Charge Anytime Volvo FAQs

To get the free miles, you’ll need to be a new Charge Anytime customer and have an eligible Volvo EV: 

XC40 Recharge Pure Electric, C40 Recharge Pure Electric, EX40 or EC40.

If you have one of these EVs, you’ll see a promo code in your Volvo Cars app. You’ll need to enter this promo code when you start setting up Charge Anytime in your OVO account.

Once you’ve signed the terms and conditions you’ll be taken back to your Volvo Cars app. You need to link your OVO and Volvo accounts straight away to activate the Charge Anytime 7p per kWh rate. 

When you've finished your set-up by linking your OVO and Volvo accounts, we'll add £50 credit to your OVO energy account. That's the same as 2,700 miles of free driving.

If you have one of our chargers that are compatible with solar, you need to connect to Charge Anytime with your charger – not your EV. 

You’ll see a promo code in your Volvo Cars app. You must enter this promo code when adding Charge Anytime to your energy tariff in your OVO account. 

If you have an Indra charger: use your Indra app to connect to Charge Anytime 

If you have a Hypervolt or Andersen charger: use the Charge Anytime app to connect.  

When you've finished your set-up, we'll add £50 credit to your OVO energy account. That's the same as 2,700 miles of free driving.

If you have solar panels but don’t have a solar-compatible charger, it’s not possible to get Charge Anytime yet. We’re working hard to make it possible for more customers.

Not if you’re connecting via an eligible Volvo EV. You’ll need to control all your smart charging in your Volvo Cars app. 

You should only download the Charge Anytime app if you have:

• Solar panels and a Hypervolt or Andersen charger
• A Volvo EV that’s not eligible for the promo, but is still compatible with Charge Anytime. 
• An additional non-Volvo EV you want to use Charge Anytime with

Note: If you have solar panels and an Indra charger, please use the Indra app to charge.

Eligible Volvos connect directly with Charge Anytime, so you don’t need a specific charger, you just need to be able to charge your Volvo at home. This can be with any kind of charger, including a 3-pin plug. 

The only exception is if you have solar panels. We’re still in the early stages of solar-compatibility. If you have solar, you’ll need a charger that’s compatible with solar to use Charge Anytime. These chargers have the technology to calculate how much power is coming from your panels, and how much from the grid. So we can accurately work out your Charge Anytime credit.

Yes, the OVO account holder needs to link their OVO and Volvo accounts in their Volvo Cars app.

Yes, the home location you set in the Volvo Cars app must be the same as your home’s smart meter location.

You can select a switching date, on OVO’s Quote and Switch page. The earliest date you can choose is the next working day, and the latest is 29 days in advance.

There are a few reasons why it might take a little longer than 5 days to switch, including:

• You switch after 5pm. If this is the case, your 5 working day switching period will begin on the next working day. You have changed your username and password and need to log in again.
• Your existing supplier stops OVO from taking over the supply. This might happen if you owe money to your existing supplier.
• OVO don’t have all the information they need to take over your supply. Or your information is incorrect.

If you’re having problems, the quickest way to get in touch is via our Live Chat service. You can access this by clicking the Chat with us button in our Help Centre.

Or call us on 0330 303 5063 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm except bank holidays). Or email us at [email protected].

This depends on the type of EVs you have. 

If you have another of these eligible EVs: XC40 Recharge Pure Electric, C40 Recharge Pure Electric, EX40 or EC40 – you can simply add it within the Volvo Cars App.

Here’s how:

• Go to the Volvo Cars app home view
• Press the toggle arrow next to your currently connected EV
• Select the car you want to add 
• Once the new car is selected, press the charging icon
• Press Continue
• Set the home location
• Press Done

Please note: The OVO x Volvo partnership only allows one set of free miles per household. 

If you don’t have one of those EVs, please check our compatible EVs list. 

If your other EV is listed as compatible, you can have Charge Anytime for both. We recommend you add Charge Anytime to your eligible Volvo first, so you get the free miles. And afterwards, add your other EV through the Charge Anytime app.

You can only connect to Charge Anytime either through your EV or through a charger. Using both would cause issues with smart scheduling.

You can only connect to Charge Anytime either through your EV or through a charger in one household. Using both would cause issues with smart scheduling.

Yes, once the OVO account holder has linked their OVO and Volvo accounts, and set up smart charging. Your family members will be able to see and control Charge Anytime in their Volvo Cars app. They just won’t be able to change the home location, or access the Charging Analytics and Insights part of the app. 

Please note: Make sure you refresh your Volvo Cars app to be able to see changes made by other users.

Kaluza is OVO’s trusted charging partner. They manage the smart charging tech, so you can get our cheaper Charge Anytime rate. You’ll need to allow data sharing between Volvo, OVO and Kaluza, so they can control smart charging through your Volvo Cars app. 

This way, Kaluza can schedule your EV to start and stop smart charging when you’re at home – making sure you’re only charging at the cheapest, greenest times. 

Please note that Kaluza only uses your data when your EV is plugged in at home. For more detailed information, please see the privacy policies for Volvo, OVO and Kaluza.

Kaluza will use the following to work out the greenest and cheapest times to smart charge your EV:

• Set departure time
• Minimum state of charge 
• Battery state of charge
• Maximum state of charge

Please note: You can change the departure time and minimum state of charge in the Volvo Cars app. The maximum state of charge can be changed either in your EV or the Volvo Cars app – this is currently only available on iOS, but will be possible on Android by the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025.

If your car is smart charging, you’ll be able to see that smart charging is toggled on, and the status set to Active. 

When your car is plugged in you’ll also be able to see Scheduled in the smart charging screen of your Volvo Cars app. It’ll show details of your schedule, as well as the option to Charge Now. 

If you’re currently charging you will see Done by, followed by the time your car is scheduled to stop charging. 

If you don’t see any of the above, then you don’t have smart charging switched on. When you set a new schedule, it typically takes 2 minutes to be calculated and appear in the app.

Yes, there are 2 ways to turn off smart charging:

1. Switch it off in the Volvo Cars app, by toggling the switch. If you do this, it’ll stay off for all charging sessions until you turn it on again.
2. If you only want to override your current smart charging schedule to urgently top up, you can use the Charge Now button. If you do this, once you plug out and plug in again, smart charging will automatically turn back on again. 

The smart charging on/off toggle and the Charge Now button are in the charging overview screen in your Volvo Cars app. You can access this by pressing the electric bolt on the home/start screen in the Volvo Cars app.

Please note: If you use the Charge Now function, you won’t be smart charging and will be charged your standard home electricity rate.

Yes. It’s essential that you remove any previously programmed schedules from your wall charger, as these will interfere with the Charge Anytime schedule. This could mean your EV wouldn’t be charged for when you need it. 

Any charging schedule set in the car will be  automatically overridden by the smart charging schedule once it’s been set up.

If your battery’s current charge is below your set minimum state of charge, your EV will start charging immediately – until the minimum is reached. This will be charged at your standard home electricity rate. Once it’s charged to the minimum, your smart charging schedule will begin, at Charge Anytime rates. 

Another possible reason is that the scheduled departure time is soon, so the car needs to start charging immediately in order to be charged in time. 

Please note: To optimize battery health Volvo Cars advise not charging your EV to 100% unless the full range is needed for your journey. 90% charge is recommended for typical daily driving.

If you need your EV in a hurry, you can override your smart charging schedule with the Charge Now function in your Volvo Cars app. Any charging done outside of your Charge Anytime schedule will be charged at your standard home electricity rate.

Also, when charging your EV up to the minimum state of charge, you won’t get Charge Anytime rates, as this is counted as an override – you’ll be charged at your standard home electricity rate.

At the end of the month, we work out how much energy you've used to smart charge your EV. We'll use this information to credit your account in the first week of the following month. So that your smart charging rate reflects our 7p per kWh rate.

For example:

The Charge Anytime rate is 7p a kWh. And let's say your standard electricity rate is 26p a kWh.

We’ll credit you 19p for each kWh you’ve used to smart charge your EV. To make your smart charging rate 7p.

This means if you use 100 kWh of energy smart charging your EV, you’ll get £19 in credit back on your bill.

We apply credit from EV smart charging to your OVO account in the first week of every month. It’ll also appear on your monthly OVO energy bill under the heading Charge Anytime Credit. 

The credit shown on your bill is for the electricity you used for smart charging your EV the month before. So in the first week of September, you’ll see your credit for August.

To make sure you’re seeing the correct amount, please refresh your Volvo Cars app. This will update your app so you should be able to see the correct amount. 

If you’re still concerned that the credit amount looks wrong, please email us with screenshots of your charging history, at [email protected]. Or call us on 0330 175 9678 (lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, excluding bank holidays).

If you sell your Volvo, we ask you to disconnect your Volvo ID in the Volvo Cars app, or in the EV. Once this is done, Volvo will let OVO and Kaluza know that your Volvo is no longer used for Charge Anytime – and they’ll delete the EV’s direct connection. 

You’ll also need to cancel the add-on in your OVO energy account – unless you want to add another EV later. In this case, use the Volvo Cars app to link compatible Volvos. For any other compatible EV, use the Charge Anytime app. 

You’ll get your Charge Anytime credit for the period of the month your EV was smart charging. You’ll see the credit on your bill in the first week of the following month as usual. 

If you have several Volvos connected to Charge Anytime, deleting one of them doesn’t mean Charge Anytime is removed. If you delete one, you can still get Charge Anytime when smart charging the others. 

For more details on charging credits please read our terms and conditions.

If you move home, Charge Anytime doesn’t automatically go with you. We’ll need to check that your new home set-up is still compatible. For example, you’ll still need to have a smart meter. 

To get Charge Anytime in your new home – sign up for OVO as your energy supplier, and go through the Charge Anytime eligibility process again.