You get home, plug in the car and think, “I’ll let it charge overnight. That should be cheaper.” It might be. First, though, it is worth checking what your electricity plan actually charges at different times. An off-peak rate only helps if your plan includes one and the car draws electricity during the hours that qualify.
The useful question is not “What time does everyone in Ireland charge?” It is “What are my rates, when does the car need to be ready, and did the charge happen when I thought it would?”
Find the time window in your own plan
Open your latest bill, contract or supplier account. Look for the unit rate, any day/night or time-of-use periods, and the dates on which those terms apply. A standing charge is different from the price per unit of electricity: moving one charging session to another hour does not, by itself, remove a standing charge.
If your plan has the same unit rate throughout the day, a delayed start may still suit your routine, but it does not create a lower unit rate. If you have fixed time-of-use periods, the hours and prices in your plan are the ones to use. If prices change more frequently under a different kind of plan, a fixed start time cannot be assumed to catch the lowest price every day.
Ireland's Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) advises drivers to ask their energy provider about time-of-use tariffs and notes that some vehicles have a charging timer. Neither point gives every Irish household the same off-peak window. A friend's tariff, or a timetable copied from a UK website, is not a substitute for your own agreement.
| What your plan shows | Where to check | What it means for a scheduled charge |
|---|---|---|
| One unit rate all day | Your bill or contract terms | Scheduling can be convenient, but moving the session alone does not lower that unit rate. |
| Fixed day/night or time-of-use periods | Your supplier account, bill or tariff terms | You can aim for the period that applies to your home, then check whether the charge fits. |
| Prices that change under another plan | The current rules and price information for your plan | A standing schedule may not line up with the lowest-priced hours each day. |
This is a guide to when to charge, not a promise about the final bill. The final cost of a session depends on how much electricity was drawn and the rate that applied while it was drawn.
A charging plan for tomorrow morning
Meet Tom, who gets home at 19:00 and needs the car again at 07:30. The car estimates that the charge he wants will take about three hours on his home setup. If his plan has one unit rate all day, he can start when it suits him, perhaps at 19:00, and check later that the car is ready. Delaying the start would not, by itself, change that unit rate.
Now imagine Tom's own contract has a lower-rate window from 23:00 to 06:00. He could set the session to start at 23:00; on the car's three-hour estimate, it would finish around 02:00, well before departure. If the car instead needs five hours, the same start still leaves a margin. The hours and durations here are illustrative, not a standard Irish tariff or a guaranteed finish time. On a plan whose prices change from day to day, Tom would check the current terms before choosing a start time rather than assuming 23:00 is always best. He would then compare the timer setting with the charge that actually happened.
Start with tomorrow's drive, not the clock
Suppose the car needs to be ready for a morning commute. What matters first is the charge level you need for that journey and how long the car usually takes to reach it at home. The time shown by the vehicle is an estimate: the available supply, charging setup, battery level and the vehicle itself can all affect the result. You do not need to solve every kilowatt-hour on a spreadsheet just to set a sensible charging window.
If the lower-rate period is shorter than the charge you need, some electricity may be taken outside it. That is not necessarily a failed plan. You may prefer to have enough charge for the drive rather than a perfectly timed session that stops short. The full question of charging duration deserves its own guide; here the practical check is whether the planned finish leaves a margin before departure.
Set the schedule, then check what happened
Your car may have a charging timer; your charging equipment may have one too. When both are set, it is easy to assume one has started the session while the other is still waiting. A quick look at the active settings and the car's charging status can clear up which schedule is in charge.
After the first scheduled session, compare the start and finish times with the window shown in your electricity plan. Charging history can tell you when the equipment was active; your supplier's usage data and bill help you see how electricity was assigned to billing periods. Those records may not use identical time intervals, so a small difference between displays is not automatically a fault.
A trial on an ordinary evening is more useful than discovering an unnoticed timer setting before a long trip. Once you know how your own car and charger behave together, scheduling becomes a routine rather than a guess.
When your charger can follow the schedule
For a suitable home charging setup using a Type G socket, the Rheidon PC200 Pro range offers scheduled charging and a model-specific Type G Quick-Switch adapter. The adapter is a separate, matching component; the charger's headline 7.4 kW or 11 kW rating is not what a Type G domestic socket delivers. The timer can help you follow a window you have checked, but it does not read your supplier's tariff or automatically choose its cheapest hours.
Common questions
Is charging at night always cheaper in Ireland?
No. It depends on the rate structure and hours in your own electricity plan. Some plans have a lower-priced period; others may not offer one that applies to your session.
What if my off-peak window ends before the car is ready?
If your vehicle and settings allow the session to continue, the later electricity may fall into another billing period or rate. Plan around the drive you actually need to make, then check what happened rather than assuming the whole session received one price.
Why did the car not start at the time I set?
The vehicle timer, charger timer, an already-reached battery target or a session that never activated can all be worth checking. The last session's history usually gives a better clue than the planned start time alone.
The useful habit
Check the plan. Set a charge that fits the next departure. Then compare the plan with the session that actually happened. That small loop is more reliable than a universal “charge overnight” rule, and it lets you decide whether a time-of-use plan is genuinely useful for the way you drive.
