Tado Smart Charging should ensure that you save money on charging your electric car at home. The company has developed an interesting app for this. The only condition is that you use a dynamic energy rate, otherwise the cap will not go up.
In short: many employees come home around 5 or 5:30 p.m., charge their electric car and go inside to eat. The result: a considerable peak load on the power grid, because many electric cars are suddenly charged at the same time. In that respect, spreading would be better. Moreover, those hours are relatively expensive to recharge. You prefer to do this during the off-peak rate.
How the Tado Smart Charging app works
After downloading and installing, users connect the app to the car through the car’s user account
and set their charging preferences, such as when their car should be ready to go. An algorithm then automatically schedules the charging process and – in combination with dynamic hourly electricity rates – uses energy when it is most environmentally friendly and cheapest, based on the electricity prices of the next 24 hours. Only then will the charging process begin, regardless of when the vehicle is connected to the charging station. In this way, the most expensive hours can be avoided and an average of 30 percent of the charging costs can be saved annually.
However, vehicle owners can also waive part of the savings and define a minimum load amount in the charge plan that is not taken into account when optimizing the charge. For example, the battery can always be a quarter charged, regardless of the price.
Charging at home: which cars are suitable for the app?
The Tado Smart Charging app can be used to charge electric cars from most major car brands such as Tesla, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Skoda, Seat and Land Rover. Users select the car brand in the app and connect the car via the user account with username and password. For some brands, such as Mercedes, Peugeot or Kia, a smart wallbox must also be installed and connected. The smart charging stations from Zaptec, Wallbox or Easee are suitable for use.
The Tado Smart Charging app is available for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
