Octopus Intelligent Go vs Octopus Go: Which Saves You More?

The short answer

For most Tesla owners, Intelligent Go beats Octopus Go — 7.6p/kWh against 9.5p/kWh, six off-peak hours against five, and the car talks to the tariff directly so the charger doesn't need to be smart. Over 10,000 miles a year that's around £54 saved; over three years, £43. The bigger move, by a wide margin, is being on a smart EV tariff at all: that's worth £500–520 a year either way against a standard variable rate.

Octopus runs two dedicated EV tariffs: Intelligent Go and Octopus Go. Both offer cheap overnight electricity; they diverge on how it's delivered. One talks to the car; the other hands you a window and lets you schedule the rest. For the broader landscape, see the tariff comparison page or the best EV charging tariffs for 2026.

Side by side

The headline gap: 0.5p/kWh cheaper off-peak and one extra hour of cheap power each night.

Off-peak window

Intelligent Go runs 11:30pm to 5:30am — six hours, up to 42 kWh on a 7 kW wallbox, around 145 miles of range. Octopus Go runs 12:30am to 5:30am — five hours, up to 35 kWh, around 120 miles.

For an average UK driver doing 20–30 miles a day (7–10 kWh), either window is comfortable. Drive 80+ miles a day, or want the dishwasher and immersion heater on the cheap rate too, and Intelligent Go's extra hour starts to count.

Intelligent Go also picks up bonus off-peak slots — extra cheap-rate windows during the day when the grid has spare renewables. Since 7 May 2026 the total is capped at six hours of smart-scheduled charging in any 24-hour period, so the bonus slots move the cheap half-hours around rather than adding to them. Overflow bills at the peak rate.

Scheduling

This is the substantive difference between the two.

Intelligent Go — the car does the talking

Intelligent Go integrates with the vehicle API. You connect the Tesla account in the Octopus app once; from then on, Octopus schedules charging through the car itself. Set a ready-by time and a target charge level — Octopus fits charging inside the off-peak window automatically, and may start earlier or fold in bonus cheap-rate periods when the grid has spare renewable capacity.

The upshot: nothing to manage. Plug in, walk away. The car won't draw power at peak rates unless you override it.

Because the intelligence lives in the car-to-Octopus link, the charger itself doesn't have to be smart. A basic tethered unit works as well as a premium one — which is why the Tesla Wall Connector at £475 is such a natural pairing.

Octopus Go — you set the timer

Octopus Go is simpler. Five-hour window, no API, no scheduling on Octopus's side. You handle the timing — usually through a smart charger like the Ohme Home Pro at £559, or through Tesla's own scheduled-charging in the car. Set it once and forget it. It does, however, require a charger or car that supports scheduling.

Compatibility

Intelligent Go needs a compatible EV because it relies on the vehicle API. Tesla models are fully supported, along with a growing list of others (the Octopus app keeps the latest). Any charger works on Intelligent Go — the charger is just delivering power.

Octopus Go works with any EV and any charger. There's no API integration to mismatch. If you already own a smart charger like the Ohme Home Pro, it can align charging sessions with your off-peak window and pull tariff rates from Octopus to show what each session costs. If you don't, the car probably handles scheduling fine.

Annual cost at 10,000 miles

For a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y at about 3.5 miles per kWh:

Intelligent Go saves around £54 a year for a 10,000-mile driver on the current rates — useful, and the gap has widened since Go moved to 9.5p. The material saving is the switch off a standard tariff: both Go options run a Tesla for £217–271 a year against £752 on the standard variable rate, or £1,114 on Superchargers. For the full picture, the UK EV Charging Cost Index breaks down per-mile costs across every UK tariff.

Which to pick

Intelligent Go is the default for any Tesla owner — lower rate, longer window, bonus slots, no scheduling to manage. The exceptions are narrow: an EV that isn't on the compatibility list, or a strong preference for setting your own schedule rather than handing it to an algorithm. In either case, Octopus Go is the like-for-like fallback at 8.5p/kWh — still among the cheapest ways to charge at home, and works with anything.

If you already own a smart charger and enjoy chasing rates, Octopus Agile is a third option worth a look — half-hourly pricing that can drop below 0p when renewable generation overshoots, and rewards active management. Best paired with solar.

The thing to actually optimise is being on a smart EV tariff at all. Whichever you pick, you'll save £480–535 a year against the standard variable rate. If the rate alone is what you are buying, EDF GoElectric undercuts both at 6.66p/kWh across seven hours.

Compare all EV tariffs → | EDF vs Intelligent Go → | OVO vs Intelligent Go → | British Gas vs Intelligent Go →