Ford Mobile Charger

[beatle]

Just asking because you are so knowledgeable, what are the rules / best way to have 2 EVSEs off of a 100A circuit, exterior mounted.

When we installed the EVSE for my wife's Mach-e we ran a 100A circuit to prep for the Lightning, but just put a 40A EVSE on it for now. The plan was to swap to the 80A unit, but we have since learned you can tune that one down with dip switches and being able to have 2 40A EVSEs instead of one 80A one would be great for us having 2 EVs.

Get a couple of Tesla gen3 HPWCs and use Tesla >> J1772 adapters when charging non-Tesla vehicles. Tesla HPWCs have a load sharing protocol that will adjust the current based on overall demand. They can be installed on the same circuit.

You may otherwise need a subpanel to properly wire in two 40/50A EVSEs from an incoming 100A circuit from your main panel. Other than Tesla I'm not aware of EVSEs that allow for this type of load sharing while still meeting code. Some EVSEs may not even physically accept the larger wire needed for a 100A circuit even if you wanted to ignore the code.

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[sotek2345]

Get a couple of Tesla gen3 HPWCs and use Tesla >> J1772 adapters when charging non-Tesla vehicles. Tesla HPWCs have a load sharing protocol that will adjust the current based on overall demand. They can be installed on the same circuit.

You may otherwise need a subpanel to properly wire in two 40/50A EVSEs from an incoming 100A circuit from your main panel. Other than Tesla I'm not aware of EVSEs that allow for this type of load sharing while still meeting code. Some EVSEs may not even physically accept the larger wire needed for a 100A circuit even if you wanted to ignore the code.

Yeah, wiring in our 40A Grizzl-e on the 100A circuit was a challenge, but my electrician figured it out. We know the charge station pro will accept the larger wires, so I am not worried about that. Do they make exterior rated sub panels?

 

[Maquis]

Just asking because you are so knowledgeable, what are the rules / best way to have 2 EVSEs off of a 100A circuit, exterior mounted.

When we installed the EVSE for my wife's Mach-e we ran a 100A circuit to prep for the Lightning, but just put a 40A EVSE on it for now. The plan was to swap to the 80A unit, but we have since learned you can tune that one down with dip switches and being able to have 2 40A EVSEs instead of one 80A one would be great for us having 2 EVs.

Two 40A EVSEs fed from a 100A sub panel should be fine unless you have other loads also fed from it.
You do need a sub panel - you can’t run 2 EVSEs on a single branch circuit. In other words, they each need their own breaker.
A dialed-back unit (80A set to 40A by dip switches) can be counted (and wired) as if we’re a 40A unit.
GFCI protection could be required depending on what year NEC has been adopted in your area.

 

[sotek2345]

Two 40A EVSEs fed from a 100A sub panel should be fine unless you have other loads also fed from it.
You do need a sub panel - you can’t run 2 EVSEs on a single branch circuit. In other words, they each need their own breaker.
A dialed-back unit (80A set to 40A by dip switches) can be counted (and wired) as if we’re a 40A unit.
GFCI protection could be required depending on what year NEC has been adopted in your area.

Thanks! I appreciate the insight. Mechanical guy here - would rather talk about pipes and water than wires and electrons!

Doesn't sound too horrible given the feed wire is already in place.

 

[Maquis]

Thanks! I appreciate the insight. Mechanical guy here - would rather talk about pipes and water than wires and electrons!

Doesn't sound too horrible given the feed wire is already in place.

The hardest part might be finding a panel. Electrical equipment of all types seems to be in short supply.

 

[sotek2345]

The hardest part might be finding a panel. Electrical equipment of all types seems to be in short supply.

Yeah - thankfully it isn't anything urgent. Won't be getting my Lightning for awhile (late summer early fall is my best guess - just ordered) and we already have 1 EVSE in place so we can just share for awhile as needed. My commute to work is short so with the ER battery I should be able to go a week easy between charges, even in the winter.

 

[dirtdiver]

My plan is to at first use the mobile charger from Ford. But then buy an EVSE for home use and toss the Mobile charger in the truck for emergency use. If I ever need electricity in the house, I will use extension cords. At this point I have excess solar generation at my house but Im looking forward to seeing how things go over time WRT the net electric load. At one point there was some tax benefit to buying an EVSE. 30% or something,
Steve

 

[RickLightning]

For those thinking they may want to charge TWO EVs at the same time in the future, there is another option to having tons of capacity in the garage - using EVSEs that allow two on the same circuit, share the power, and balance the need.

One such charger is the JuiceBox. If you have two identical model JuiceBox EVSEs (I have the JB48), they work together to determine if both vehicles need to be charged, and either provide half the capacity for a period of time, or if one vehicle is done charging give all the capacity to the other vehicle.

Per JB, the EVSEs will default to 6amps, then check for sharing. If one car is already charging, the 2nd one will start at 8amps, then ramp up to 50% while the first car ramps down to 50%. This is done via a "Load Group".

I bought the JB48 exactly for this reason, because when I buy another EV, I can buy another EVSE (JB48) for well about $150 since my utility company provides a $500 rebate.

 

[metroshot]

I moved recently and had my electrician install a 30A sub panel as my PHEV L2 charger uses less than 20A.

My plan is to use one Ford mobile charger with 2 vehicles.

Hope he won't have to run new wiring because copper costs are the most.
Wishing it's just a breaker change.

We will be sharing the one Ford charger with 2 vehicles - so glad they both use J1772 chargers......

 

[FordLightningMan]

Yeah - thankfully it isn't anything urgent. Won't be getting my Lightning for awhile (late summer early fall is my best guess - just ordered) and we already have 1 EVSE in place so we can just share for awhile as needed. My commute to work is short so with the ER battery I should be able to go a week easy between charges, even in the winter.

The hardest part is finding an electrician. I want to daisy chain a second Tesla charger in my garage for load sharing. The job is too small so no one wants to come do it. If I try myself, I'll be dead before my Lightning arrives.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Just asking because you are so knowledgeable, what are the rules / best way to have 2 EVSEs off of a 100A circuit, exterior mounted.

When we installed the EVSE for my wife's Mach-e we ran a 100A circuit to prep for the Lightning, but just put a 40A EVSE on it for now. The plan was to swap to the 80A unit, but we have since learned you can tune that one down with dip switches and being able to have 2 40A EVSEs instead of one 80A one would be great for us having 2 EVs.

Although I do not own one, there are a couple of brands that have solutions for this.

Enel X "JuiceBox" allow installing two EVSE (chargers) on the same circuit. They communicate with each other over WiFi. If only ONE vehicle is charging then it can pull the full capacity permitted. But if TWO vehicles are charging, they'll share the load pulling 50% of the capacity. As soon as one vehicle completes its charge, the second vehicle will step-up to the full capacity again. I tried to determine if all currently available models support this ... or only some. As I checked, it seemed that all of them support this. But do check on any model you are considering to make sure I'm not giving out bad info (I don't *think* I am.)

ClipperCreek has a similar load-sharing capability ... but I believe this is only available in their "Share2" models. I don't believe other models support load sharing.

Many other WiFi connected EVSE's (including ChargePoint and the Ford Connected Charge Station) allow you to dial-down the power via an app (in Ford's case the DIP switches inside set the maximum permitted ... but you can dial-back from that at any time via the app). But manually dialing back the charge rate to share a circuit is a hassle and ... if you forget to do it, you'll pop a breaker (at best). So I would recommend it as a long term solution.

 

[RickLightning]

I moved recently and had my electrician install a 30A sub panel as my PHEV L2 charger uses less than 20A.

My plan is to use one Ford mobile charger with 2 vehicles.

Hope he won't have to run new wiring because copper costs are the most.
Wishing it's just a breaker change.

We will be sharing the one Ford charger with 2 vehicles - so glad they both use J1772 chargers......

You cannot use that circuit for the Ford Mobile charger, that breaker is not big enough. See page 2.

 

[sotek2345]

The hardest part is finding an electrician. I want to daisy chain a second Tesla charger in my garage for load sharing. The job is too small so no one wants to come do it. If I try myself, I'll be dead before my Lightning arrives.

Thankfully I "have one on call" so to speak. Hired them to install the EVSE we have now back in the fall and joined their "preferred customer" program for a year (10% discount on the job, largely but not completely consumed by the fee) and that gets me priority treatment.

 

[metroshot]

You cannot use that circuit for the Ford Mobile charger, that breaker is not big enough. See page 2.

yes, you are correct- what I meant was that my electrician will have to come out and re-do the 30A breaker in the sub panel and upgrade to 50A.

Hoping he won't have to change out the wires as copper costs are high these days....

 

[FordLightningMan]

Thankfully I "have one on call" so to speak. Hired them to install the EVSE we have now back in the fall and joined their "preferred customer" program for a year (10% discount on the job, largely but not completely consumed by the fee) and that gets me priority treatment.

The company that put in my first Tesla charger said they moved out of the business, it costs too much time in travel to get people out to small jobs. I wish I had someone on call too!

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