The growth of Intelligent Octopus

Right now, the most popular part of Intelligent Octopus is Intelligent Octopus Go, our smart EV tariff that makes charging at home incredibly easy and cheap for drivers.

All you have to do is plug in when you get home: we do the rest — switching your charger off and on automatically while you sleep to get you to your goal battery level when you need it, using the cleanest available energy.

When all those devices turn on or off at once, the collective energy demand can help balance the energy system. For example, on a windy summer night when there’s an oversupply of clean power, instead of paying turbines to switch off, we can switch on Intelligent car charging to use it up. In a winter cold snap, instead of paying millions to fossil generators to cover extra power needs, we can reschedule Intelligent Octopus for later that night.

We launched in May 2022 with Tesla EVs, and by September, we’d added integrations with Ford. We then built a direct connection to Ohme chargers: so any EV could join Intelligent Octopus, as long as they had an Ohme charger.

By the end of 2022, our tariffs had integrated with Volkswagen, Audi, Mini and BMW. Our journey continued into 2023, as Cupra, SEAT, Porsche, Škoda, and VW ID Range all joined our expanding network in January. In September, we branched out further and connected to Wallbox chargers, and in November, our hotly-demanded integration with Zappi chargers hit the streets.

Our rapid expansion didn’t stop at the UK border. Intelligent Octopus became accessible globally. Within a year of launching in the UK, it was launched in New Zealand, to empower green Kiwis and help make the most of their whopping 85% renewable electricity — mostly hydroelectric, produced from generators along their picturesque rivers and lakes.

We introduced our innovative tariff to Texas, USA last December. Thanks to extreme weather, an ever-growing population and a creaking grid, rolling blackouts are already a reality for customers living in Texas. Now, Intelligent Octopus is rewarding people for helping keep the power on in their state by letting us optimise their EVs, batteries, and air conditioning via smart thermostats.

Most recently in August, we expanded our tariff to Germany where it’s gaining traction among consumers who are increasingly seeking innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. Our tariff demonstrates the massive benefits of smart meters and empowers German residents to play an active role in shaping the future of energy efficiency in their country while saving hundreds of Euros.

This July, Intelligent Octopus entered a new era with Flux: smart-managing home battery storage. We’ve launched first with GivEnergy batteries, with Enphase, Tesla and SolarEdge batteries coming soon. Other technologies including heat pumps are in testing, soon to be ushered into the Intelligent ecosystem.

Our brilliant flexibility team led by Alex Schoch, has ambitious plans for Intelligent Octopus’ future. Intelligent Octopus is the UK’s largest and the world’s only virtual power plant made up of domestic devices capable of balancing grids in multiple countries. And it’ll keep growing to many more in the coming months.

His team is constantly devising innovative ways to grant customers even more control over their usage. Take the popular Greener Days initiative for example, where customers can opt to receive a forecast of the best days to charge on a given week. The more often customers charge on Greener Days, the more Octopoints they’re rewarded with.

On the surface, Intelligent Octopus is fantastically simple for customers. Below the surface it’s vastly more complex.

For every single new brand of car we connect to, we have to build a separate integration into our system and tech platform, Kraken. Every business has its own systems, hardware and codebase, meaning some connections take months longer than others. Some stall midway through. Some will never happen, because of the other brands’ rules about third party integrations.

Working with these brands also means we’re reliant on technology that isn’t our own — from time to time, things can go wrong with the car systems that we have limited control over. In some cases it can even mean having to switch Intelligent charging off. We, of course, work closely with the brand to find a solution.

Rarely, car companies can even choose to switch off all third party integrations meaning we, and other third party charging apps, can’t manage your charging at all anymore. We know this can be incredibly disappointing for customers. Thankfully, we’re working on exclusive partnerships with leading brands to get around this. Take Ford for example – they switched third party integrations off, but we worked out an arrangement that meant Intelligent Octopus could stay on – it’s now the only smart charging Ford drivers are still able to use.

Our mission is to put power in the hands of our customers, and pave the way towards Net-Zero and a more sustainable and resilient energy grid.

So much of our success in electrifying our industry is due to the early adopters of electric vehicles and their willingness to embrace new technology. These incredible trailblazers have not only helped shape the future of energy but have also set an inspiring example for others. Take our customer Alan for example, who has made massive savings after buying an EV 6 years ago and encouraged at least 10 of his friends to make the switch to EV’s.

None of this would have been possible without all our incredible customers who have been willing to leap into the future and try something new. They’ve been patient as we have been working through the kinks, and enthusiastic as we expand faster and further. They’re helping to create a genuine shift in the energy system as we know it, and and assisting us in making products better for countless future customers. By opting for our Intelligent Octopus Go tariff, these pioneers are reducing their carbon footprint and supporting a greener future for all.

Our commitment to a cleaner, greener energy future where customers are in charge has never been closer. With our constantly expanding integrations across car companies and countries, and advanced battery technology we are making massive strides towards the future.

It’s a privilege to be on this journey, and to have all of you along for the ride.