Charging the F-150 Lightning: Everything You Need To Know [Video]

[Administrator]

Tom Moloughney provides a lengthy detailed guide on charging the F-150 Lightning.

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[Sklith]

I watched the vid earlier this morning. I was interested in finding out if he knows anything about the backup power, and no mention of an inverter needed to be purchased, just the charge station pro and transfer switch.

 

[adoublee]

 

[Squatch]

You think they would've made the cord nicer like a 50 Amp reel on an RV.

 

[beatle]

Will be interesting to see if the Connected Charge Station (48A) or Charge Station Pro (80A, included with ER battery) can be downrated to 40A. I have a 50A circuit right now with a NEMA 14-50 and it'd be nice to be able to replace my 14-50 with the CSP and charge the truck at 40A, then keep the mobile connector in the truck for travel. I know I can't backfeed with only a 50A circuit, but the CSP should be configurable for different circuit capacities.

Hopefully Ford releases different adapters to plug into various other receptacle types. The 14-30 would be popular (dryer) and 10-50 would be popular (no neutral wire, saves on wiring cost). Right now I am already looking at 3rd party solutions to charge at family members' houses that don't have a 14-50.

 

[F150ROD]

I'd like to suggest an FAQ with questions about charging, degradation, cold weather mileage etc etc. stickied at the top of each sub forum. If not we will start seeing the same thread over and over again "My Lightning has lost 100 miles of range" "Ford Bait and Switch on mileage" "Tesla is better"

 

[jefro]

Finally another report saying the DC pins were there for power out.
The charger being shown doesn't have the amount of electronics to have an inverter and transfer switch unless they have that solid state transformer technology. And they don't.

 

[d2blake]

I watched the vid earlier this morning. I was interested in finding out if he knows anything about the backup power, and no mention of an inverter needed to be purchased, just the charge station pro and transfer switch.

It looks like the Charge Station Pro has DC ports for DC out of the battery to the house, in turn requiring an inverter at the house. This doesn't make logical sense to me since the truck already has 30A 240V AC in the box.

I have a feeling connecting the V2H through the charge station pro will cost $5k or more. For just $1k-2k you could set up a critical loads panel with manual transfer switch. Then plug into the 240V 30A circuit.

 

[pjorg]

I have two questions. I'm asking as someone with a relatively primitive understanding of all this:

1. Is it possible that the Ford Charge Station Pro will use newer Gallium Nitride (GaN) internals, and that this might allow it to act as a DC-to-AC inverter despite its relatively small size?
2. Is it conceivable that the truck might use the two lower CCS terminals on the connector for AC-out, rather than DC-out?

I don't know if there are engineering, safety or standards-based reasons why #2 is out of the question, but if not, then maybe the fact that the truck is only going to be outputting power to a proprietary Ford-produced EVSE allows them to negotiate this nonstandard use of the terminals?

 

[Sklith]

I don't know either, and it's killing me that they just don't let us know!

 

[MickeyAO]

I have two questions. I'm asking as someone with a relatively primitive understanding of all this:

1. Is it possible that the Ford Charge Station Pro will use newer Gallium Nitride (GaN) internals, and that this might allow it to act as a DC-to-AC inverter despite its relatively small size?
2. Is it conceivable that the truck might use the two lower CCS terminals on the connector for AC-out, rather than DC-out?

I don't know if there are engineering, safety or standards-based reasons why #2 is out of the question, but if not, then maybe the fact that the truck is only going to be outputting power to a proprietary Ford-produced EVSE allows them to negotiate this nonstandard use of the terminals?

To your second question, no. The pins for this go straight to the battery pack, bypassing the onboard charger.

 

[F150_Xpress]

I found this tidbit posted on an F150 youtube site.

"One piece that isnt getting alot of attention is the fact that Ford's site mentions a minimum of 320amp service is required to install the 80amp Charge Station Pro. Most residential households have only 200amp service. It would require a significant upgrade to 400amp service coming into the house just to support the charge station pro"

 

[F150_Xpress]

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/features/intelligent-backup-power/

 

[PungoteagueDave]

https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/features/intelligent-backup-power/

Who has 320A residential service? That's crazy!

 

[jefro]

They mean minimum or to be assumed 400A.

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