Home Back-Up and 80A EVSE Missing at Launch

[adoublee]

I have asked my Ford dealer, a Sunrun rep, and my solar provider, and tweeted at Ford, the Ford EV marketing team, Sunrun, etc. Absolutely no one will reveal what the cost will be of the switch required to use the truck as a home generator. I don't know how they expect us to make a decision, possibly next week, about whether to pay for that feature if we have no idea what it costs.

Sunrun has shared on Twitter that they will have more information available "in the coming months". The tweet might be hard to find among the immense negative feedback they are kind enough to respond to on Twitter (but apparently not in real life).

I am not even confident the device will be able to charge my Nissan Leaf that has no CCS inlet. How's that for not being able to plan ahead.

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[PungoteagueDave]

You sure you have a platinum on order or is that what you plan when Ford decides to convert your $100 raffle ticket into an order?

Good point - will convert to an order next week (#2 at Gireco in Delray BEach)

 

[ChasingCoral]

I am not even confident the device will be able to charge my Nissan Leaf that has no CCS inlet. How's that for not being able to plan ahead.

Sure it will. Unless you plan to spend big bucks on a DC Fast Charger, all you need is the J-1772 that came on your Leaf.

 

[adoublee]

Sure it will. Unless you plan to spend big bucks on a DC Fast Charger, all you need is the J-1772 that came on your Leaf.

Speculation is that the 80A charger might come with a CCS connector for direct access to DC battery for home back-up reverse power. CCS is incompatible with CHAdeMO the Leaf has.

 

[Kiggulak]

I have asked my Ford dealer, a Sunrun rep, and my solar provider, and tweeted at Ford, the Ford EV marketing team, Sunrun, etc. Absolutely no one will reveal what the cost will be of the switch required to use the truck as a home generator. I don't know how they expect us to make a decision, possibly next week, about whether to pay for that feature if we have no idea what it costs.

There was a Ford rep "Ian" on the Ford Lightning road tour who fielded all the 80A charger questions that the other reps could not answer. He stated that the cost to upgrade to the 80A charger would most likely be in the $1500-$2000 range and would INCLUDE the Sunrun transfer switch. So the ER Lightning comes with the transfer switch. He also confirmed that the CCS Combo Type 1 plug on the 80A charger only uses the J1772 top half to charge and the two DC pins to whole home back up. Good info for those with non CCS vehicles in the garage already who want to maintain a single EVSE for charging in the garage. Hopefully the standard J1772 to Tesla adapter will fit on the CCS Type 1.

 

[adoublee]

The Sunrun CEO is indicated to be a speaker at this product launch event.

https://www.span.io/product-launch-streaming-event

 

[rtw819]

The Sunrun CEO is indicated to be a speaker at this product launch event.

https://www.span.io/product-launch-streaming

Whatever announcement was on that page does not appear to be there now...?

We couldn't find the page you were looking for. This is either because: There is an error in the URL entered into your web browser. Please check the URL and try again. The page you are looking for has been moved or deleted. You can return to our homepage by clicking here, or you can try searching for the content you are seeking by clicking here.

​

Based on what you had seen, did the product launch announcement include more than the "Span" product on the site already? Just curious!

 

[adoublee]

Whatever announcement was on that page does not appear to be there now...?

We couldn't find the page you were looking for. This is either because: There is an error in the URL entered into your web browser. Please check the URL and try again. The page you are looking for has been moved or deleted. You can return to our homepage by clicking here, or you can try searching for the content you are seeking by clicking here.

​

Based on what you had seen, did the product launch announcement include more than the "Span" product on the site already? Just curious!

I think I just messed up copying the link. Try this. No real detail.

https://www.span.io/product-launch-streaming-event

 

[jefro]

It looks like it can function currently from what I have seen.

 

[adoublee]

I think I just messed up copying the link. Try this. No real detail.

https://www.span.io/product-launch-streaming-event

 

[jefro]

Just to be clear. This is what I think is possible.

One is that every truck has power out.

The way the home integration is that is a bi-directional CCS that has a transfer.

It is possible to use the bed or frunk to charge with if you can get ground to work.

 

[Texas Dan]

I would like to reflect on those people discussing replacing their existing house power panel, I don't think replacing the house power panel is necessary. Most alternative power supplies require a transfer switch between the meter and the power panel, not down stream of the power panel. The big question is whether the feeders coming from the electrical service to the power panel can handle the amperage of the house plus the F150L 80A EVSE.

I would really like to see the wiring diagram and installation instructions for the F150L 80A EVSE. I think it's pointless for any of us to be talking to electricians giving installation estimates until we find out more about the F150L 80A EVSE. If anyone can get their hands on a wiring diagram and/or the installation instructions for the F150L 80A EVSE please provide a link or attach to a post.

 

[jefro]

I don't have enough ampacity to add in 100A circuit. Currently I charge an EV at night and almost never go past 7Kw on a 24Kw panel for entire house If one used the 80A they could draw 19+KW and unknown spikes. Bet lights could dim. Power company would notice.

 

[Undisclosed]

I scanned the threads on here but it wasn't quite clear to me if we knew definitively that the truck would output AC (utilizing onboard inverter) or DC (requiring separate inverter) home backup solution.

I stumbled across this recent article which quotes the truck's chief engineer Linda Zhang:
"We ended up with something called Intelligent Backup Power. It uses the Lightning's actual charging port on the side of the truck, where you plug it in to charge, to do bidirectional power transfer with the extended range batteries, turning the truck into a mobile backup generator on wheels for an entire home ecosystem paired with a home inverter."

That clears it up for me that truck is outputting DC and will require an external inverter. I have not seen anything indicating the 80A charger will include a transfer switch and/or inverter so assume those will be separate.

Between the inverter + transfer switch + electrician I think we will easily be looking at $10k+ to utilize this feature.

 

[jefro]

The photos of the deal make me think it outputs DC along with the connection to DC.

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