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Anyone get a free Chargepoint Home from MMWEC?

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PeterK

PeterK

Model X, 3 & Y Owner
Supporting Member
Jan 17, 2013
1,757
734
Cambridge, MA
#1
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) is offering free wifi-enabled Chargepoint Home Level 2 chargers to customers with EVs, provided they are programmed to only offer Level 1 charging rates during the peak hours of 5-9pm on weekdays, and with the ability for the utility to shift down to Level 1 during a peak power emergency.
EV Charger Incentive – MuniHELPS
("Participating MLPs includes those in Groton, Ipswich, Marblehead, Sterling, Shrewsbury, South Hadley, Wakefield and West Boylston. Charger incentives vary by MLP.")

The charger is a $650 value according to the MMWEC, though actually sells for $674 on Amazon with the longer 25ft cable (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07228K6PX/ref=as_li_tl). My brother lives in Marblehead and is just getting a Model 3, so was considering doing this.

Does anyone on here a) have and use this charger with a Tesla or other EV? and b) participate in this program? He's debating getting this vs. a NEMA 14-50 vs. an HPWC. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
 
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#3
PeterK said:
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) is offering free wifi-enabled Chargepoint Home Level 2 chargers to customers with EVs, provided they are programmed to only offer Level 1 charging rates during the peak hours of 5-9pm on weekdays, and with the ability for the utility to shift down to Level 1 during a peak power emergency.
EV Charger Incentive – MuniHELPS
("Participating MLPs includes those in Groton, Ipswich, Marblehead, Sterling, Shrewsbury, South Hadley, Wakefield and West Boylston. Charger incentives vary by MLP.")

The charger is a $650 value according to the MMWEC, though actually sells for $674 on Amazon with the longer 25ft cable (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07228K6PX/ref=as_li_tl). My brother lives in Marblehead and is just getting a Model 3, so was considering doing this.

Does anyone on here a) have and use this charger with a Tesla or other EV? and b) participate in this program? He's debating getting this vs. a NEMA 14-50 vs. an HPWC. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I have a Charpoint Home for my Bolt. Works well...keeps track of how much electricity it puts into the EV so you can keep track of ACTUAL electricity used. The EVSE can't control output AMPs and it doesn't have the smarts to load share if you have other EVSEs on the same circuit. Very easy to install...so far...no issues with the the Chargepoint Home.
 
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#6
PeterK said:
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) is offering free wifi-enabled Chargepoint Home Level 2 chargers to customers with EVs, provided they are programmed to only offer Level 1 charging rates during the peak hours of 5-9pm on weekdays, and with the ability for the utility to shift down to Level 1 during a peak power emergency.
EV Charger Incentive – MuniHELPS
("Participating MLPs includes those in Groton, Ipswich, Marblehead, Sterling, Shrewsbury, South Hadley, Wakefield and West Boylston. Charger incentives vary by MLP.")

The charger is a $650 value according to the MMWEC, though actually sells for $674 on Amazon with the longer 25ft cable (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07228K6PX/ref=as_li_tl). My brother lives in Marblehead and is just getting a Model 3, so was considering doing this.

Does anyone on here a) have and use this charger with a Tesla or other EV? and b) participate in this program? He's debating getting this vs. a NEMA 14-50 vs. an HPWC. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

glide said:
Did you read the post? Free charger + free off-peak electric.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did read it. Several times. I must be tired today. Where does it say that? All I see is it only allows max of Level 1 rates during peak hours. I don't see anything about free during off peak.
 
#8
brkaus said:
Yes, I did read it. Several times. I must be tired today. Where does it say that? All I see is it only allows max of Level 1 rates during peak hours. I don't see anything about free during off peak.
Click to expand...

My bad. You are correct. Only the charger is free and you will be throttled to L1 during peak and can access L2 (paid) off peak.

Still not a bad deal for free equipment.
 
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#9
glide said:
My bad. You are correct. Only the charger is free and you will be throttled to L1 during peak and can access L2 (paid) off peak.

Still not a bad deal for free equipment.
Click to expand...

I told my brother if he’s really worried about the throttling he could perhaps have it installed plugged into a NEMA 14-50 instead of hard wired. Then if he was in a pinch during peak period he could unplug the ChargePoint and use his UMC.

But in reality, after nearly 5.5 years of driving S and then X, I can’t think of a situation where I was desperate to charge at home during those peak evening hours. So I don’t see a need for a workaround.
 
#10
"Peak power emergencies" are likely to happen M-F during that peak period or earlier in the afternoon. If he works a normal 9-5ish M-F schedule, he's unlikely to be impacted by them.

Then it just becomes a matter of "don't plan to charge until 9pm weekdays". Not a big deal unless he does a ton of driving every day, and 9hrs @ 30A isn't enough charge time.
 
#11
tga said:
"Peak power emergencies" are likely to happen M-F during that peak period or earlier in the afternoon. If he works a normal 9-5ish M-F schedule, he's unlikely to be impacted by them.

Then it just becomes a matter of "don't plan to charge until 9pm weekdays". Not a big deal unless he does a ton of driving every day, and 9hrs @ 30A isn't enough charge time.
Click to expand...

He's got about a 30 mile round trip commute, maybe a little more with errands. So I don't think it's a problem. In fact, he was hesitant to pick up his car when they said he could get it two weeks early because he doesn't have his 240v line in yet. I told him if he makes sure it's well charged at Dedham, he can manage his daily commute on 120v for a couple of weeks, no problem.
 
#12
PeterK said:
He's got about a 30 mile round trip commute, maybe a little more with errands. So I don't think it's a problem. In fact, he was hesitant to pick up his car when they said he could get it two weeks early because he doesn't have his 240v line in yet. I told him if he makes sure it's well charged at Dedham, he can manage his daily commute on 120v for a couple of weeks, no problem.
Click to expand...
So he plugs in when he gets home and the car trickle charges at 5A or so. At 9pm it jumps to 30A and finishes by 11pm. Easy-peasy.
 
#13
tga said:
So he plugs in when he gets home and the car trickle charges at 5A or so. At 9pm it jumps to 30A and finishes by 11pm. Easy-peasy.
Click to expand...

His current (no pun intended) worry is that he only has 120V so can't have the car. I told him that if he gets 4 mph and charges overnight he will easily replace the 30-35 miles he burns on his commute.

Once he has 240v he probably doesn't need to start charging well after midnight. Particularly in winter, I like to start charging at 5:30am or so to warm up the battery before I leave in the morning.

However he got an email from MMWEC with this paragraph that concerned him somewhat:

"Also, please be advised that some Tesla owners have reported issues after charger curtailment events due to a Tesla setting that reduces charging when power fluctuations are detected. In these situations, charging may be limited to a level 1 charge after the curtailment. If you experience this issue, please let us know. We are investigating solutions with ChargePoint."​

I guess the car is a little too smart. I told him it's not an issue if he is scheduling charge for late at night, but if for some reason he needs the car to be ready by 11pm he had better check on the charging a little after 9.
 
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#15
My car drops from 40A to 30A every few weeks (on 14-50) and if I'm not paying attention to bump it back up, my charge rate gets locked in at 22mph instead of my usual 29. That's probably related to the problem they are having. Tesla sets the cap on the car for fewer amps based on the curtailment.
 
#16
chjch said:
My car drops from 40A to 30A every few weeks (on 14-50) and if I'm not paying attention to bump it back up, my charge rate gets locked in at 22mph instead of my usual 29. That's probably related to the problem they are having. Tesla sets the cap on the car for fewer amps based on the curtailment.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've had the same problem at a NEMA 14-50 I sometimes use.
 
#17
Thanks for the input, everyone. In the end he has decided to go with an HPWC for simplicity's sake and the higher charge rate of 48A. Also he likes the potential ability to share power between two HPWCs if they replace their Mazda SUV with a second Tesla in future. He's trading his Mini for a Model 3.

Tesla quoted him about $2000 including the HPWC for a 60A line. $500 of the cost is because his panel is full and they have to add a new sub-panel. The price is also driven by a >50-foot run from his panel at one end of the basement to his garage at the other end of the house. His electrician said he can beat that price, we'll see.
 
#18
I found my Tesla HPWC quote from Tesla to be very competitive to two different local electricians. One was right @ $3,000 & the other was $2,300. Neither quote included the HPWC. My garage is detached & about fifty five feet from the main panel. Dug a 18” trench from house panel to garage (not in any of the quoted referenced, but electricians & Tesla ballparked around $1,700 for the trench. Their actual quote without trench was $1,731 including 80 amp line to garage with junction box (for future EV in first bay) & HPWC in second bay installed. Excited, as they will install this coming Wednesday. Tired of charging 4/mph on the 12 amp current line in garage.
Good news is I have explored local chargers via Chargepoint & Plugshare. We also need a Chademo adapter as an alternate source of power. Have used the J1772 adapter a lot. I suspect that being able to charge @ home around 44/mph will be more than adequate. ☺️ Back to on topic. Wakefield offers the charger no cost, but prefer the HPWC over that charger as I want max AC charging capability.
 
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