Is the included charger not sufficient?

[Pina]

I've read so many posts on here about different charging stations people have purchased for the Mach E and it's left me with the question as to whether or not the included charger is inadequate?

I've never had an EV and am patiently awaiting the arrival of mine this spring. I have an electrician coming to wire a 240 outlet and from what I can tell the included charger will give me adequate charging speed for my needs.

Is the only reason to go buy a different type gaining visibility on power draw from my meter or what else would I be getting?

Thanks in advance!

Sponsored

 

[Jeff_S]

I'll be interested to read the replies to your question. I'm using the included charger with a 240V outlet, and it works well. I would sometimes appreciate a 48A charger, but I don't have a 60A circuit right now anyway. I also have a flat-rate power plan (it doesn't change based on time or day or anything) so when I charge doesn't matter. I probably have one of the simplest situations and a simple charger works fine.

 

[dbsb3233]

I've read so many posts on here about different charging stations people have purchased for the Mach E and it's left me with the question as to whether or not the included charger is inadequate?

I've never had an EV and am patiently awaiting the arrival of mine this spring. I have an electrician coming to wire a 240 outlet and from what I can tell the included charger will give me adequate charging speed for my needs.

Is the only reason to go buy a different type gaining visibility on power draw from my meter or what else would I be getting?

Thanks in advance!

For the vast majority of people, the included 32A EVSE is plenty sufficient. But it is a mobile charger, meaning it's not quite as heavy duty as many wall-mount chargers. And many of us just like leaving the mobile charger in the car for potential on-the-road charges (although I'm a year in, with 10k miles of road trips, and never used it for that).

Plus in the US, we had a 30% tax credit that was expiring, which made it tempting just to go ahead and buy a separate wall-mount charger at a discount. I got a Grizzl-E for $419 (made in Canada), minus tax credit. Solid unit, with a heavy cable and connections that should last forever.

 

[RickMachE]

There are multiple threads that discuss this.

First, if you're getting an outlet installed for the included Ford charger, the specs are on the 2nd page of the attached document. That charger will provide approximately 20 miles of charge per hour.

Why get a different charger? Several reasons:

1) You could get a 48amp charger, hardwired, that would provide about 32 miles of charge per hour. Many utility companies either sell discounted chargers, or provide a rebate. Why? Because they want to tap into the data of the intelligent charger, something they cannot do with the Ford portable charger.

2) As stated, we in the states had a now-expired 30% tax credit for installation of the wiring and a charger. In addition, see #1 for the rebate. My utility company provided a $500 rebate if I bought either a ChargePoint Home Flex, or a JuiceBox charger. So my charger was $639 plus tax = $677.34 - $500 rebate - $53.20 (30% tax credit after $500 rebate) = $124.14. Paying that for 50% faster charging with a 25' cord and being able to leave the portable charger in the car for travel was a no-brainer.

Many people never checked with the utility company (it's on the websites) and left money on the table.

@Pina mentions getting visibility on the power draw from the meter. You're only going to get that if you install a separate EV meter. Before you do that, make sure you run the numbers. For me, I'd have to pay close to $10 per month for a second meter, PLUS the cost to have an electrician connect to it, PLUS I'd get less off-peak hours to charge vs. what I have today. The numbers don't work at all. My JuiceBox 48 charger provides me with all the reporting I could ever want on usage.

 

[generaltso]

I guess I can't answer that since my Ford Mobile charger is still wrapped in plastic under the cargo floor. I don't even know if it works.

But a lot of people seem happy using it as their only charger, so I guess you can give it a try. If you're not happy with that solution, you can always buy a more robust EVSE later.

 

[txaggies07]

I have two reasons for buying an EVSE instead of using the included mobile charger.

1. I want to keep a mobile charger in the car in case of emergencies. Therefore I want the mobile charger with me and don't want to be unplugging and rolling it up every day.
2. I wanted a quicker charge time (32A vs 40A). It isn't a huge difference but in my case it does make a difference in getting the car back up to charge the next night or not. If you are in an area with cheaper night rates you would want something that can give you as much charge as possible during those times (not my case though).

I have used the mobile charger plenty as well. We have a place out in the country that I go to very often and I have been using the mobile charger there. However, I just put an EVSE there as well since I hated pulling out the mobile charger every time.

 

[TheFDMayor]

I've read so many posts on here about different charging stations people have purchased for the Mach E and it's left me with the question as to whether or not the included charger is inadequate?

I've never had an EV and am patiently awaiting the arrival of mine this spring. I have an electrician coming to wire a 240 outlet and from what I can tell the included charger will give me adequate charging speed for my needs.

Is the only reason to go buy a different type gaining visibility on power draw from my meter or what else would I be getting?

Thanks in advance!

I wired up a 50 AMP service in my garage for the charger, and the thing has worked perfectly every time. I was definitely worth the expense. I would recommend if you have a garage, you place it close to the door so you can charge both inside the garage and out. I have it on the left side, so I back in to the garage during the cold weather. I recently purchased a Grizzly charger also that I am going to use, and keep the OEM one in the vehicle for trips. Unfortunately, If you don't have a garage or personal driveway I recommend you purchase an IC car.

 

[Tim H]

I had a 240v outlet installed in my garage prior to delivery of my Mach-E. I've never had a problem with being unable to keep the car charged vs amount used in daily driving. That said, here in San Diego (and I assume in most all other cities), electricity rates vary greatly depending on the time of day with what's called "super off peak" rates only 9 cents a kWh between midnight and 6am weekdays and midnight to 2 pm weekends. So if you do a lot of driving you may need to draw electricity during periods outside the super off-peak period where rates are significantly higher. If that's the case, in the long run, it could be cheaper to have the wall mount charger installed.

 

[Pina]

Thank you all for the replies. You brought up a great point I hadn't thought about as far as having a cord while travelling. I've been working from home for 2 years now almost and kind of forget what it's like to go anywhere of a significant distance.

I wish we had rebates like that! Will definitely keep my eye out for any new incentives.

I guess I will try the OEM unit and see how that goes before making that investment.

Thanks again!

 

[RickMachE]

Thank you all for the replies. You brought up a great point I hadn't thought about as far as having a cord while travelling. I've been working from home for 2 years now almost and kind of forget what it's like to go anywhere of a significant distance.

I wish we had rebates like that! Will definitely keep my eye out for any new incentives.

I guess I will try the OEM unit and see how that goes before making that investment.

Thanks again!

One other point.

If you have to pay an electrician to wire up an outlet for you, make sure they do it with 4 conductor wire capable of supporting a 48 amp hardwired charger, even if you're going to use the 32 amp Ford charger. Why? Because when you want that hardwired charger, if the wire is not up to snuff for a 60amp circuit, you're hosed. And, if you get a hardwired charger that only needs 3 wires, makes sure they use 4 because you'll possibly need them in the future.

 

[JamieGeek]

I already have a few EVSE's wired up in the garage from prior EV's.

I did, however, remove the plastic from the Ford mobile charger. It also has some friends in the trunk with a Clipper Creek EVSE and an J1772 extension cord sitting next to it.

 

[Chuck]

I leave the one that came with the car in the car as insurance. Why? I don't know, I hope I never have to use it. But I also have a $1 million umbrella insurance policy that I hope I never have to use.

 

[dtbaker61]

I've read so many posts on here about different charging stations people have purchased for the Mach E and it's left me with the question as to whether or not the included charger is inadequate?

I've never had an EV and am patiently awaiting the arrival of mine this spring. I have an electrician coming to wire a 240 outlet and from what I can tell the included charger will give me adequate charging speed for my needs.

Is the only reason to go buy a different type gaining visibility on power draw from my meter or what else would I be getting?

Thanks in advance!

32a charging w the mobile charger is plenty fast for me. My daily range is usually 20-40 miles, so many times I charge every 3rd or fourth day. my wife has a BMW 330e with 20 mi range that we charge every day in an hour or so, then I decide whether or not to charge the MME overnight.

additionally, I wanted an actual 50a outlet in my garage that I can use to backfeed generator (inverter actually) power into the house in case of grid outage. Isolate from grid, turn off non-critical loads and PV, unplug the charger, and plug in my BBU-inverter.

I have a little battery backup unit on the shelf right next to the outlet so I can run emergency lights, refrigerator, etc for short outages.... and export 12v energy from the MME for longer outages. I can run my house for about a week from the MME if I had to since the HV battery (SR) can be used to suppliment my little 12v BBU battery pack by connecting jumpers....

 

[RockwallRick]

We have had the car for 6 1/2 months now and I am still using the Ford mobile EVSE that came with the car for home charging in my garage.

 

[dtbaker61]

@Pina mentions getting visibility on the power draw from the meter.
[/QUOTE]

you can install a little sensor yourself for about $100. The Efergy has an inexpensive model that you can clamp around conductors to measure the power/energy thru any single circuit or main conductors

https://www.floridaecoproducts.com/products/efergy-e2-classic-power-monitor?

You can buy fancier ones that report to the web, or cheap ones that have a portable display that talks to the base unit via Bluetooth.

Sponsored