I need info on home charging

[averagerider]

Also, I test drove a 2022 Lariat SR this afternoon and was blown away by the truck. Quiet. Powerful. Rides smoother than almost any PU I have been in. (My Ram 1500 is close, however.)Did I say quiet? Love the single peddle driving and massive screen. Love the idea of the frunk to store and carry to work sites my tools.

My only reservation relates to battery longevity, depreciation, and what appear to be some supply issues for repair parts. I have participated in sites like this for both motorcycles and trucks and my experience has been that most of the negative comments will be from a small number of frustrated owners who are waiting extended periods of time for repair parts. People who are happy either don't bother to join, or remain quiet. At least I'm hoping that the odds of success will be with me.

All that said, I do appreciate your comments.

averagerider

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%.

Thanks for the good information.
averagerider

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[Jseis]

I too had a 30amp dryer plug w/8 AWG cooper. Swapped out the 30 amp breaker and went with a new 40 amp and a NEMA 1450 receptacle. Then set the CO HomeFlex to 32 amps. Charges at about 22+ miles per hour so a 1am-6am charge puts my daily ~90 miles back in.

In the process discovered the 100 amp utility panel has 325 amp of breakers. Prior home owners had added in a hot tub circuit, hot water tank, apartment with baseboard heat, range-oven, microwave, freezer, fridge, TV, lighting circuits, 2-garage door openers, welder circuit, a couple lighting circuits and etc. Still can’t figure out the 100 amp tag. But I turned off 225 amps of stuff, deep sixed the hot tub, etc. So theoretically I’ve 60 amps left. Since the kids are building a new house I told them “you’d better drop in a 300 amp panel if you want to be modern. We are all electric as no NG service and power is $.0634/kwh.

 

[Roy2001]

30A breaker for 24A charger adds 5.5 kWh per hour for 10-12 miles and 12 hours to charge 20-80%.

If you have a reliable EA around it is fine. Otherwise, consider a 60A breaker 48A charger which reduce charge time to be half.

 

[shutterbug]

This is for the 2023 Standard Range Lariat:

One note. If the truck is mostly driven around town, as OP says, then efficiency may be a bit higher. I am getting around 2.8 miles/kWh. Highway driving will be lower.

 

[shutterbug]

My only reservation relates to battery longevity, depreciation, and what appear to be some supply issues for repair parts. I have participated in sites like this for both motorcycles and trucks and my experience has been that most of the negative comments will be from a small number of frustrated owners who are waiting extended periods of time for repair parts.

I think that one of the problems people have with service and repair is that their dealers' service departments totally suck. I live in a large metropolitan area, and it took me a while to find a dealer with decent service. When a dealer responds with "leave your vehicle here and we'll consider looking at it in a week or two", find another dealer. Parts supply is a problem for most vehicles these days. But if the issue is not affecting safety or drivability, the part should be in place, before you turn your vehicle over to them.

 

[Mmiketa]

I too had a 30amp dryer plug w/8 AWG cooper. Swapped out the 30 amp breaker and went with a new 40 amp and a NEMA 1450 receptacle. Then set the CO HomeFlex to 32 amps. Charges at about 22+ miles per hour so a 1am-6am charge puts my daily ~90 miles back in.

In the process discovered the 100 amp utility panel has 325 amp of breakers. Prior home owners had added in a hot tub circuit, hot water tank, apartment with baseboard heat, range-oven, microwave, freezer, fridge, TV, lighting circuits, 2-garage door openers, welder circuit, a couple lighting circuits and etc. Still can’t figure out the 100 amp tag. But I turned off 225 amps of stuff, deep sixed the hot tub, etc. So theoretically I’ve 60 amps left. Since the kids are building a new house I told them “you’d better drop in a 300 amp panel if you want to be modern. We are all electric as no NG service and power is $.0634/kwh.

You’re allowed to take a demand on loads and you don’t need to use your full connected load additively when connecting stuff. The majority of panels have a lot more than the rated amps connected, but real world use the panel sees a fraction of that. If you were actually overloaded you would gave tripped your main breaker.

 

[Henry Ford]

If the wiring is not already installed, have your electrician install the biggest circuit that makes sense. For a standard range truck that would be a 60 amp circuit and a 48 amp charger. For future proofing you could install a 100 amp breaker and an 80 amp charger. There's probably one for sale on this site or the other Lightning forum right now.

The previous owner of my house installed a 40 amp circuit for EV charging and I stuck with it so I'm limited to 32 amp charging. It has worked out but there have been a few times I wished I could charge a bit faster. I've often considered upgrading but the distance between my panel and the garage and the fact that "good enough" has been good enough has stopped me.

 

[Adventureboy]

One other consideration - If you have Time of Use electricity rates, there is a cost differential depending how long you need to be plugged in. If you push into the higher TOU rates, it may make sense to consider the electrical upgrade to keep you in the low TOU. For me, this was significant enough to do a panel upgrade to 200a.

For most of your daily driving needs, 24A charger will do according to your usage description. Most EVSEs have the ability to set the maximum output. Pick up a 40 or 48 amp charger and set it to 24 amps, plug in into your existing 30A breaker and drive on. If you find it isn't quite working, you can upgrade to a 50 or 60 amp breaker (and wiring) and dial up your charger to 80% of the breaker size.

 

[averagerider]

Again, I thank other Lightning owners. The responses have been most helpful.

 

[flyct]

Again, I thank other Lightning owners. The responses have been most helpful.

Just because you have an unused 30 amp breaker you still would need to run new wire to an EVSE. Using the existing 30 amp breaker only saves you about $10 over having to buy a 50 or 60 amp breaker. You still need to install new wiring to the device.

My recommendation for Future Proofing is to buy a Tesla Universal Wall connector and have it hard wired to 60 amps (48 max to the car). https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tesla-...er-up-to-48a-24-white/6557478.p?skuId=6557478 It has a Tesla and a J1772 plug so you can charge almost any EV. In the Future it looks like everyone will be using the Tesla connector so you are future proofed. The Tesla Wall Connector can be configured either as a 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 ,60 amp breaker circuit. It's a one time expense and there may be some Utility company help with the cost.

Charging at home will save you in operating cost over a gas truck. BUT Insurance will be higher so that may offset some of the gas cost savings.

Right now there are some good deals on 2023 Ford Lightnings with $5000-$7500 rebates, dealer discounts and tax credits. The 2024 models will come with a Heat Pump that will help in cold climates by reducing energy needed to heat the cabin. I live in Florida so that isn't an issue for me.

Once you go EV you will never want to go back to gas.

 

[Newton]

The weird thing is that on the LIghtning I am getting better efficiency on the freeway than in town, although temperatures have gone up a bit in the Northwest. I can't really explain it except that town is kind of hilly so maybe starting from a stop takes more energy than cruising along? I'm going to do another long trip soon to see if it was a fluke.

This was our first long trip, and the first time that we used fast chargers. Our first stop was a test so if it didn't work we could go back home. We stopped at four on the way down and two on the way back when we were more confident and in more of a hurry to get back. The guess-o-meter (range) meter is pretty bad, it lost predicted range when I added a rest stop *before my destination* on the same road! I use the miles/kWh * battery % * battery size method.

The "turn off truck" is for a Shell Recharge 50kw station, it didn't work and that was the advice we were given when we called. Turn it off when plugging in, you can turn it on once it starts charging. It worked (but 50kw is really slow, that stop was a mistake.)

 

[RickLightning]

Also, I test drove a 2022 Lariat SR this afternoon and was blown away by the truck. Quiet. Powerful. Rides smoother than almost any PU I have been in. (My Ram 1500 is close, however.)Did I say quiet? Love the single peddle driving and massive screen. Love the idea of the frunk to store and carry to work sites my tools.

My only reservation relates to battery longevity, depreciation, and what appear to be some supply issues for repair parts. I have participated in sites like this for both motorcycles and trucks and my experience has been that most of the negative comments will be from a small number of frustrated owners who are waiting extended periods of time for repair parts. People who are happy either don't bother to join, or remain quiet. At least I'm hoping that the odds of success will be with me.

All that said, I do appreciate your comments.

averagerider

Thanks for the good information.
averagerider

1 pedal...

 

[averagerider]

Thanks to Jerry for suggestion on future proofing the charging of a Lightning and to others who wrote.

At this point, I am not sure I will pull the trigger on acquiring a 2022 Lariat with under 10k miles. It seems to me that charging is the least of my potential problems. A check of the Carfax on the truck I have in mind shows that it has been subject to a 23B57 HV battery module replacement and/or Battery energy control module software update. And a 23B70 battery monito sensor replacement. As I read through the portion of this website dedicated to recalls and other service problems I see that other owners have had the same, some starting shortly after the date of purchase.

I once owned a Ram 1500 Ecodiesel (3 liter turbocharged V6) that was a joy to drive when it ran well but had a check engine light come on about every 3 months. Every CEL occasion, it seemed, required three trips to the dealer. Once to identify what the problem might be, a second time to confirm the problem (but no part available) and the third time to fix. I got to know the service writers way too much and I dreaded the ding sound indicating the CEL.

As much as I enjoyed test driving a Lightning yesterday, I don't have the energy to go through multiple service appointments, or more importantly the fear that if there isn't a problem today, there might be one tomorrow.

I wish all of you who read or responded to my initial inquiry well. I "get it" why you enjoy these vehicles. I will remain in the meantime lurking on this site, ever willing to change my mind.

averagerider

 

[TaxmanHog]

As much as I enjoyed test driving a Lightning yesterday, I don't have the energy to go through multiple service appointments, or more importantly the fear that if there isn't a problem today, there might be one tomorrow.

I wish all of you who read or responded to my initial inquiry well. I "get it" why you enjoy these vehicles. I will remain in the meantime lurking on this site, ever willing to change my mind.

Don't let those two CSP's shake you, they are routine for all 2022 and most 2023 trucks, once done there is only a slight possibility that battery modules are troublesome. That said, it's no guarantee that the truck you're considering might have a deeper problem.

 

[Randall Stephens]

I always recommend people get the ER if they can. Just going to drop that in here…

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