TL;DR
- Octopus Go is a simple time-of-use tariff with a 4-hour off-peak window (00:30 to 04:30) and a standard rate the rest of the day. Anyone with a smart meter and an EV qualifies.
- Intelligent Octopus has a 6-hour off-peak window (23:30 to 05:30) but only applies to charging sessions controlled by Octopus through a compatible EV or smart charger.
- Intelligent Octopus is cheaper than Go on the off-peak unit rate. In the April 2026 Eastern-region listing, Intelligent prices the off-peak window at 7.0p per kWh; Go prices it at 8.5p per kWh.
- Intelligent only saves money if the customer regularly charges during the off-peak window. Drivers who plug in for short top-ups during the day will not see the benefit.
- Both tariffs apply the same standard rate during peak hours. Both require a SMETS2 meter in half-hourly settlement.
Last reviewed: May 2026
Octopus runs two electric vehicle tariffs with similar branding and very different mechanics. Go is the legacy product: a fixed 4-hour cheap window, available to any Octopus customer with a smart meter and an EV. Intelligent Octopus is the newer hardware-coupled product: a longer cheap window, a lower headline rate, but the supplier controls when the car actually charges. The difference is not just price. It is also who decides when the car draws power.
For most EV households the choice tree is straightforward. For households with a non-compatible car, Intelligent is not available at all.
How Octopus Go works
Go publishes two unit rates: one for the 00:30 to 04:30 window, one for everything else. The off-peak rate in April 2026 sits around 8.5p per kWh in the Eastern region. The standard rate matches the standard variable, currently around 27p per kWh. The standing charge follows the regional pattern, between 40p and 67p per day.
The tariff is content-agnostic. Whatever a household uses during the 4-hour window is billed at the off-peak rate, whether it is an EV charging, a dishwasher running on delay, an immersion heater, or the kettle for whoever is up at 2am. The cheap rate applies to everything on the supply, not just the car.
The catch on Go is that the cheap window is short. Charging a 60 kWh battery at 7 kW takes around eight and a half hours from empty. The 4-hour window covers roughly 28 kWh of charge, enough for most daily commutes but not enough for an empty-to-full from a long drive. Households planning long trips need to manage charging across multiple nights, or accept some daytime charging at the standard rate.
How Intelligent Octopus works
Intelligent Octopus works differently. The 6-hour off-peak window from 23:30 to 05:30 is guaranteed. Charging sessions scheduled by Octopus through the connected EV or charger can also extend outside the window when grid conditions allow. The customer plugs in, sets a target time and state of charge in the Octopus app, and Octopus handles the rest.
The mechanics rely on direct control. Octopus must be able to talk to either the car's API (Tesla, Polestar, Ford Mustang Mach-E among others) or a smart charger from a supported brand (Ohme, Wallbox, Indra, myenergi Zappi). When the integration is working, the car charges in optimised half-hourly blocks during the cheapest grid periods.
The off-peak rate also applies to all home consumption during the 6-hour window, not just the EV. That is the same content-agnostic logic as Go. Households running heat pumps, washing machines, or batteries during the small hours benefit from the lower rate on those loads too.
Direct rate comparison, April 2026
Here are the headline rates from the Octopus tariff page on 1 April 2026, Eastern England region, inclusive of VAT.
| Tariff | Off-peak unit (p/kWh) | Peak unit (p/kWh) | Off-peak hours | Standing charge (p/day) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Octopus Go | 8.50 | 27.49 | 00:30 to 04:30 | 53.80 |
| Intelligent Octopus | 7.00 | 27.49 | 23:30 to 05:30 (plus controlled extensions) | 53.80 |
The 1.5p per kWh gap on the off-peak rate, multiplied by a typical EV charging load of 4,000 to 5,000 kWh per year, gives a structural saving of around £60 to £75 a year before any extensions are counted. The longer off-peak window doubles that figure for households that can shift more general load too.
Eligibility and the compatibility list
Anyone can join Octopus Go if they have a smart meter and confirm an EV on the property. The check is a tick-box during sign-up.
Intelligent Octopus is gated by hardware. The supported list updates regularly on the Octopus website. As of the April 2026 update it includes Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X; Polestar 2, 3, 4; Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E; and Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6 via specific OTA versions. On the charger side it includes Ohme Home Pro, Ohme ePod, Wallbox Pulsar Plus and Pulsar Max, Indra Smart Pro, myenergi Zappi v2 and v2.1.
The catch is that the compatibility list excludes some popular UK EVs entirely. Vauxhall Corsa-e, Mokka Electric, and Astra Electric customers are not on the direct-vehicle list and need a supported charger. Older Nissan Leaf models cannot use Intelligent Octopus through the car. The supplier publishes a known-issues page on the Help Centre listing which combinations have stable integrations and which have intermittent failures.
For the household with an incompatible vehicle and no compatible charger, Go is the only choice within the Octopus stable.
What goes wrong with Intelligent Octopus
The most common Intelligent Octopus failure mode is a missed charge. The car or charger drops the API connection overnight; Octopus cannot tell it to charge; the customer wakes up to a flat battery and a confused app. The Energy Stats UK community has been tracking these episodes since 2023; the failure rate has trended down but is non-zero.
The fallback when the integration fails is straightforward. The 6-hour off-peak window still runs from 23:30 to 05:30. Charging during that window, whether scheduled by Octopus or the customer manually, still gets the off-peak rate. The customer is not penalised for the integration failure; they just lose the smart-scheduling benefit until the connection recovers.
The other recurring issue is firmware updates. A vehicle that was on the compatibility list yesterday can fall off it after an over-the-air update. This affected a tranche of Polestar 2 owners after a December 2024 software push and was resolved by a follow-up patch from Polestar a few weeks later. Octopus does not control either the vehicle firmware or the OEM API, so the supplier sits between two moving targets.
Heat pumps, batteries, and the off-peak window
Both Go and Intelligent extend the off-peak rate to everything on the supply during the cheap window. That is more useful for Intelligent than for Go because the window is longer. A heat pump on an Intelligent household can run a long, gentle low-flow cycle from midnight to 5am, charge a hot water cylinder during that period, and rely on fabric thermal mass through the rest of the morning.
Batteries fit naturally. A 5 kWh battery on Intelligent can fully charge during the off-peak window and discharge through the morning and afternoon. The economics improve once a household has both an EV and a battery, because the marginal saving compounds.
In practice, the all-in best fit for Intelligent is the household with a compatible EV, a heat pump, and a home battery, on a SMETS2 meter, with someone at home during the day to coordinate exceptions. The combination delivers a 25-35% saving against the Ofgem cap.
For a Go household without those add-ons, the saving is smaller but real, typically £200 to £350 a year on EV-only consumption against the cap, based on Octopus's own quoted figures verified by an Energy Stats UK analysis of customer-submitted bills in 2024.
Which one to choose
The decision tree is short. Drivers with a compatible EV or charger should choose Intelligent Octopus. Drivers without compatible hardware default to Go. Drivers who only top up the EV during the day, never during off-peak hours, should be on neither tariff and instead use Tracker or Flexible Octopus with no EV-specific tariff layer.
Beyond hardware, the choice is also about temperament. Go is set-and-forget; the cheap window is the same every night. Intelligent requires the customer to plug in by 23:30 and trust the app to schedule charging. Both work for the right household.
What to check before signing up to either tariff
Three property and hardware checks determine whether Go or Intelligent will work. The first is smart meter mode. The supply must be on a SMETS2 meter with half-hourly settlement active. Where the meter is SMETS1, on a Restricted Hours setup, or the comms hub is non-functional, neither Go nor Intelligent will apply correctly.
The second is EV charging infrastructure. A 7 kW home charger is the standard install; a slower granny cable (3 kW) takes more than 8 hours to deliver 25 kWh, which overflows the Go window. Customers without a home charger should consider one before the tariff switch.
The third, specific to Intelligent Octopus, is API compatibility. The vehicle or charger must support the Octopus smart control protocol. Tesla, Polestar, Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6 (with specific OTA versions), and chargers from Ohme, Wallbox, Indra, and myenergi all qualify. Customers with non-compatible hardware should choose Go.
A practical workflow: after smart meter confirmation, install the home charger if not already present, then take Go for one billing cycle to see how the household's existing routine matches the 4-hour window. If charging consistently spills outside the window, switch to Pulse (E.ON Next) for the longer window, or to Intelligent (with compatible hardware) for the longest window plus smart scheduling.
Editorial disclaimer. Kaeltripton is an independent UK finance publisher. This article is general information for UK adults making their own decisions, not regulated financial advice. EV tariff terms and compatibility lists change. Figures reflect Octopus and Ofgem publications dated before the last-reviewed date at the top of this page. Always confirm current rates and hardware compatibility with the supplier before switching. For complaints, refunds, or vulnerable-customer protection the formal route runs through the supplier first and then the Energy Ombudsman.
FAQ
Is Intelligent Octopus available without a compatible car?
Yes, if the household has a compatible smart charger such as an Ohme Home Pro or Wallbox Pulsar Plus. The integration runs through the charger instead of the car. Without compatible hardware on either side, the customer can only join Go.
Does Intelligent Octopus take control of charging without consent?
No. The customer sets a target departure time and state of charge in the app. Octopus schedules charging to hit those targets using cheap half-hours during the off-peak window. The car will not draw power outside what the customer has authorised.
What happens when the EV is on the list but the charger is not?
If the vehicle has a supported API integration, the charger does not need to be on the list. Tesla and Polestar are the main examples. The car talks to Octopus directly.
Are solar exports paid at a different rate?
Yes. Solar export is paid under the Octopus Outgoing Fixed or Outgoing Agile tariffs, separately from Go or Intelligent. The two products run in parallel.
Is switching between Go and Intelligent possible without leaving Octopus?
Yes. Existing Octopus customers can move between tariffs in the dashboard. There is no exit fee on either product.
Is the Intelligent off-peak rate available without a listed charger?
Only if the EV itself has direct Octopus API integration (Tesla, Polestar, Ford F-150 Lightning are examples). Otherwise the customer is restricted to Go.