Please Help New Owner - Charging Questions

[spicedparrot]

Hi Everone -

I’ve been trying to get as much as I can from the threads but am still confused. I’m hoping some of you who have received your Lightnings can help me out. Unfortunately, my dealer just doesn’t know much and I don’t have access to Sunrun in my area. Here are my questions:

1) I have a previous lower amperage charger already installed that I used for an iPace. Will this work on the Lightning until the Charge Station Pro arrives? If so, how does that impact charging times?

2) How long does it take for the Charge Station Pro to arrive now that their are delays (I have a LIghtning, so presumably its included). How do I charge the Lightning in the meantime?

3) What are the best alternatives to the Charge Station Pro (ie something I can buy easily and is used for other EV’s).

Thank you!!!

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[cvalue13]

(1) you should be able to use it, but no one could even guess what charge times you’d get without mentioning the actual amperage of your charger.

(2) sounds like the answer here is variable; for me, it came in less than a week after (1) my dealer ‘finalized the sale’’ in the Ford reservation, and (2) I submitted/confirmed with SunRun my shipping address. As for (1), it’s unclear what this entailed on the dealer side, but two days after purchasing my Ford account still showed the truck and “finalizing” purchase, I pinged dealer and it seemed they did something for it to then show complete/congratulations. As for (2), SunRun began emailing me to confirm my shipping address, but it wouldn’t actually accept the information until my dealer had competed (1).

 

[beatle]

1) The iPace has a 90kwh battery, and the Lightning ER has a 131kwh battery, so it'll take about 43% longer to charge the Lightning on the same charger. You can compute how much faster the CSP will charge the truck by dividing the amps of your current connector into the number of amps you plan to run through your CSP.

2) Mine came in about 2 weeks after delivery. Since you already have an EVSE you can use that, or you can use public charging.

3) "Best" is relative to whatever your other EVs are and what your demands and budget are. Clipper Creek, Juicebox, and Chargepoint all make popular EVSEs. Some offer adjustments to available current via an app, and some offer logs of how much you use them, but you pay extra for those features. You can also use a Tesla HPWC with a TeslaTap adapter to charge the Lightning and other EVs. The Tesla HPWC is relatively inexpensive for what it is, but the adapter is pricey, and if you don't need to charge a Tesla, there are other options for less money. If you do get a Tesla you can also adapt a J1772 EVSE for less money than a TeslaTap. An EVSE is generally a "dumb" device and is really just responsible for passing electricity to your EV. In that regard they're all about the same if rated for the same power.

 

[tankengr]

(I have a LIghtning, so presumably its included).

It's included with the extended range, but not with the standard range.

 

[It's Just Me]

So I can't answer question1.

No. 2: the truck with ER will come with the regular charger - which can plug into a NEMA 14-50 outlet. The CSP for mine came about 10 days after I got the truck.

No. 3: After a freaking chipmunk chewed through my damned charger cord less than 2 weeks after I got the truck (it still likes to visit the garage and stare at me just to piss me off more) I was forced to buy a new charger. I live in a cold climate (I see you're in WI) and I did some quick research due to time constraints of NEEDING one PDQ, and I went with the Grizzl-e Avalanche/Extreme charger. Supposed to be good for very cold weather (which I hear you just might have some of in WI) and the bonus is it is made in Canada. Bought it off of Amazon. Very impressive unit, all metal, industrial strength cables that are about 3 times thicker than the Ford cable, and has served me well in the past month. It's not really portable, but I saved the new Ford charger and keep it in the truck for travels and when I am at my girlfriend's.

Only drawback is that the extreme version only comes in a camouflage pattern, but it's in a garage so.....mine is tucked on an external wall and in a corner so........

 

[spicedparrot]

It's included with the extended range, but not with the standard range.

Oops…I meant to type “Platnium”, so it should be included.

 

[spicedparrot]

You can also use a Tesla HPWC with a TeslaTap adapter to charge the Lightning and other EVs. The Tesla HPWC is relatively inexpensive for what it is, but the adapter is pricey, and if you don't need to charge a Tesla, there are other options for less money. If you do get a Tesla you can also adapt a J1772 EVSE for less money than a TeslaTap. An EVSE is generally a "dumb" device and is really just responsible for passing electricity to your EV. In that regard they're all about the same if rated for the same power.

Thanks for the input. I didn’t realize adaptors were available. Does this mean with an adaptor you can also use Tesla Superchargers with the Lightning?

 

[beatle]

No, the adapter only works on the Tesla HPWC and UMC, not superchargers:

http://www.umc-j1772.com/

Note that if you ever plan on plugging into an "unknown" Tesla HPWC, you should choose the 80A model as the truck is capable of pulling 80A, and the old HPWCs were capable of providing 80A.

 

[spicedparrot]

So I can't answer question1.

No. 2: the truck with ER will come with the regular charger - which can plug into a NEMA 14-50 outlet. The CSP for mine came about 10 days after I got the truck.

No. 3: After a freaking chipmunk chewed through my damned charger cord less than 2 weeks after I got the truck (it still likes to visit the garage and stare at me just to piss me off more) I was forced to buy a new charger. I live in a cold climate (I see you're in WI) and I did some quick research due to time constraints of NEEDING one PDQ, and I went with the Grizzl-e Avalanche/Extreme charger. Supposed to be good for very cold weather (which I hear you just might have some of in WI) and the bonus is it is made in Canada. Bought it off of Amazon. Very impressive unit, all metal, industrial strength cables that are about 3 times thicker than the Ford cable, and has served me well in the past month. It's not really portable, but I saved the new Ford charger and keep it in the truck for travels and when I am at my girlfriend's.

Only drawback is that the extreme version only comes in a camouflage pattern, but it's in a garage so.....mine is tucked on an external wall and in a corner so........

HA! I am in WI and it does get COLD!! Thanks for the Tip on the Grizzl-e!

 

[cvalue13]

No, the adapter only works on the Tesla HPWC and UMC, not superchargers:

http://www.umc-j1772.com/

Note that if you ever plan on plugging into an "unknown" Tesla HPWC, you should choose the 80A model as the truck is capable of pulling 80A, and the old HPWCs were capable of providing 80A.

I bought the Lectron 48A adapter for about $150, and now am wondering if I should’ve instead sprung the $300 for theTeslaTap Mini 80A …

Assuming I keep the current one, can you hand-hold me on the do’s and don’ts regarding this “unknown Tesla HPWC” issue?

 

[mastapsi356]

I bought the Lectron 48A adapter for about $150, and now am wondering if I should’ve instead sprung the $300 for theTeslaTap Mini 80A …

Assuming I keep the current one, can you hand-hold me on the do’s and don’ts regarding this “unknown Tesla HPWC” issue?

Don't ever plug into any EVSE that might be more than 48A is the main one. Not actually sure how to tell the difference other than checking for a sticker maybe.

 

[EonLightning]

I have a ? For you all... I did my first full charge and it only went to 285? Is that normal? It was 100%

 

[beatle]

I bought the Lectron 48A adapter for about $150, and now am wondering if I should’ve instead sprung the $300 for theTeslaTap Mini 80A …

Assuming I keep the current one, can you hand-hold me on the do’s and don’ts regarding this “unknown Tesla HPWC” issue?

As @mastapsi356 said, unless you know what the HPWC is configured to provide

, you should assume it may try to deliver 80A. What happens is that the truck will negotiate with the HPWC and say "how much power ya got?" "I got 80A" "Okay, gimme it all. I can take it." Some vehicles who can't take all 80A will just request their own maximum which might be 32A or 48A and that's all the EVSE will then provide.

If there were no adapter needed, this process would go along just fine since the EVSE and the vehicle will be the only variables in play, and they will agree to a safe amount of power. However, the adapter also needs to be capable of handling the amount of power, but it is not involved in the "conversation" between the EVSE and the vehicle. If you have an adapter that isn't rated for the full amount of power being pulled by the vehicle, you risk aborting the charge session at best, or causing a fire at worse.

I have an 80A TeslaTap and it has worked well with my Tesla UMC on both 30A and 20A circuits. The truck only pulls 24A and 16A, respectively, as it's supposed to. I have noticed that you need to disconnect the adapter from the UMC each time you want to plug it in again, however. If you try to plug it back into the truck without doing that, the truck will not charge.

I have a ? For you all... I did my first full charge and it only went to 285? Is that normal? It was 100%

That's normal - just the guess-o-meter adjusting to your recent drives. You can see actual battery degradation via the OBD2 port, a bluetooth adapter, and an app.

 

[cvalue13]

As @mastapsi356 said, unless you know what the HPWC is configured to provide, you should assume it may try to deliver 80A.

When you reference HPWC, does it mean I
need to fret over public Tesla destination chargers?

Asking in part because next Friday I’m considering taking the F150L on a 4hr family trip through a near absolute charging desert (Austin, TX, to Port Aransas), with destination charging being the key to returning home. That destination has several Tesla-only chargers.

According to the Tesla website info on those destination chargers:

Meanwhile ChargePoint has some (potentially dated?) photos of the chargers

I like he great to avoid fires, and also to make it back home

 

[beatle]

PlugShare shows a checkin from someone in a Tesla pulling 80A @ 222v, and another pulling 72A so I would use an 80A adapter if you plan to charge there.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/137070

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