Ford Power Promise – Take the charger/install or the money/discount?

[carys98]

How did the Duke Power reimbursement work? I have called them and not gotten any return call.

I filled out the application on this site and a few weeks later I got a check.

https://chargerprep.duke-energy.com/customer/#/home

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[chl]

Sorry if this topic has been discussed, but I was unable to find it.

Since Ford is offering a free charger (Ford Charge Station Pro-FCSP) plus installation or $2,000 cash, I am trying to decide which option to take. Here is my rationale, and I would appreciate input.

Reasons to take the charger

• There are no surprises since installation is covered
• Ford branded charger that seems solid and is expensive.
• 80amp potential charging
• Bi-directional power for powering the whole home

Reasons to take the cash and pay for the charger/install separately

• You have more flexibility in the type of charger, considering that the Ford Charge Station Pro lacks some key features.
• F150 Lightning doesn’t charge at 80amps anyway
• You can probably save money if the installation is simple (adding a NEMA 14-50 plug) and you get a mid-range charger (~$400).
• Bidirectional power for whole-home charging requires significant additional expense. A transfer switch might better accomplish the same goal.
• You might get an additional rebate for independently purchasing a charger.

Based on the above, it seems that spending the money on a more highly rated charger is the wise thing to do unless the installation will be expensive, you want a feature specific to the FCSP, or you just don’t want to think about it.

Therefore, I think my next step is to get an installation estimate from Qmerit to get a feel for how expensive installation would be, and go from there.


Am I missing anything?

Some thoughts.

14-50 will only get you a 40A charge rate - if you have a SR battery, it could work, but if you have the ER, it might become tediously slow.

I can go from close to 20% to 80% with my 2023 SR battery Lightning Pro and the FCSP in about 5 hours at around 48A, which is the time my utility gives me a reduced rate, so it works for me.

An unused FCSP new in the box can be had from eBay for about $600. So value the EVSE at $600. I bought mine that way in Jan 2024 before the Ford program came along.

For installation, I bought the wire, conduit, breaker, etc. on-line, and it cost me about $500 for the wire (about $1.77 per foot 3AWG THHN and $0.91 per foot 6AWG THHN), $100 for the flexible conduit (with connectors), $40 for the 100A breaker, and a few bucks for misc things like conduit brackets. However, I bought more wire and conduit than I needed because I wasn't sure which way routing the wire/conduit was going to work: through my attic or through my crawl space.

Turns out I only needed about 70ft of the 100ft I bought. Better to have too much than too little although it cost me $180 (30% of $600) extra. I may be able to use the extra for some other project down the road?

Add another $150 for a licensed electrician (friend) to do the final hook up FCSP to breaker box.

Anyway, Qmerit can give you their estimate and you can see what it adds up to.

Being retired and an electrical engineer, I had the time to run the wire/conduit myself - it was a lot of fun heaving/hauling 100ft of 1" flexible conduit with 2 #3AWG and 1 #6AWG THHN copper wire up into my attic through a trap door in the ceiling in the heat of summer (about 80lbs), let me tell you. Like wrestling an anaconda in a sauna!

I went with the 80A setup so I'd have the option in the future of a bigger battery vehicle.

The labor to install a lower amperage set up will be the same, but the materials, wire and breaker, will be less.

The labor will depend on how difficult it will be for Qmerit to run the wire and conduit from the FCSP or other EVSE to the breaker box.

An 80A EVSE like the FCSP has to be hard-wired per code. So does anything over 40A. But that's actually simpler to do than a plug-in set up.

 

[chl]

I just did the online installation estimate, and Qmerit quoted $1100. I have a 200-amp panel (I think), but there are only two open slots (one at the bottom of each row). I would put the charger 15 feet from the panel on the same garage wall (exterior wall) because the Lightning won't fit in the garage.

The price seems a little high, but it's cheaper if I pay that cost and buy a $500 charger.

I am also considering installing a transfer switch to run power from the truck to two bedrooms during a storm, but I doubt the cost is worth it. I can just run extension cords, and I do not want to power the whole house or major appliances (all electric).

WOW. You are talking about maybe 20ft of wire at $4.45 per foot (2 x #3AWG wires and 1 x #5AWG wire) or about $90 of wire, a $30 100A breaker, some conduit if needed and labor. So, that is a bit pricey.

They can charge something for reorganizing the panel so you have room for the 100A 2-pole breaker, or for a sub panel. Drilling through to an exterior wall and mounting the FCSP to it could be a chore I suppose. But $1100 for a couple hours labor and $100 of supplies? Ouch!

Like others said a Generac 6853 for about $400 will do the trick for backup from the Lightning ProPower on-board 240V 30A bed outlet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V4NDG12/

The SunRUn HIS only gives you 10 more amps, a hefty installation bill and a lot of headaches from what I've heard anyway.

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