Seemingly inexpensive NEMA 14/50 option may have just gotten pretty expensive afterall

[hhulseman]

Do you need the Ford charger? I have a 30 amp breaker, and I have one of these on it:

https://store.clippercreek.com/lcs-25-20-amp-ev-charging-station

It works great.

It will work, but your range increase per hour will be about half as fast as the car you are charging now.

I have a 40A charger on a 50A breaker (Clipper Creek) and I am sure I will notice the difference in charge speed.

Sponsored

 

[Mr. Flibble]

It will work, but your range increase per hour will be about half as fast as the car you are charging now.

I have a 40A charger on a 50A breaker (Clipper Creek) and I am sure I will notice the difference in charge speed.

Oh, to be sure that is the case.

Still, I was charging my EV on a 15 Amp 120v plug before I got the more powerful EVSE installed, and it still was able to fully recover the charge overnight. I did this for over a year.

Most people drive less than 30 miles per day - but think that they drive more. So a 15A 120v plug actually works well for most cases. I don’t actually recommend that mind you, but it still works.

I only installed the larger EVSE when I got a different job that required me to drive further to work, so I needed the ability to fully charge in 4 hours, as opposed to 12 hours.

That said, the ability to charge faster is nice. Though, I can only recall 2x in the last 5 years where I wished the charger was faster, and one of those times is where we forgot to plug it in.

As it is, I will go with the 80Amp charger when we get our lightning, but mostly for the ability to power our house. A big bonus for this truck is that we get frequent power outages living rural, and we are often one of the last houses to get power back after a blackout.

 

[hhulseman]

Oh, to be sure that is the case.

Still, I was charging my EV on a 15 Amp 120v plug before I got the more powerful EVSE installed, and it still was able to fully recover the charge overnight. I did this for over a year.

Most people drive less than 30 miles per day - but think that they drive more. So a 15A 120v plug actually works well for most cases. I don’t actually recommend that mind you, but it still works.

I only installed the larger EVSE when I got a different job that required me to drive further to work, so I needed the ability to fully charge in 4 hours, as opposed to 12 hours.

That said, the ability to charge faster is nice. Though, I can only recall 2x in the last 5 years where I wished the charger was faster, and one of those times is where we forgot to plug it in.

As it is, I will go with the 80Amp charger when we get our lightning, but mostly for the ability to power our house. A big bonus for this truck is that we get frequent power outages living rural, and we are often one of the last houses to get power back after a blackout.

The electrician told me he would only quote a 50A line when I had the work done. I got two 50A (40A useable) circuits so I suppose I could use them together to get 80A charger. But I did it that way so I could charge at least two cars at the same time so I may just go with my original plan.

I can use the 9.6kWh option for the house emergency power with the breakers to the major appliances switched off.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

The electrician told me he would only quote a 50A line when I had the work done. I got two 50A (40A useable) circuits so I suppose I could use them together to get 80A charger. But I did it that way so I could charge at least two cars at the same time so I may just go with my original plan.

I can use the 9.6kWh option for the house emergency power with the breakers to the major appliances switched off.

You can get dual chargers that operate off of the same breaker, obviously they have lower output when both are being used.

But you wouldn’t be able to use the whole house backup from Ford.

 

[FordLightningMan]

It cost me $1,350 for the electrician to install my Tesla Home Charger. They had to run wire the length of my house and outside to a detached garage. The charger itself cost $550, so all in, my cost was $1,900. You can daisy chain two of these chargers together, so it will cost me $550 + ~$160 for a converter + electrician cost for installation to setup a second charger. For two chargers, it will end up costing me just under $3,000 installed.

I currently get 40 miles per hour charging. If both vehicles are charging at the same time, that will cut my charge rate in half, but 20 miles per hour will cover my daily drives without issue.

I assume using the truck as a generator will cost quite a bit to install based on what I've paid already. That will be a 2023 project.

 

[jefro]

That electrican should have charged more. Every other electrican would have.

 

[MD56]

Do you need the Ford charger? I have a 30 amp breaker, and I have one of these on it:

https://store.clippercreek.com/lcs-25-20-amp-ev-charging-station

It works great.

Well, the Ford mobile charger is included free with the vehicle, so i saw no reason to buy something different.

 

[jefro]

The mobile charger would be good for most people if they have a proper 240VAC outlet I'd think.
My EVSE was a hardware option but really simple to install 2 feet from panel.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

Well, the Ford mobile charger is included free with the vehicle, so i saw no reason to buy something different.

The Moblie charger will work with a lower amperage. It will work off of a 15 Amp breaker.

Usually, you get a mobile charger with your vehicle, and most people keep it in the trunk (or frunk) in case of emergency. Though, I did use mine for my Kia for the first year I owned it and charge exclusively on a 15 Amp standard outlet.

 

[MD56]

The Moblie charger will work with a lower amperage. It will work off of a 15 Amp breaker.

Usually, you get a mobile charger with your vehicle, and most people keep it in the trunk (or frunk) in case of emergency. Though, I did use mine for my Kia for the first year I owned it and charge exclusively on a 15 Amp standard outlet.

My only other EV has been a 2014 Leaf which did come with a mobile charger, but it ran strictly off normal household 110. In that scenario, i totally understand the need to upgrade to a higher output unit. However the Ford Mobile charger maxes out at 32amps i believe. So i'm confused why someone would buy and aftermarket 30amp charging unit. Of course if you have a 40amp or 50amp leg available at your house then it totally makes sense.

 

[hhulseman]

You can get dual chargers that operate off of the same breaker, obviously they have lower output when both are being used.

But you wouldn’t be able to use the whole house backup from Ford.

There is a technique for connecting a generator to a house called back-feeding. It requires care in switching out the main breaker before connecting the gen to the house wiring. This could be done with an adapter from the Lightning 9.6kw output. The slang for an adapter for this purpose is call "suicide cable."

Sponsored