What charger is the best?

[edsasso]

I have 10 ford EV's some transits and some lightnings and I have 6 more on order. Im a contractor and I have some of my fleet charge at my office and some charge at employees homes. I have a bunch of the ford 48 amp chargers ad they work great. I have two pro chargers and they work great as well (not running at 80 amps due to wire size). All my trucks have the regular plug in charger and they go off on high temp every night at employees homes which is problematic. My plan is to install a charging bank of 16 chargers so my business has room to grow and I want to give my men "real" chargers for their homes. I want to buy more chargers for my project and I wanted to see what successes or failures people are having with all the different brands of chargers. I would buy all Ford, but they come at a premium and well, this is an expensive project and saving a few bucks is not a bad think. So stick with ford and pay up or buy the tesla charger, charge point charger or some other brand?

Sponsored

 

[Heliian]

All my trucks have the regular plug in charger and they go off on high temp every night at employees homes

Must be hot there.

I would check with Ford fleet for deals or try another company that has linkable units for monitoring and usage.

At the end of the day, evse are basic switches that supply line voltage. It doesn't really matter whos name is on it.

 

[Schroederhc1]

Send an email to the YouTube dude who runs the state of charge channel. He has a ton of knowledge about that stuff

 

[Maquis]

Emporia is hard to beat. Last time I checked, $200-300 less than the FCCS.

 

[CD4TNF]

What features do you need for the fleet management? Do you need to track cost of employees's charging? Do you need RFID or ability to have only your employees activate the chargers?

 

[SmoothJ]

I have been using OpenEVSE for years, and never looked back.

 

[hturnerfamily]

about minute 24 talks about it...

this other thread discusses EATON's new 'no module' direct-from-breaker EVSE... probably a GREAT alternative to many 'separate' EVSEs for large installations like yours:
minute ~18 talks about these, specifically...

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...in-ev-charging-eaton.22008/page-2#post-430858

 

[Schroederhc1]

The Tesla Universal Wall Connector would be a good choice and can power share with up to 6 units. Also, the Autel Maxicharger would be a good choice because it has good remote access controls and can power share with up to 16 units.

 

[Grease Lightning]

I have 10 ford EV's some transits and some lightnings and I have 6 more on order. Im a contractor and I have some of my fleet charge at my office and some charge at employees homes. I have a bunch of the ford 48 amp chargers ad they work great. I have two pro chargers and they work great as well (not running at 80 amps due to wire size). All my trucks have the regular plug in charger and they go off on high temp every night at employees homes which is problematic. My plan is to install a charging bank of 16 chargers so my business has room to grow and I want to give my men "real" chargers for their homes. I want to buy more chargers for my project and I wanted to see what successes or failures people are having with all the different brands of chargers. I would buy all Ford, but they come at a premium and well, this is an expensive project and saving a few bucks is not a bad think. So stick with ford and pay up or buy the tesla charger, charge point charger or some other brand?

i would suggest something with load balancing. That way you can reduce your install cost a little bit, not overload your service, and have expansion. As another person mentioned the Eaton products may be something you want to consider so all the expensive stuff can be locked away.

For those homes, honestly I would suggest paying to install a 14-50 plug and go with a 32 amp portable charger. That way you can easily swap them out if they break or if the person moves.

I have three chargers that I generally like. The Tesla Mobile charger lives in my truck and is my mobile charger, then I have an Anker Mobile charger I use as a dumb charger at home. It is currently only $169.00 on Amazon which is amazing and disposable for the home chargers.

https://a.co/d/0er2MMV

Then I have a smart charger that I did have a little trouble with but their team is amazing and stands behind the product. Tom from State of Charge also said this one was solid.
They are a young company and likely would love to take on a project like yours.

EVIQO Level 2 EV Charger - 48 Amp EV Charger Level 2, 240V Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, EV Level 2 Charger NEMA 14-50/Hardwire EVSE Level 2 Charger, 25' Cord Electric Car Charger Energy Star/UL
https://a.co/d/bjyyWM8

Another consideration is if you think you will need to charge off the Propower for emergencies. In that case you will need a portable charger that can drop to below 30 amps. So the Ford one, Tesla with the right dongle, the Anker, and….

 

[Ricks Lightning]

As you know, stay away from the Juicebox by Enel x way.
The charger still works, but the app is dead in all of North America.

Rick

 

[Mach Turtle]

I'm another happy (so far) Emporía customer for home use. Their boxes allow you to adjust the charge rate to whatever doesn't cause thermal problems. Mine is plugged into a NEMA 14-50 socket; I agree with @Grease Lightning about the socket being a good idea. The Emporía web infrastructure might help with tracking and crediting your team's home charger use, if that's not too invasive...kind of like a company credit card. I assume many other chargers can do this also.

Many of us have found the Ford mobile chargers that come with their cars and trucks to not be a good value; their construction seems less electrically and thermally sturdy than that of decent wall mounted chargers, and their reliability hasn't been great for some of us. I do like to keep one (that came with a car, and was replaced under warranty) in the frunk to get out of trouble; the 120 and 240 volt adapters are a good feature. Only used it once during a road trip through a charging desert, but it was very nice to have that night.

For a bank of the chargers at the office, I'll have to defer to someone who has a clue. Hope you find a great solution; that sounds like a great fleet you're building.

 

[edsasso]

What features do you need for the fleet management? Do you need to track cost of employees's charging? Do you need RFID or ability to have only your employees activate the chargers?

I don't think I need any fleetmatics because all of that is covered in my ford pro account.

 

[Ishkatan]

Before getting anything, check with your electric company to see if they care and if they have discounts for charging at certain times with certain brand chargers. In my area you get $0.02 discount per kWh between 11pm and 6am, but only if you use one of a limited number of charger brands. One of them is Tesla (which you can get with J1772 connectors.) Sadly, the Ford chargers are NOT on their approved list.

 

[The Weatherman]

Check out the ‘Masters’ YouTube channel. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know (and them some.)

https://www.youtube.com/@StateOfChargeWithTomMoloughney

 

[edsasso]

WOW. Tons of great info here guys. Thanks. I just met with my eaton guy and I think we are going to run their Breaker chargers. Seem to be a good fit for me BUT I wish they charged at 48 amps or more. The eaton breaker charger only does 32 amps which is good for about 15 miles per hr on my trucks. If I build the system correctly, I could easily upgrade to a 48 or a 60 amp breaker charger if eaton comes out with one. I'll keep you all posted on this project. Thanks again!

Sponsored