Your car, charged while you sleep

Plug in when you get home. Vorsprung Connect charges in the cheapest, cleanest hours of the night and has your car ready when you leave.

See tonight's cleanest hours

Works with Octopus Agile, Economy 7 and any cheap-rate tariff.

One night of charging

An electric car plugged into a wall charger at home.

Plug in when you get home.

Nothing starts yet. The app shows when charging will begin, and Charge now starts it straight away if you need the car sooner.

The app's home screen: plugged in and scheduled, charging from 22:00 to 08:00.
Terraced houses on a hillside street in Bristol at dusk.

It waits for cheap hours.

The app plans the charge around your tariff and the time you leave. Here it plans 30 kWh between 00:30 and 05:00, for £3.34 on Octopus Agile.

Tonight's plan in the app: charging from 00:30 to 05:00 for 30 kWh at a cost of £3.34.
Electricity pylons and power lines against a deep blue sky after dusk in Cheshire.

It charges overnight.

At 7.2 kW the car gains about 25 miles an hour, while demand on the grid is low and the electricity is often at its cleanest.

The home screen while the car charges at 7.2 kW.
Sunrise over a street of semi-detached houses with cars parked outside.

Ready by morning.

Each session goes into your history with the energy it used. Twelve months of charging, every session listed.

History in the app: 36.2 kWh added overnight, 2639 kWh in the last 12 months.
A wind turbine against an orange sunset, with solar panels in the field below, at Richborough in Kent.

Tonight, near you

The grid is cleanest when the wind is up and demand is down. Lowest carbon mode charges in those hours. Enter your postcode to see when they fall tonight.

Overnight

The cleanest four hours of charging tonight, from National Grid's regional forecast.

Forecast from the Carbon Intensity API by National Grid ESO. Only the first half of your postcode is sent, and we do not keep it.

In the app

Whether the car is charging, waiting or offline, and when the next charge starts. Charge now and Stop are one tap.

Home: your charger's status and the next charging time.

Questions, answered

How do I get my charger into the app? Your installer adds the charger to Vorsprung and gives you its charger ID and a 6-digit PIN. Download the app, create an account, then scan the QR code on the charger or type the ID and PIN.

What times does it charge by default? From 22:00 to 08:00, outside the busy hours on the grid. The first time you open the app you can keep those times or change them, and you can change them again whenever you like.

Why does charging start a few minutes late? UK smart charging rules ask chargers to start at a random moment up to 10 minutes after the set time, so thousands of cars don't switch on at once. You can turn the randomised start off in Settings.

Do I need Octopus Energy? No. On Octopus Agile the app reads your area's prices every half hour. On Economy 7, Intelligent Octopus Go or any other cheap-rate tariff, enter your cheap hours. Lowest carbon works on every tariff.

What if I need the car sooner? Tap Charge now and the charger starts straight away, whatever the schedule. Tap Stop to end the charge.

Can someone else use my charger? Only if you let them. Choose whether charging starts from the app only, whenever a car plugs in, or with an RFID card you have added.

What if my internet goes down? The charger keeps the charging times it already has, and RFID cards still work. The app shows when the charger is offline, and you can connect it to a new network over Bluetooth while standing next to it.

What happens when I move house? The charger stays with the home. Delete your account or ask your installer to unlink it, and the next owner links it with a new PIN. They see only their own sessions.

What happens to my data? We keep what the app needs to run your charger: your account, your charger and its charging history. We don't sell it or use it for advertising. The privacy policy has the detail.

How do I delete my account? In the app, go to Settings and tap Delete account. Without the app, follow the steps on the delete your account page.

Something not right with your charger? Tell us its ID and we'll look into it.

Your email app opens with a message to our support team, with the charger ID filled in.

Email
[email protected]
Charger ID
On the label on the side of the charger, and in the app under Settings
Your account
Delete your account and data