I need info on home charging

[averagerider]

I am a complete newbie at Lightning issues. If this issue has been dealt with in the past, please direct me to the thread. After looking, I am not finding what I need. So, apologies if this is redundant.

I am considering purchasing a 2022 Lariat with standard range battery. I intend to put into my garage a Level 2 charging station. I have in front of me info from Ford stating "Basic Level 2 EVSEs start at 16 amps, though most professional installer will recommend a larger 30- or 40- amp system." I have a spare 30 amp breaker available in my garage. So, question, will that breaker provide the amperage I need? Or stated otherwise, what determines the amount of amperage that the Lightning system will draw? Is 30 enough?

I will greatly appreciate any help you more in-the-know people can provide.

averagerider

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[Daragh]

Chargers run continious current unlike most other loads in your house. Because of this the max continuous current can only be 80% of the breaker rating. So if you have a 30A breaker you can run up to 24A charging current into the battery. If you install a NEMA 14-50 plug for a charger you can only run the charger up to 40A etc. The lightning SR will draw up to 48A max at 240V as it has a single on board charger. The ER has two 40A chargers on board so can draw up to 80 from an appropriately sized charger.

To be specific, the charger(s) are actually in your truck. The box on the wall EVSE(Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) even though they are called chargers do not contain charging circuitry, they merely pass the voltage and current levels to the charger(s) in your truck, the same is true for your mobile phone etc. but that's pretty much irrelevant for end users in both cases.

 

[Zaptor]

Ideally, you'd want to know your service amperage (do you have 100A or 200A or something else?) which you may be able to determine if there is a 'master' breaker with its rating shown. Then you'd want to do some load calculations to determine how much amperage is still available. The fact that there is a 30A breaker doesn't dictate that there is not more power potentially available. You also can only run a device at 80% of the breaker's rating, so you can only charge at 24A on a 30A breaker. If you can, for example, put in a 60A breaker, you can charge at 48A which I believe is the max you can put into an SR. Sounds like you're probably going to need to get an electrician to take a look, run some numbers, and give you a quote. Should be around a grand to install (based on my 2 units average) and a decent charger can be had for about 400 bucks. They're great trucks, I hope the purchase pencils out for you.

 

[Maquis]

Review the “State of Charge“ YouTube videos by @tommolog

 

[Maxx]

My panel is a really old maxed out 100 Amp. I had an electrician replace a 30 Amp breaker with a 50 Amp, run a 15 feet cable to 14-50 outside and I built a box around it to house the Emporia EVSE charger and it's cable. I paid the electrician $700. There were 4 of them and to be honest dealing with that size cable was a pain especially in winter and I wouldn't be able to do it myself, even if I was qualified. Heat, dryer, stove and water heater are all gas in my house which is why I can get away with 100 Amps.

Even though, most recommend direct connection from EVSE to your panel, I prefer 14-50 plug. The direct connection has less contact points and is usually rated for higher current with the same charger but I usually charge at 32 Amp which is well bellow what my connections and devices can handle. The reason I like this setup is that it is more flexible. When my Ford charger went bad, I was able to use it immediately with another charger with no need to call an electrician. If I have a Tesla guest with a mobile charger, I can accommodate them without an adapter.

I have had my truck for over a year and have never needed to charge faster. I am usually sitting at 50%-60% SOC and that gives me more range that I need. If there is an unpredictable long distance travel, I have DCFCs close enough. I have never needed to use one yet. If you do a lot of long distance driving on daily bases, you may want to have a faster charging setup. I can get 140 miles in 10 hours with my setup and I can bump it up if I have to. I just rather not to put unnecessary stress on my electrical connections and devices (Inverter, EVSE, ....).

 

[rraustad]

For those who drive a limited number of miles per day, the 24 amp charger would be sufficient. 24 amps x 240 volts = 5.7 kW. Over an hour of charging that would be 5.7 kWhs into the battery or about 13 miles of driving for each hour plugged in. You can typically get 12 hours of charging overnight so that is about 150 miles of range each day. If you don't need to drive further than that each day then your 30 amp breaker with a 24 amp charger will do just fine. If you do need to drive farther than that then look in your area, or along your route, for a fast charger to use occasionally when you need it.

 

[carys98]

Chargers run continious current unlike most other loads in your house. Because of this the max continuous current can only be 80% of the breaker rating. So if you have a 30A breaker you can run up to 24A charging current into the battery. If you install a NEMA 14-50 plug for a charger you can only run the charger up to 40A etc. The lightning SR will draw up to 40A max at 240V as it has a single on board 40A charger. The ER has two 40A chargers on board so can draw up to 80 from an appropriately sized charger.

To be specific, the charger(s) are actually in your truck. The box on the wall EVSE(Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) even though they are called chargers do not contain charging circuitry, they merely pass the voltage and current levels to the charger(s) in your truck, the same is true for your mobile phone etc. but that's pretty much irrelevant for end users in both cases.

Just a note, the SR actually charges at 48A max.

 

[Cosmacelf]

For most people who don’t do an unusual amount of daily driving, yes, a 240V 30A breaker (giving you a 24A charge rate) is sufficient. I am presuming that it is a double pole 30A breaker, and thus able to supply 240V.

I always recommend to buy and install a hardwired EVSE rather than one that plugs into a receptacle. Less connection points resulting in longer life.

You can buy EVSEs from a variety of places including Amazon and the big box stores.

Most people hire an electrician to install it, although it is also a very doable DIY job.

Out of curiosity, how do you happen to have a spare 30A breaker? Unused dryer receptacle?

 

[shutterbug]

Before you pick a charger, check with your utility to see if they have a rebate or reduced price for some specific models. For example SRP in AZ currently sells Chargepoint for $350, compared with normal price of $550.

After that, get an estimate from an electrician to install it. The cost of charger and installation is eligible for a 30% federal tax credit up to $1,000.

When getting an estimate, pick the most convenient location for the charger, so you don't have to have the cord all over the place when plugging in. I think it's best to plug in any time you're home.. Also keep in mind your future EV plans. Will you need the charger close enough for another vehicle or will you need to install an additional charger. Chargepoint limits you to having one charger, while Pulsar makes it easy to share a single breaker between multiple chargers.

20A charger is ok for most people, unless you need charge quicker for some unplanned trip. Personally, if the panel allows it I would recommend installing hard-wired 48A charger and de-rating it to a preferred speed. One other thing to keep in mind is that some utilities have a demand charge rate where they charge you a huge fee per kWh for the highest usage hour in a month. In such a case, slower charging speed saves you money.

 

[PreservedSwine]

I preferred a slightly larger charger (48 Amp) which required pretty hefty wire (6 gage) and a 60 Amp breaker.

I wanted to be able charge at least 25 miles of range per hour. Electrical rates are much cheaper during certain hours, and I wanted to be able to charge exclusively during “off peak” rates. I couldn’t do that with a 30 Amp service.

Check for local subsidies available from your local utility company- some offer free charger, free wiring, and some discounted or even free charging.

Have fun!

 

[Daragh]

Just a note, the SR actually charges at 48A max.

I stand corrected, I've update the post to reflect your correction. Thanks

 

[averagerider]

For most people who don’t do an unusual amount of daily driving, yes, a 240V 30A breaker (giving you a 24A charge rate) is sufficient. I am presuming that it is a double pole 30A breaker, and thus able to supply 240V.

I always recommend to buy and install a hardwired EVSE rather than one that plugs into a receptacle. Less connection points resulting in longer life.

You can buy EVSEs from a variety of places including Amazon and the big box stores.

Most people hire an electrician to install it, although it is also a very doable DIY job.

Out of curiosity, how do you happen to have a spare 30A breaker? Unused dryer receptacle?

You are close. Not a dryer, but rather a breaker for an unused single wall oven. When we remodeled, we put in a double wall oven that required more amperage and a heavier wire. The 30 amp was left over and just sits there.

 

[averagerider]

Wow! Lots of helpful comments and I appreciate all you have written. For what it is worth, I am not going to do this job myself. Rather, I have a good friend who is skilled and knowledgeable about wiring.

This will be an around town truck, with occasional trips to a lake house 80 miles away. So I can leave it plugged in for long periods of time in the evening and over night. So, was hoping the 30 amp breaker would suffice.

Many many thanks.

averagerider

 

[Newton]

Welcome to the SR club! We can do so much more than people think we can.

There is a youtube channel called "state of charge" that does reviews of EVSEs ("chargers").

I have a 30A and a 16A EVSE (the 30A requires a 40A breaker.) Charging at 30A took 10 hours and 15 minute to go from 15% to 80%, which meant it was ready to go again before I was. You would be running at 24A so it would take a bit longer, but it is fairly rare for me to take the truck down that far two days in a row.

This chart gives you a *rough* idea of the potential charging times based on a naive assumption that all of the kW in the charger makes it into the truck. The Ford has a fairly flat charging curve (takes the same amount throughout the charge session) until it gets to 80%. It takes significantly longer to get to that last 100%, but unfortunately I have not come across any charts that show *AC* charging speeds at various amperages, so this is what I go by. If anyone has better data, I'm all ears.

This is for the 2023 Standard Range Lariat:

 

[Newton]

I should add that on my most recent long trip I was getting between 2.3 and 2.5 mi/kWh so the range on my chart is low. In reality we could drive about 160 miles comfortably while keeping to our rule of not fast charging above 83% or going below 10%.

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