[SkykingUSA]

Ok, I bit the bullet and enrolled in the ChargeForward program that I was using before (the Carbon Dividend program). However, there is a second program available to me called the "Southern California Area" program, or more specifically, the "CA Incentive" program. It seems to essentially do the same thing, but you have to sign up with a company called Olivine, Inc. which also manages your electricity demand - the company is called a non-utility Demand Response Provider (DRP) and will act on your behalf in communicating your demand to the Southern California Edison utility company (SCE).

My question is this: has anyone signed up for this yet and if so, what has been your experience so far? I'm a little hesitant to sign up with a third party who will act as my agent to the utility for my electrical demand. Any experienced participants out there? Is it safe to do? Should I just "trust" that BMW has paired up with reputable companies and programs, and it will all "just work"?

[scas12]

I signed up for charge forward and it's so far worked fine. The money is inconsequential given the amount I drive and charge at home, but it doesn't bother me and if I can do a bit of good I'm OK with it.

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by scas12

I signed up for charge forward and it's so far worked fine. The money is inconsequential given the amount I drive and charge at home, but it doesn't bother me and if I can do a bit of good I'm OK with it.

How long has it been working for you? I signed up again and it seemed fine for the first day, but then on day 2 and 3, I started having the same problem I had months ago when I first signed up: the system keeps shutting off my "climatization for departure" setting, and it also keep erasing and resetting my departure times. I have reset them twice now and both times they were erased and changed, along with the climatize for departure.

I'm going to try one more time before I give up again and stop using ChargeForward altogether. Both times, I had stopped charging the vehicle by pulling out the charging cable. Perhaps in future I will try stopping any charging through the app or by the button on the car charge port before I pull the cable. Maybe that will make a difference. Sigh.

[SkykingUSA]

UPDATE: Ok, so I did a little reading on my phone's ChargeForward screens and found the following. Basically, it says that the things I see changing are supposed to change until the "charge plan" is completed. Since I have been pulling the plug out before the plan is complete, perhaps the settings are not being refreshed properly. Just thought I'd share this for others' benefit if you're trying ChargeForward. I'm going to be a little more patient and try not to pull the plug when a charge plan is incomplete, and see what happens.

[scas12]

Looks like I started in June. I only have 4-5 sessions a month.

[RichardInCA]

That sounds like a pain to be honest - kind of a shame. I can’t be messing around with my departure times given Bay Area traffic.

[scas12]

I found it pretty good to set the departure time in the charge forward app and ignore the car. But they should sync, not sure if mine does or not.

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by scas12

I found it pretty good to set the departure time in the charge forward app and ignore the car. But they should sync, not sure if mine does or not.

When it's unplugged and you set the departure times in one place, it does indeed update in both the myBMW app, and in ChargeForward (it syncs up). The problem is after you plug in again and the ChargeForward app builds and activates a "charge plan" - that's when everything changes. ChargeForward is supposed to put everything back the way it was after the charge plan is completed, but that may not happen if you unplug it before it's finished. For me, since I charge the car slowly (around 10A) it's common for me to unplug the car before the end of the charge plan.

If it constantly eliminates my departure times and turns off my preconditioning, I'll probably stop using ChargeForward again. It's unfortunate, but I do use those features regularly. I'll give it a week or two before I decide.

[scas12]

Makes sense, I generally didn't unplug before the plane was done. I also don't have a very set schedule so I normally reset my departure time each time I charge.

[attack7777]

I had a bad time with the ChargeForward app -- it kept changing the departure time on me for some unexplained reason. Even though I had set it in the vehicle, or set in the app, it ended up with random departure times set somehow. I unenrolled.

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by attack7777

I had a bad time with the ChargeForward app -- it kept changing the departure time on me for some unexplained reason. Even though I had set it in the vehicle, or set in the app, it ended up with random departure times set somehow. I unenrolled.

I had the exact same thing happen to me a few months ago. However, after re-enrolling last week, and seeing the same thing happen, I found the screen shot above with an explanation.

Yesterday, my charge plan ended successfully, and after I unplugged the vehicle, I checked on my charge settings in the app, and they were indeed put back the way they were when I last set them. My departure times are restored and even my preconditioning settings was turned back on. In light of this, I'm going to keep trying the app for another week to see how it goes.

Seems like once the charge plan is created and activated (by plugging in the vehicle), the app takes over everything to do with charging. Once the plan has completed, things should be "normal" again ready for the next time you plug in. Kind of weird, but as long as I don't have problems being short on charge, I'm willing to keep trying it for now.