging with it now, you might have enough to get you where you're going by Wednesday

LOL. Don't collect the car until 4pm tomorrow!

 

[NeilMcK]

Good luck, it can be daunting at first, when we first got my wife an electric mini we freaked every time the battery got below 50%, now we're like "10%? that's loads" - so it'll become the norm.

For me, I set up the charge through the Ohme app, just left the car to "charge immediately" - which is for AC charging only, DC at a rapid charger is always "charge immediately".

I set the Ohme to charge at my cheap rate (Octopus go) and it charges from 00.30 to 05.30 - my Born has the 59kWh battery, so 5 hours at 7 and a bit kWh will be about 36 -37kWh into the battery which is more than enough for my normal running.

One thing I did notice is that pairing the car with the Ohme app did cause issues, so I resolved that by unpairing the car. Not sure if other folks have encountered this, but it's made me hesitant to move to intelligent Octopus go.

Hope it all gets sorted for you soon - for your journey you can always rapid charge it (pricey, but do-able).

 

[trebor]

Ohme installed this morning, car collected.
Setup a scheduled charge in the Ohms App for overnight, then it said I had to turn on cabin pre-conditioning in the car app.
I did this but now the car app and the Ohme seem to have schedules but slightly differently.
Was trying to remove and start again. I can delete the car schedule easy enough, but can't find a way to do the same in the Ohme - I can pause but can't find a way to remove it, or it that the car pushing it through into a schedule ?

That's after it took me 10 mins to get the charging cable unplugged when I needed to nip to the shops a bit ago

 

[trebor]

Charging didn’t happen, car was showing a low voltage battery low error. I manually started the charger and it charged udidn’t precondition.

124 miles this morning has used 40% of charge, car reporting 3.8m/kWh. Was cold (5 degs) when I set off and after 10 miles the range had dropped over 30 - guessing cold battery efficiency and heating.

Will see tomorrow whether I think a quick stop and charge will be needed to get back home.

 

[jezyg]

Ohme installed this morning, car collected.
Setup a scheduled charge in the Ohms App for overnight, then it said I had to turn on cabin pre-conditioning in the car app.
I did this but now the car app and the Ohme seem to have schedules but slightly differently.
Was trying to remove and start again. I can delete the car schedule easy enough, but can't find a way to do the same in the Ohme - I can pause but can't find a way to remove it, or it that the car pushing it through into a schedule ?

That's after it took me 10 mins to get the charging cable unplugged when I needed to nip to the shops a bit ago

Its all good fun, double click the unlock button to unlock charger (I assume you worked that out). I had issues on my first charge with Ohme would start for 5 mins then stop. I think being a Friday night did not help. Second try on Sunday worked perfectly and charged between 0100 and 0500.

It is about getting your head around it all and understanding the app that does not really come with much instruction wise. I think you end up with a bit of trail and error to find out what works best.

 

[trebor]

Its all good fun, double click the unlock button to unlock charger (I assume you worked that out). I had issues on my first charge with Ohme would start for 5 mins then stop. I think being a Friday night did not help. Second try on Sunday worked perfectly and charged between 0100 and 0500.

It is about getting your head around it all and understanding the app that does not really come with much instruction wise. I think you end up with a bit of trail and error to find out what works best.

Yeah it’s early days so just treating it as a learning experience

 

[trebor]

So my first proper trip started at 90% showing 290 mile range. Did 120 miles (starting at 0530 and just 5 degrees) and was showing 3.8 m/kWh and down to 50%. Next day return was 120 miles (in daylight and 17 degrees), did this in ‘range’ mode and mostly with adaptive cruise set to 65. Ended up at 15% showing 50 mile range and 4.4 m/kWh for that journey. This suggests around 320 miles on a full charge.

So plugged in Ohme charge cable, authorised the plu-in and scheduled to charge to 60% for 0700 in my cheap window. But charging didn’t start - checked at 0100 and Ohme app was at ‘scheduled’ but no start time showing, Cupra App showing ‘charging error’ and ‘check the charger connection’. I unplugged the charge cable, plugged it back in and authorised the plugin then clicked charge now and it has started to charge.

Don’t understand why both times I’ve set it now the scheduled charging has failed and the car reporting error. Really don’t want to have to plug in and start charging manually at midnight when my cheap rate starts.

Will try scheduling a charge from the Cupra App tonight and see what happens that way.

 

[jezyg]

So my first proper trip started at 90% showing 290 mile range. Did 120 miles (starting at 0530 and just 5 degrees) and was showing 3.8 m/kWh and down to 50%. Next day return was 120 miles (in daylight and 17 degrees), did this in ‘range’ mode and mostly with adaptive cruise set to 65. Ended up at 15% showing 50 mile range and 4.4 m/kWh for that journey. This suggests around 320 miles on a full charge.

So plugged in Ohme charge cable, authorised the plu-in and scheduled to charge to 60% for 0700 in my cheap window. But charging didn’t start - checked at 0100 and Ohme app was at ‘scheduled’ but no start time showing, Cupra App showing ‘charging error’ and ‘check the charger connection’. I unplugged the charge cable, plugged it back in and authorised the plugin then clicked charge now and it has started to charge.

Don’t understand why both times I’ve set it now the scheduled charging has failed and the car reporting error. Really don’t want to have to plug in and start charging manually at midnight when my cheap rate starts.

Will try scheduling a charge from the Cupra App tonight and see what happens that way.

I have had exactly the same on my first charge after a few stop and starts the charging light on the car turned red and I had to unplug and plug in again to get the charge going.

Last two charges have been fine less not being ready on time due to smart charging extending the time. I think I need to play with the charging window to find the optimal time. Today I switched to Max charge to finish off the last 2%.