- I-Pace compatibility abruptly removed
- Charging costs rise, off-peak shorter
- Owners struggle with manual charging
I-Pace owners are critical of Jaguar Land Rover and Octopus Energy for abruptly withdrawing JLR electric vehicles (EVs) from the charging application with only a few hours notice.
Users who are “furious” have taken to I-Pace Forums over the past week to share emails they received from Octopus Energy informing them that, due to JLR software changes, their electric vehicle will no longer be compatible with intelligent Octopus Go for charging.
“The most popular EV tariff in the United Kingdom” is Intelligent Octopus Go, a smart charging tariff that charges your vehicle automatically when energy is at its least expensive.
It claims to provide energy for as little as 7.5p/kWh, 70% less than the price limit rates. Overnight, it also offers six hours of inexpensive energy.
The owner of a Jaguar I-Pace, Judith Dooling, informed us that Octopus Energy notified her via email last Wednesday night that the Intelligent Octopus Go app would no longer function to charge the vehicle [I-Pace] as of midnight on the same night. A notice of four hours is required.
Like many other users, Judith was advised that to optimise off-peak pricing and utilise greener energy, she must manually schedule her I-Pace charging between 12.30 am and 4.30 am.
In addition to reducing Intelligent Octopus Go off-peak charging periods by two hours (11:30 pm-5:30 am for compatible EVs), JLR owners will be transitioned to Octopus Go pricing in two months.
Octopus has informed customers that, as a result, the company “cannot achieve the same savings” that Intelligent Octopus Go users would. Additionally, utility costs will increase by 20%.
The overnight removal of JLR EVs has resulted in increased charging expenses for I-Pace owners, shortened off-peak charging periods, and, in some instances, complete inability to charge.
Judith has spent countless hours conversing with JLR and Octopus “until I am blue in the face” without receiving a resolution regarding the manual charging process for her I-Pace.
“I tried the solutions suggested on the iPace forum (filled with extremely irate customers), but my car still would not charge last night,” she continued.
“Being a pensioner, it is likely that I was born too late to be the technical whiz required to resolve this.”
“Instead, I am stranded in a rural area, nearly ten miles from the closest public charging station, with a non-operational vehicle and no one to assist me.”
A week later, Judith’s I-Pace was finally charged with the assistance of I-Pace Forum members after the JLR Customer Care-sent video on how to “wake up” the vehicle was unsuccessful.
Octopus emailed I-Pace owners that modifications to JLR’s software have made it impossible for third-party charging applications (including Octopus) to communicate with their vehicles.
A spokesperson for Octopus stated, “Within twelve hours of JLR confirming that it would be upgrading its systems and the subsequent impact on our customers, we expeditiously notified all impacted individuals via email.”
We will maintain their IOG rates for an additional two months before transferring them to our ‘Octopus Go’ EV tariff. ‘We have offered all JLR drivers their final EV charge ‘on us’.”
“We regret that JLR drivers are no longer among the hundreds of thousands of Octopus customers who are benefiting greatly from our most intelligent electric vehicle (EV) tariff, “Intelligent Octopus Go.” However, we are pleased to be able to transfer them to one of the market’s foremost EV plans.
Recently, JLR has encountered extensively documented vehicle security and theft challenges.
The reason for this security tightening, according to JLR Customer Care, is “a security breach in the third-party app utilised by Octopus and other energy suppliers for intelligent charging during off-peak hours.”
This JLR has informed Money that this is a preventative measure to safeguard warranty rights and prevent unauthorised access to vehicle and personal data via unofficial applications.
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“To maintain the highest level of security for our client’s information, we have updated how our electrified vehicles interact with an expanding number of third-party applications,” JLR said. Certain clever charging tariffs are consequently impacted. Collaborating with energy providers, we aim to apprise our shared clientele of their available alternatives.
A considerable number of I-Pace drivers have expressed their intention to “leave JLR,”. In contrast, others, such as Judith, have been similarly unimpressed by Octopus’ caveat that clever charging technology is susceptible to unpredictability:
“At the time of my enrollment in Intelligent Octopus Go two years ago, I would have been informed that this was cutting-edge technology that could potentially lack reliability,” they noted.
As a customer service gesture for the inconvenience, I have been offered £30.
