MCE Sync: EV Smart Charging App

Once you download the MCE Sync app, we’ll ask you to connect to your vehicle or charger using the username and password on your Tesla, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Jaguar, Land Rover, or ChargePoint account. This uses the same process, called OAUTH2, as you might have used to log into a website using your Facebook or Gmail account.

You can earn $10 per month by charging during at least two low-carbon events per month. Each month you’ll receive the cash back you’ve earned via electronic payment, such as Paypal.

Low-carbon events are designed to shift EV charging toward daytime hours when renewable energy is abundant on the grid. You will receive a push notification on your phone notifying you of a low-carbon window.

To participate all you need to do is plug-in your vehicle before or during the low-carbon window and set your ready-by time in the MCE Sync app for after the low-carbon window is over. Your vehicle will be charged with especially low carbon energy and you’ll earn a reward point!

MCE Sync incentives and sign-up bonuses are paid via PayPal payments to the email address associated with the MCE Sync app account. For new enrollees, sign-up incentives are paid within 2 weeks after the participant has completed the onboarding process, they have connected their EV, and completed their first smart charge. Monthly incentives are paid within the first 2-weeks of a new calendar month for eligible recipients. For more information, please email mce-support@ev.energy.

We do not see or store your username and password. Once you enter your username and password, we instantly exchange them with the vehicle or charger manufacturer for a secure token that allows MCE Sync to be able to continue to optimize your charging throughout the program. This token is stored securely and encrypted in ev.energy’s cloud platform, hosted by Amazon Web Services.

MCE’s partner, ev.energy, will take a reading of your EV’s battery level to calculate how many kWh of charge is required to get your vehicle to the battery level you’ve specified inside the vehicle. ev.energy will also use the account to start charging at the optimal time, and stop the charging session once your car’s battery reaches the desired level before the “ready-by” time you specify in the MCE Sync app.

MCE combines your charging data with that of all the other program participants and aggregates it into a set of metadata that is stored on ev.energy’s secure servers, which are hosted by Amazon Web Services.

You are free to stop participating in the program at any time, simply email info@mceCleanEnergy.org and copy in mce-support@ev.energy requesting to withdraw from the program. We will delete the secure token that grants us access to the vehicle or charger you’ve registered in the app.

Once you unenroll from the program per the above instructions, we will no longer be able to optimize charging on your vehicle, and you will need to re-enter your login details into the app if you want to re-enroll in the program. Any data from your charging sessions will be combined with other customers’ data. This anonymous aggregate data will be analyzed by MCE to assess the program’s benefits to the decarbonization and stability of the California power grid.

We will not control the charging on your vehicle when you are anywhere outside of a 500-foot radius of the home address you set in the MCE Sync app. Charging at any other location (e.g. at superchargers, your place of work, etc.) will be tracked so you can see the energy you’ve used, but it will not be controlled. The app determines whether or not you are charging at home using location data from the GPS in the vehicle (or by connecting to your home charger).

The MCE Sync app is currently configured to support only one EV per account. We understand that some households may have multiple EVs and ev.energy plans to support more than one EV on the same account in the future. It is possible to connect more than one EV to your MCE Sync account if both vehicles are connected to the same OEM account (e.g. two Teslas connected to the same Tesla account) however ev.energy has not fully tested how the MCE Sync app performs with multiple EVs connected to the same account and therefore cannot guarantee its reliability.

In the case you got a new vehicle or accidentally selected the wrong model or trim, you’ll want to update your vehicle details to ensure the best possible experience! Selecting the correct vehicle in your account allows us to accurately estimate the charging time and create a smart charging schedule that works around your needs – whether that is ready-by time, off-peak hours, or the least carbon-intensive hours.

To update your vehicle, please tap the “Account” tab and then “Vehicle Details” near the top of the screen. Once in “Vehicle/Car Details,” you’ll see the Name, Account (if it’s an integrated vehicle), Make, Model, and Trim of your current vehicle. At the bottom of this page, tap “Update car.”

There are three categories that you can update– each one will populate with the appropriate options as you go down the list. If, for example, you used to own a BMW i3 Range Extender (33 kWh) and now have a Tesla Model X 100D (100kWh), you’ll need to first change the make, then model, and finally trim. If you simply chose the wrong trim, you can skip the others and just go to “Trim.”

Tap “Save Changes” and you’re finished!

If you run into any issue while changing vehicles, you can always contact us for assistance at mce-support@ev.energy and we’d be happy to help.

Due to a phasing out of the 3G network by cellular carriers, vehicle manufacturers will no longer be supporting certain internet-connected services starting in February 2022 for select vehicles. The decision to phase out 3G network technology was made at the discretion of the respective cellular carriers and lies beyond the control of MCE and the auto manufacturers.

This may affect drivers of certain BMW, Volkswagen, and Tesla EVs. The vehicle modem will require an update to 4G/LTE to ensure continued internet connectivity.

The process for upgrading your modem varies by auto manufacturer, please visit the pages below for more information depending on the car you drive:

• BMW (pdf)
• Volkswagen (pdf)
• Tesla

MCE Sync has introduced a feature called “Solar” which is still in Beta testing. This feature will automatically charge your EV during sunny hours when your rooftop solar panels are generating electricity. MCE Sync’s algorithm will obtain basic information on the size and output of your solar panels and, using your home address and local weather forecasts, will predict how much electricity your home solar will generate at any given time. When your EV is plugged in and scheduled to smart-charge with “solar smart charging” enabled in the MCE Sync app, MCE sync’s algorithm will direct your vehicle to charge during times of solar generation, so that the electrons from your solar panels can go straight into your EV battery (as long as your inverter is not in grid export mode). If more electricity is needed to charge your EV to the battery level you’ve set before your specified ready-by time, MCE Sync will top up your battery using grid electricity during off-peak hours. This gets your EV charged up with the greenest, cheapest energy possible.

No, you do not need a special inverter. MCE Sync’s solar-powered charging feature is hardware-agnostic. The algorithm relies on local weather forecasts and information about your home solar array size (in kW) to predict its output, rather than any connection to your solar inverter. As long as your inverter is switched to consume electricity (rather than export it to the grid), MCE Sync will direct your vehicle to charge at home during high-solar hours and consume your rooftop solar in this way. In short – it works with any inverter!

We understand that customers on Net Energy Metering (NEM) tariffs may benefit financially from exporting their solar power back to the grid during peak hours and waiting until overnight/off-peak hours to consume grid electricity at lower prices. For that reason, we’ve designed the MCE Sync solar feature to only direct your EV to charge during off-peak hours. For example, if you’re on NEM on the EV2 rate, MCE Sync will charge your EV during daytime/solar hours up until 3 p.m. when part-peak hours begin and you would financially benefit from exporting your solar power instead.

Click on the “Smart” tab in the bottom navigation panel of the MCE Sync app. Under the energy section, click on “Solar (Beta)”. Then enter the size (in kW) of your home solar array and enable the “Solar smart charging” button, and you’re set! Your next charging session will be a solar smart-charge. If solar isn’t available, don’t worry – MCE Sync will use cheap off-peak grid electricity to charge your vehicle before the ready-by time you specify.