Patent ID: 7991665

Claim:
A computer implemented method of automatically managing incentives associated with an electric vehicle charging transaction, the computer implemented method comprising: determining, by a vendor, a particular period of time, wherein total usage of electricity supplied by an electrical power grid to all recipients of electricity connected to the power grid at a particular period of time is anticipated to be a particular amount during the particular period of time; providing, by the vendor, a particular incentive to encourage a vehicle principal to connect an electric vehicle to a changing station during the particular period of time; receiving incentives from a set of sources to form received incentives, by an incentive service, wherein the particular incentive is included in the received incentives; selecting applicable incentives from the received incentives based on an identification of the electric vehicle, the charging station, and a set of principals associated with a charging transaction for the electric vehicle, by the incentive service, wherein the vehicle principal is included in the set of principals; identifying a set of selected incentives from the received incentives for utilization in the charging transaction; and sending the set of selected incentives to an energy transaction planner, wherein the energy transaction planner incorporates the set of selected incentives into an energy transaction plan that is used to control the electric vehicle charging transaction.