Massachusetts - Vehicle to X Program

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

FYI to all MA residents, the Clean Energy Center just opened up the application portal for their new Vehicle-to-everything demo program. Best guess is if you're chosen, they put in a new EVSE capable of backfeed, and you get some incentives kicked back for helping squash grid peaks. Only Lightnings and Leafs are listed as eligible vehicles.

https://www.masscec.com/masscec-foc...structure/vehicle-to-everything-demonstration

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[f150lex]

Thank you!

 

[G-Zeus]

I'd consider it but I have a direct line from the street feeding my charger, so I wouldn't be able to benefit from the bi-directional capabilities to power my house during an outage.

 

[frost22]

Thanks, I applied! A big reason I wanted the Lightning was to power the house if we lost power and also V2G capabilities!

 

[Howard_Scott_Warshaw]

I'd consider it but I have a direct line from the street feeding my charger, so I wouldn't be able to benefit from the bi-directional capabilities to power my house during an outage.

1. How in the heck did you get the utility to give you a service drop for just an EVSE?
2. I'd bet your scenario would make you MORE likely to be selected. The program is trying to determine how big of an impact dispatching EV batteries can have on helping the grid during peaks. Having no load on the service would ensure all the kWh are pushed directly to the grid.
3. This program isn't about backup power during an outage.

Party on Garth.

 

[f150lex]

Thanks, I applied! A big reason I wanted the Lightning was to power the house if we lost power and also V2G capabilities!

Me too, or at least that's what piqued my interest. Then I realized a) how expensive it was, and b) how proprietary it was. If it were just the expense, I think I would have moved forward with it, but the risk that I'd have to throw away thousands as soon as I changed EVs kept me from doing any installation.

 

[G-Zeus]

1. How in the heck did you get the utility to give you a service drop for just an EVSE?
2. I'd bet your scenario would make you MORE likely to be selected. The program is trying to determine how big of an impact dispatching EV batteries can have on helping the grid during peaks. Having no load on the service would ensure all the kWh are pushed directly to the grid.
3. This program isn't about backup power during an outage.

Party on Garth.

1. Local town utility. I had capacity at the main box on the house, the electrician branched off of that into another box before the meter, and the utility had to both temporarily shut off the power at the street and then slap another meter on the new box. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1) my main meter is on a solar co-gen plan, while the town also offers an amazing EV charging plan. can't have both on the same meter, so branching off the line from the street into a new meter gives me the best of both options (for a not-so-small fee to the electrician for all of that, but now I have 2 60A lines coming into the garage for parallel charging!)

2. I don't want to lose my precious battery power randomly to the town. I'm already helping them out by sending solar power back to them. If there is an outage, I selfishly want the power coming to me, or staying in my truck so I can get out and do some stuff in an emergency.

3. Ok now that makes sense. I probably should have done more reading! And in that case, my town utility is likely not participating in that program anyway.

Always a party. Especially without Wayne. He's a jerk.

 

[frost22]

Me too, or at least that's what piqued my interest. Then I realized a) how expensive it was, and b) how proprietary it was. If it were just the expense, I think I would have moved forward with it, but the risk that I'd have to throw away thousands as soon as I changed EVs kept me from doing any installation.

Those sunrun stories were terrible. Those guys come by my house all the time asking if I want solar and say I have their car (the Lightning). I say "not interested, get off my property."

 

[JvdMaat]

FYI to all MA residents, the Clean Energy Center just opened up the application portal for their new Vehicle-to-everything demo program. Best guess is if you're chosen, they put in a new EVSE capable of backfeed, and you get some incentives kicked back for helping squash grid peaks. Only Lightnings and Leafs are listed as eligible vehicles.

Just signed up. I think one of the big limiting questions was when the truck was going to be plugged in. (Looks like they want it plugged in from 15:00-20:00 during peak AC usage, similar to the ConnectedSolutions program)
Ours doesn't get plugged in till 17:30. So we'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed. Pre-purchase II was interested in V2H for outages, but the Ford Intelligent Backup Power is expensive, and very much Ford specific (with the J1772 AC CCS plug in the FCSP). So I've backed off from that.
Eversource is also rolling our the smart meters (though it's now been pushed to 2026), but I'm hoping that we'll see time of use rates at some point. Discharge the truck in evenings (or weekend afternoons) and charge it back up in the early hours of morning.
Please keep us all posted if anyone gets follow-up questions or gets accepted!

 

[frost22]

time of use rates at some point

Eversource having a flat rate of $.31/kwh is pretty rough. Wish I had solar!

 

[JvdMaat]

Eversource having a flat rate of $.31/kwh is pretty rough. Wish I had solar!

It's $0.35 for me right now. Locked into $0.15/kWh supply rate with a higher renewable share through a town initiative (which was cheaper than Eversource at the time, but higher now)
I look forward to paying for charging the truck away from home, cause it's cheaper pretty much everywhere else (non DCFC). Solar helps (I get about 10MWh per year), but that only covers my day to day in-home use (800kWh/month). Then we got geothermal (3.5MWh/year) and the EV (600kWh/month). So the electric bills have gotten steep (600-900/month during winter).

 

[JvdMaat]

I just got this email:

Congratulations! We would like to move forward with your application.

To confirm your eligibility, we would like to schedule a site walk with our lead installer, First Lastname (cc’d on this email). He will be contacting you directly to set up the site visit. Should you have any questions about the process, don’t hesitate to ask either him or to reply to this email.



Sincerely

Resource Innovations

On behalf of the MassCEC V2X Demonstration Project Program

 

[Danface]

Same here. The guy doing the inspection will be here he at 10:00. Should be interesting

 

[f150lex]

Me too. Scheduling the inspection. I don't have the Ford Charge Station, so I'm curious if that will be covered or not.

 

[JvdMaat]

Me too. Scheduling the inspection. I don't have the Ford Charge Station, so I'm curious if that will be covered or not.

I am 99% sure the FCSP is not compatible. So for those of us that have it, they will remove it and replace it with a compatible charger.
This is what I think we'll be getting: ChargePilot® - Fleet Smart Charging Solutions
That's the controller that manages the flow and directs the charger. (Meant for fleet operators, and the MassCEC site is vague on what will happen to us (residents) after the demo. It has a vague line about residential customers being given something. Schools and businesses will be given 5 years of free ChargePilot licensing after the trial).
Here's their compatible charger list: EV Chargers for Fleets
The guy asked for my availability on Tuesday, but I haven't gotten an appointment time yet. I think they're probably looking to schedule a few on the same date since I'm out west.

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