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

[bmwhitetx]

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

• Ford branded charger that seems solid and is expensive.

While the charger is fairly solid, many of us have had connection issues. And it has the CCS1 connector which is bulky to use.

• 80amp potential charging

Ford fine print says the free installation is only for a 60-amp circuit which gives 48A charging. Which is fine because the 2024 Lightning only supports 48A max charging (80A is an option for fleet vehicles). I suppose you could pay to get the 100-amp circuit with 80-amp charge capabilty but it's wasted on the 2024's.

• Bi-directional power for powering the whole home

The free installation does not include any Home Backup or bidirectional wiring. There are way cheaper solutions than the Sunrun system anyway.

Take the money and buy a decent 48A charger (Tesla, Emporia). Also check out the 30% tax credit (have to live in certain locations, other limitations apply).

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[nhlightning]

I second the Emporia system. When I first bought the Lightning, it did not come with a charger. We used the Tesla Mobile charger for my previous Tesla Model 3 and my wife's Model Y. This wasn't compatible with the Lightning, so I bought the Emporia with J1772 (and use the Tesla adapter on my wife's car at times).

 

[Athrun88]

And it has the CCS1 connector which is bulky to use.

This is also a good point, with future vehicle connectors being replaced with NACS, having a charger with CCS1 isn't very futureproof unless you believe that the Lighting is your last car forever. Would be slightly bigger brain to go with either a J1772 or NACS handle. If going with a J1772 handle, you could, in the future, get a J1772 to NACS adapter or replace the cable with a NACS cable (if supported by the charger). If going with a NACS handle, like with a Tesla Charger, you could get a NACS to J1772 adapter for the time being. OR, like it's been mentioned before, you could just go with the Tesla Universal Charger which has the magic dock adapter built in.

 

[Maineiac12]

Take the money! You can get a decent charger like the Tesla or ChargePoint for around $500

 

[RickLightning]

$2k is without strings. The only reason to take the charger is if you plan to install the Ford Home Integration System.

Any charger installation qualifies for 30% tax credit (install and charger), subject to your location. Some utilities sell discounted chargers or provide rebates.

 

[Grillseargent]

Take the money. Also, check your local, state, and power company for incentives. Duke Power in NC will reimburse up to $1100 to install an EVSE.

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

 

[Danface]

Yup, thank Ford their generous offer to install the charger and take the $$$, it gives you way more options and the tax credit taboot!

 

[Tradewind]

Take the cash.
I didn't have the option.
I have a fantastic pro charger but it is still in the box 9 months later because it's over $11K to have the house backup equipment installed, (also my electrical panel doesn't have any room for anything else) and for that price, what is the ROI? I lost power from Hurricane Helene for 12 hours and just turned the truck on in my garage, and used an extension cord into the propower outlets in the bed to power my fridge.

 

[PJnc284]

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

Their mess is all out of whack. Filled out the online form to have a Duke approved electrician contact me to avoid having to submit everything after the fact. Got a text 2 seconds later from a company but they weren't even aware of the rebate. doh. Ended up just submitting the Permit and other required information online and had a check in no time.

 

[topher10]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I think it's a unanimous vote for taking the cash and buying a separate charger.

I checked rebates, and unfortunately, I do not live in a census tract that gets the 30% tax credit. It was not so easy to figure this out, though. However, my utility company (Entergy) will give me a $250 credit toward purchasing an energy-star-certified charger.

So now the questions are:
1. Do I hardwire the charger or put in a plug. I am leaning toward the plug because the installation might be cheaper, it gives me the freedom to use the Ford Mobile charger if there is an issue with the existing charger, it makes it easier to upgrade, and I can take my charger with me since we might be moving relatively soon. The only negative is slighly slower charging.

2. Go with Qmerit or find someone else. I have a friend/acquaintance who is an electrician, so I might contact him.

Finally, I have to actually buy a truck. Multiple dealers are listing new 2024 Flash trims below 55K on Cars.com. I am unsure if those prices are real, but 55K was always my goal.

 

[RickLightning]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I think it's a unanimous vote for taking the cash and buying a separate charger.

I checked rebates, and unfortunately, I do not live in a census tract that gets the 30% tax credit. It was not so easy to figure this out, though. However, my utility company (Entergy) will give me a $250 credit toward purchasing an energy-star-certified charger.

So now the questions are:
1. Do I hardwire the charger or put in a plug. I am leaning toward the plug because the installation might be cheaper, it gives me the freedom to use the Ford Mobile charger if there is an issue with the existing charger, it makes it easier to upgrade, and I can take my charger with me since we might be moving relatively soon. The only negative is slighly slower charging.

2. Go with Qmerit or find someone else. I have a friend/acquaintance who is an electrician, so I might contact him.

Finally, I have to actually buy a truck. Multiple dealers are listing new 2024 Flash trims below 55K on Cars.com. I am unsure if those prices are real, but 55K was always my goal.

1) 20% faster, and safer? Moving? Breaker off, open junction box, undo screws, pull out wires, put caps on screws, put cover back on box. Label breaker so they don't turn it on.

2) Call your friend.

 

[topher10]

1) 20% faster, and safer? Moving? Breaker off, open junction box, undo screws, pull out wires, put caps on screws, put cover back on box. Label breaker so they don't turn it on.

Is there no value in being able to switch to another charger if there is a failure? With a plug, you can just plug in the Mobile Charger and get by until a new one comes in. Maybe they do not break or have issues very often once running.

 

[RickLightning]

Is there no value in being able to switch to another charger if there is a failure? With a plug, you can just plug in the Mobile Charger and get by until a new one comes in. Maybe they do not break or have issues very often once running.

Do they break? Sure, it happens. I had one fail and it got replaced under warranty. Breaker off, opened box, undid screws, redid screws...

But I have two so I could have used the other one. 20% faster charging.

 

[topher10]

That is true, I would probably feel comfortable wiring up a new one if an existing one breaks. And I could use DCFC while I wait.

 

[PrimeRisk]

Is there no value in being able to switch to another charger if there is a failure? With a plug, you can just plug in the Mobile Charger and get by until a new one comes in. Maybe they do not break or have issues very often once running.

There absolutely is value to this. EVSEs do fail and it can be a significant headache. I bought my first EV in 2015 and my EVSE bit the dust about 1 year in. It was still under warranty, so it was replaced for free, but it took 10 days to ship it to them and get the replacement. In the interim I used my mobile charger at 32A until the full-time one was returned. Had I not had that, I would have had to make daily supercharger stops to keep driving.

All of that in mind, what is the probability of the EVSE failing vs the inconvenience it represents to you.

One thing to keep in mind if you go with the plug is you need to make SURE that you get a high quality NEMA 14-50 socket that is rated for continuous duty, not the $10 big-box special. I paid about $50 for my socket alone from Greybar and that was with my brother-in-law's commercial discount. Your vehicle will be drawing a full 40A for many, many hours and heat will be generated at the connection point.

You do not want this to happen to you:

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