Am I crazy - L1 at home is adequate?

[AdmiralYamo]

L1 is perfectly fine for my 20 mile round trip commute. It typically put 30 miles overnight. I switched to L2 on a 6-15 outlet because I found it in the garage a few weeks later.

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[RickLightning]

Would you mind me asking where you came up with this? I've tried to find some more detail on this fact online and can't find anything.

Thanks!

Outlet is 120v.
Charger pulls 12 amps.
120 x 12 = 1,440 watts, or 1.44kW

Loss of 15% from wall to car = 1.44 x .85 = 12.24kW

Preconditioning's pull can be found by hooking an OBDII connector and looking via CarScanner or other apps.

 

[data003]

If you live anywhere cold, L1 is not even close to enough. I doubt the truck could even keep the batteries warm, let alone charge them.

Elsewhere, if you don’t drive very much, it could work. I’d still put in at least a 40A L2 charger though, it’s much faster and more efficient.

 

[MTBAZ]

L1 cannot precondition the battery in cold weather. L1 will charge during peak rates even if you don't want it to.

I set when to charge in the truck and it would not charge during those times. I did not have any departure times set.

 

[Maquis]

Would you mind me asking where you came up with this? I've tried to find some more detail on this fact online and can't find anything.

Thanks!

I don’t have anything official, so I reverse engineered. I know my Mach-E has a 5KW heater, the Lightning has to be at least this big. The highest L1 supply level is 12A. 120V x 12A = 1.44KW. And like Rick stated, the net to the HVB is even less after Charger losses.

The owners manual states that preconditioning only works ”when plugged in”. I honestly don’t know for sure if it will precondition on L1 (it would consume battery power to do so) or not, but I highly doubt it.

 

[shutterbug]

Have had my ER since Aug and only have L1 at home and have had no issues. I drive 5 to 15 miles per weekday and 1-3 longer trips (up to 50 mile) on weekends. I charge to 90% and Truck is charging almost constantly. Takes 3 to 5 days to recover from weekend driving but I have plenty of range for any emergency so I'm not worried. If needed I hit an L3 charger to reduce anxiety.

The lightning is my second EV. It replaced a 60mile range EV with L1 charging. Going from 60 miles to 270 miles (what I typically see when charging stops) helped eliminate any range anxiety for a typical week with the Lighting.

So, wait. You have an ER, so you got a FCSP sitting in a box, but you still limit yourself to L1 charging? Why? Is it because your service isn't capable of sustaining an additional 240V circuit, or because adding it is too expensive?

 

[Pioneer74]

Would you mind me asking where you came up with this? I've tried to find some more detail on this fact online and can't find anything.

Thanks!

I set my truck to precondition. While it was doing that my Emporia charger recorded a 26 amp draw, or roughly 6kW.

 

[JonS]

Preconditioning's pull can be found by hooking an OBDII connector and looking via CarScanner or other apps.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I think this is the salient point.

The owners manual states that preconditioning only works ”when plugged in”. I honestly don’t know for sure if it will precondition on L1 (it would consume battery power to do so) or not, but I highly doubt it.

I've been all electric since 2018 and had a few Canadian winters. Telsa would usually canibalise the HVB only if the power source wasn't able to draw enough power to warm the cabin/battery. Porsche on the other hand would always prefer the HVB (L1 or L2) unless the car was in an active charge cycle (crazy).

I'm assuming that the F150 will likely use the HVB if it can't get enough juice from L1.

I currently have two Gen 3 Tesla Wall Chargers and I'm going to add a 3rd in their J1772 variant so I can load balance them. I'm currently charging the truck on my drive with a 120v outlet, it's satisfactory but not ideal.

I set my truck to precondition. While it was doing that my Emporia charger recorded a 26 amp draw, or roughly 6kW.

Interesting data point, thanks!

 

[Pioneer74]

Thanks for the detailed reply, I think this is the salient point.



I've been all electric since 2018 and had a few Canadian winters. Telsa would usually canibalise the HVB only if the power source wasn't able to draw enough power to warm the cabin/battery. Porsche on the other hand would always prefer the HVB (L1 or L2) unless the car was in an active charge cycle.

I'm assuming that the F150 will likely use the HVB if it can't get enough juice from L1.

I currently have two Gen 3 Tesla Wall Chargers and I'm going to add a 3rd in their J1772 variant so I can load balance them. I'm currently charging the truck on my drive with a 120v it's satisfactory but not ideal.



Interesting data point, thanks!

My guess is, if you are plugged into a level 1 and precondition, it will draw what it needs from the battery and charge at the level 1 amperage. You may gain range from the precondition itself, but you will lose whatever the EVSE can't replenish.

 

[RickLightning]

I set when to charge in the truck and it would not charge during those times. I did not have any departure times set.

Your understanding is not correct.

Example -

You use 40% of your battery, come home with 50%, and have a target of 90%. Your charging hours are 11PM - 9AM, i.e. 10 hours. In 10 hours you can add about 12-13kWh to the battery, no where near 40%. So you plug in at 5PM and walk away, only to turn around and find your truck charging. Why? Because it knows it can't get to 90% during the set hours, so it starts immediately. Two ways to prevent this - unplug it, or get an outlet and set a schedule. $4.99 - https://amzn.to/3jQON7t

Thanks for the detailed reply, I think this is the salient point.

I've been all electric since 2018 and had a few Canadian winters. Telsa would usually canibalise the HVB only if the power source wasn't able to draw enough power to warm the cabin/battery. Porsche on the other hand would always prefer the HVB (L1 or L2) unless the car was in an active charge cycle (crazy).

I'm assuming that the F150 will likely use the HVB if it can't get enough juice from L1.

I currently have two Gen 3 Tesla Wall Chargers and I'm going to add a 3rd in their J1772 variant so I can load balance them. I'm currently charging the truck on my drive with a 120v outlet, it's satisfactory but not ideal.

Interesting data point, thanks!

You again assume incorrectly. The F-150 will not precondition the battery on 120v, it can't supply enough juice. And it won't use the battery to do so. It will warm the cabin only. You can again verify this with an OBDII adapter and an app - but it's been done dozens of times on the Mach-E.

 

[LightningShow]

L1 is perfectly adequate if you don't drive much.

 

[RickLightning]

L1 is perfectly adequate if you don't drive much.

Not if you want to precondition for a trip it isn't.

 

[LightningShow]

Not if you want to precondition for a trip it isn't.

That's why it's adequate, not optimal.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Would you mind me asking where you came up with this? I've tried to find some more detail on this fact online and can't find anything.

Thanks!

Look at this thread and my post about energy consumption while using a departure time on my FCSP rated for max 80 amps.

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...itioning-detail-information.13353/post-280306

 

[laselvasurf]

Preconditioning requires 5-6 KW. L1 can only provide 1.4 KW. Rough numbers.

I don't think that's correct. I had a lower powered l2 charger(16a, roughly 3.5kw) and had no problems preconditioning.

The big reason I have an L2 48amp charger is what has already been mentioned... Being able to strategically charge when power is off-peak/cheap. I have solar and power walls, so I am able to balance things out if I can charge when the power is cheap as I'm not home during the day when the solar is providing power. If I was on an L1 charger, I would need to charge the whole time the vehicle is in the garage in order to maintain battery for my my 35 mile round trip commute.

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