Ford Home Charger Install by QMERIT

[PrimeRisk]

I don't think I said that, did I? No, my install was just the charger. I was interested in the back up system until others reported so many problems with it. I'm now looking into alternate solutions. I won't do just a subpanel with generator port cuz I want to still be able to use my solar.

No, I guess you didn't. It was a bit of a dream at that...

There is some hope for some 3rd party solutions. I had a chat with the people over at Emporia Energy about their upcoming 2-way EVSE that is intended to tap into your vehicles battery for whole home backup. They specialize in whole-home battery backup systems and have had this product under development for some time. The outlook for delivery is late 2025 or early 2026.

https://www.emporiaenergy.com/how-the-emporia-v2x-charger-works/

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[Zprime29]

No, I guess you didn't. It was a bit of a dream at that...

There is some hope for some 3rd party solutions. I had a chat with the people over at Emporia Energy about their upcoming 2-way EVSE that is intended to tap into your vehicles battery for whole home backup. They specialize in whole-home battery backup systems and have had this product under development for some time. The outlook for delivery is late 2025 or early 2026.

https://www.emporiaenergy.com/how-the-emporia-v2x-charger-works/

I've been watching for news of that, very excited to see what the finished product is capable of.

 

[21st Century Truck]

I just had a very good experience with installation of my free Ford CSP @ 80 amps, on my pre-existing Virginia-provided 2010-era secondary EV-limited TOU electric submeter circuit. The QMerit subcontractor crew was unusually good. I say this after having completely rebuilt the guts of my 1939 house back a few years ago, a self-directed 5+ year project I will never ever do again haha.

We located the Ford CSP on the northern wall of the house on the driveway corner, so as to avoid the Summer sun heating it up. Someday soon, I'll add a little awning above it to keep rain and snow off.

My 2023 XLT ER now charges up to its battery working limits on the very low special EV submeter nightly rates: 5.36 c/kW between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and 8.63 c/kW between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., and again between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. At these rates, the QMerit install and submeter interconnection cost will likely pay for itself within a year.

As a part of the installation work, the QMerit sub crew switched my existing 6-gauge charging circuit with its GRIZZL-E 40 amp permanently mounted charging spigot, from the electric submeter to my regular house meter, so that I preserve additional charging at my house rate of 11 c/kW for occasional daytime use, or for when Sonny Boy shows up with his E-Tron or other friends show up with their EVs.

I grew to appreciate the Ford 80-amp free CSP, which I had refused at first when I bought this truck in July 2024, only when I truly realized how long it takes to charge the Lightning's Extended Battery... at that point, in October, the in-built two chargers in my 2023 XPLT began to make complete sense. I went back to Ford and the dealer, and got my Ford CSP for free this December because of the model year of my truck (Ufff). My learning point here is that it takes a little while, even for experienced EV owners, to understand why Ford made its interrelated Charging Station Pro + ER battery business decisions back in 2022.

I now think that it's a shame Ford eliminated the double charger builds in the ER battery Lightnings except as a pre-order option and a fleet order option. As time goes on, 80-amp-capable EV models are bound to proliferate, and having the 3-gauge circuit on the house and an 80-amp charging spigot on the house will become an attractive discriminator rather than an oddity no matter what the EV brand.

Back in 2012, when the then-governor of Virginia had grabbed some Federal shovel-ready $$$ and started this EV charging submeter pilot with the local large electric utility, I jumped on it and also tried to future-proof my installation my insisting on a 6-gauge circuit run between the submeter and the EV juice spigot, even though my Prius could only take 12 amps... Well, I had failed to anticipate an 80-amp juice spigot but my eventual 40-amp upgrade did benefit for a few years from this now-closed residential EV charging pilot program.

After watching the QMerit sub crew wrestle with the 3-gauge THHN wiring through conduit bends and the corner runs of my 1939 basement, I am very glad I chose not to self-install the wire... that 3-gauge stuff is a MAJOR PAIN to manhandle and properly torque correctly, especially when weaseling the wiring through an old, existing structure.

All in all, for Northern Virginia anyway, the QMerit Ford CSP installation process in my case proved to be really high quality, clear, focused and worthwhile, with a relatively fast anticipated ROI. By the way, I am completely not interested in the Ford HIS capability, as I now have a PowerWall-on-wheels in my driveway and a future 10-gauge 240V circuit project to complete

 

[chl]

I just had a very good experience with installation of my free Ford CSP @ 80 amps, on my pre-existing Virginia-provided 2010-era secondary EV-limited TOU electric submeter circuit. The QMerit subcontractor crew was unusually good. I say this after having completely rebuilt the guts of my 1939 house back a few years ago, a self-directed 5+ year project I will never ever do again haha.

We located the Ford CSP on the northern wall of the house on the driveway corner, so as to avoid the Summer sun heating it up. Someday soon, I'll add a little awning above it to keep rain and snow off.

My 2023 XLT ER now charges up to its battery working limits on the very low special EV submeter nightly rates: 5.36 c/kW between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and 8.63 c/kW between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., and again between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. At these rates, the QMerit install and submeter interconnection cost will likely pay for itself within a year.

As a part of the installation work, the QMerit sub crew switched my existing 6-gauge charging circuit with its GRIZZL-E 40 amp permanently mounted charging spigot, from the electric submeter to my regular house meter, so that I preserve additional charging at my house rate of 11 c/kW for occasional daytime use, or for when Sonny Boy shows up with his E-Tron or other friends show up with their EVs.

I grew to appreciate the Ford 80-amp free CSP, which I had refused at first when I bought this truck in July 2024, only when I truly realized how long it takes to charge the Lightning's Extended Battery... at that point, in October, the in-built two chargers in my 2023 XPLT began to make complete sense. I went back to Ford and the dealer, and got my Ford CSP for free this December because of the model year of my truck (Ufff). My learning point here is that it takes a little while, even for experienced EV owners, to understand why Ford made its interrelated Charging Station Pro + ER battery business decisions back in 2022.

I now think that it's a shame Ford eliminated the double charger builds in the ER battery Lightnings except as a pre-order option and a fleet order option. As time goes on, 80-amp-capable EV models are bound to proliferate, and having the 3-gauge circuit on the house and an 80-amp charging spigot on the house will become an attractive discriminator rather than an oddity no matter what the EV brand.

Back in 2012, when the then-governor of Virginia had grabbed some Federal shovel-ready $$$ and started this EV charging submeter pilot with the local large electric utility, I jumped on it and also tried to future-proof my installation my insisting on a 6-gauge circuit run between the submeter and the EV juice spigot, even though my Prius could only take 12 amps... Well, I had failed to anticipate an 80-amp juice spigot but my eventual 40-amp upgrade did benefit for a few years from this now-closed residential EV charging pilot program.

After watching the QMerit sub crew wrestle with the 3-gauge THHN wiring through conduit bends and the corner runs of my 1939 basement, I am very glad I chose not to self-install the wire... that 3-gauge stuff is a MAJOR PAIN to manhandle and properly torque correctly, especially when weaseling the wiring through an old, existing structure.

All in all, for Northern Virginia anyway, the QMerit Ford CSP installation process in my case proved to be really high quality, clear, focused and worthwhile, with a relatively fast anticipated ROI. By the way, I am completely not interested in the Ford HIS capability, as I now have a PowerWall-on-wheels in my driveway and a future 10-gauge 240V circuit project to complete

Glad it went well, and good to know QMerit does quality work in our area.

It really is crazy Ford eliminated the second charging circuit in the ER models for regular consumers. But perhaps some unsold fleet vehicle with the dual circuitry will become available down the road.

Since we didn't have already installed conduit to our garage, we used flexible PVC conduit for our 2 x #3 and 1x #6 wires during the FCSP install - the flexible conduit really saved a lot of time and effort in the install process running it up the garage wall through the attic to the service panel in the basement. I worked for an electrical supply company before college doing delivery, I talked to a lot of electricians out in the field and one of their biggest challenges was pulling wire through conduit.

Enjoy the upgrade!

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