MA National Grid Charge Smart MA incentive program

[RivianCurious]

Hi all MA National Grid Electric Customers,
This might be of interest to you.
I just signed up for the Charge Smart MA incentive program myself.
(from an email sent to me)

"Hello,
Thank you for your interest in the National Grid MA EV Off-Peak Charging program!
National Grid and ev.energy are testing the integration of the Rivian models listed below with the Charge Smart MA platform. As you had reached out requesting this integration, are you able to assist with testing to make sure the charging data is reliable. To assist with testing please enroll in the program and connect your Rivian models listed below to the Charge Smart MA platform:

1. Download the Charge Smart MA app from the Google Play or Apple App Store

1. Verify your National Grid account

1. Connect your Rivian models listed below using your existing Rivian app to enroll in the program

1. Questions? please contact Joe Stilin @ ev.energy: [email protected]

At this time we are asking you to enroll only if you have one of the following RIVIAN models:

• Rivian R1T
• Rivian R1S

You earn the following rewards for connecting your Rivian:

• $50 enrollment incentive when you connect your Rivian
• Once your Rivian is connected, you'll have the opportunity earn $0.05/kWh for EV charging during off-peak hours from June 1 to September 30 (“summer months”) and $0.03/kWh for EV charging during off-peak hours from October 1 through May 31 (“non-summer months”). Off-peak hours are 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding the national holidays
• This program does not restrict your charging to off-peak times; rather it provides the above rewards for charging during off-peak times. So you can always determine when to charge your Rivian.

Thank you in advance for your assistance and participating in the MA EV Off-Peak Program."
Registration and installing the app was easy.

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[p3ck]

Make sure you verify the home location in the app. Mine was wrong even though I thought it asked for my street address.. In any event I had to zoom out of the map to find where I am and then zoom back in to set my exact location.

Once I did this I then had to disconnect the charger cable from the truck and then re-plug back in.

Now it says "Plugged in to charger" and not "Charging away from home"

 

[RivianCurious]

I did not have that problem. I allowed GPS to find my location. It found my home flawlessly. The app said anything within 500ft of my location will be considered home.

 

[TheIglu]

I also signed up. We'll see how it does, I'm purposefully trying not to charge until Tuesday night to see if it registers the off peak credit.

 

[Thanksgramps]

I just registered as well. What are our options to schedule charging to start after 9pm, without remembering to walk out to the garage before bed? I don't see a way to start/schedule charging from the Rivian app and don't remember what's in the truck menus.

 

[jshaff]

So, i confirmed with them, even if it is not showing up as "charging at home" as long as it is off-peak it doesn't matter where you put have it.

 

[RivianCurious]

Yes

So, i confirmed with them, even if it is not showing up as "charging at home" as long as it is off-peak it doesn't matter where you put have it.

Yes that is how it works. I enrolled my Bolt EV in the program last year. National Grid will text you asking permission to stop charging for each event. When the event is over, your EV will resume charging automatically if it is plugged in.

 

[zipzag]

Nice program. The Rivian API can probably be used to enforce times, assuming a bit of programming skill.

 

[MAR1T]

National Grid will text you asking permission to stop charging for each event. When the event is over, your EV will resume charging automatically if it is plugged in.

That’s a different program. National grid in MA offers two programs: one where they stop charging when demand is high and a separate program that gives a discount for off-peak charging every weekday. You have to choose one of the two to participate in.
I’ve been doing the off-peak charging program for my Tesla for a while and just added the Rivian.

 

[the_mace]

I have the off peak program on the Tesla and hope to do the same with the Rivian assuming they can get the data they need From Rivian.

 

[CD4Complex]

That’s a different program. National grid in MA offers two programs: one where they stop charging when demand is high and a separate program that gives a discount for off-peak charging every weekday. You have to choose one of the two to participate in.
I’ve been doing the off-peak charging program for my Tesla for a while and just added the Rivian.

Did you have to use a separate contact for the second vehicle? From one instruction on the National grid page it looked like you needed to have two logins for each of the vehicles or drivers

 

[zipzag]

I have the off peak program on the Tesla and hope to do the same with the Rivian assuming they can get the data they need From Rivian.

Is that total cost or just the charge for electricity

 

[the_mace]

Neither. That’s the kWh used (just for the car) and the rebate rate resulting in the dollar rebate per month.

So December I used 300kWh and rebate (winter is lower) was $0.03/kWh so I get a credit of $9.02 for that month.

The app sort of sucks because once you connect your car the only way to disconnect is to reset your Tesla (and I assume Rivian) account password. But I studied the app and it’s not unnecessarily keeping the car awake so that’s good at least. Some third party apps can do a number on the cars ability to sleep.

 

[zipzag]

Neither. That’s the kWh used (just for the car) and the rebate rate resulting in the dollar rebate per month.

So December I used 300kWh and rebate (winter is lower) was $0.03/kWh so I get a credit of $9.02 for that month.

The app sort of sucks because once you connect your car the only way to disconnect is to reset your Tesla (and I assume Rivian) account password. But I studied the app and it’s not unnecessarily keeping the car awake so that’s good at least. Some third party apps can do a number on the cars ability to sleep.

Got it. Do you have an estimate of what you pay per kWh for EV charging?

 

[the_mace]

So my average price per kWh here in MA is $0.2379 over the last 12 months. I have Tesla Solar so when that is factored in i'm paying $0.1550/kWh. I've averaged 360kWh/month use with the Tesla.

So the ChargeSmartMA savings aren't huge, but it's free money for charging off hours which is no inconvenience. For my average commute in the Tesla I can charge back up in 3 hours on a NEMA 14-50. That may be 4 hours on the Rivian, but I can essentially charge both cars up (for the commute amount) during the off hours window.

Here in MA there's no time-of-use metering for individuals so the electric rate is the same regardless when you charge. They'd have better luck going to time of use metering and avoiding having to monitor all these EVs while incenting non-EV owners to shift electric use (dryers, dishwashers) to off hours where possible.

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