Ford Charger for Mach-E

[dbsb3233]

More and more shopping centers and malls are installing chargers. A big win will be for restaurants to install them.

More so if they're NOT in the city. Where chargers are more needed is between cities.

Locals are going to charge (mostly) at home. It's the non-locals on road trips that need retail chargers.

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[dbsb3233]

But for folks living in apartments those EA chargers may be their only way to charge. Some apartments are getting charging stations, but not a lot of them around here.

Frankly, if one lives in an apartment without secure, dependable L2 charging, a BEV usually isn't a good choice.

Most of the advantage of a BEV is in charging overnight at home at cheap residential rates. There's significant economic and convenience advantages to doing that. But if one has to rely on retailer charges for more than a small sliver of their charging, those advantages reverse and turn into liabilities.

 

[silverelan]

There's a reason Ford targeted the Y. It's going to be a great car. You think Ford is going to target crap? Hell no. They're going to go after the best and do their damnedest to beat them. I hope they do. And then I hope Tesla beats them back. Competition is good and will make each car far better than they otherwise would be. The Mustang wouldn't be near the car it is without the Camaro, and vice versa.

Ford has been targeting Tesla on the Y since the beginning. Remember when Ford trolled Tesla on Twitter for the delayed Model Y reveal ? It can't be a coincidence that the initial specs for the Mustang Mach-E were close to Tesla's Model Y. Uncomfortably close, I'd say, since Tesla released some updated figures to open up a gap on our favorite electric Mustang.

I'm in the 80% Mach-E camp with a 20% chance of a Model Y. Tesla seems to be stretching things out all the time (390mi Model S) trying to put space between themselves and those pesky upstarts from a hundred years ago. If Tesla comes out with new tech between now and delivery date for the Mustang Mach-E, it'll be impossible to ignore. Until then, Ford is working hard to make the MME a viable contender for yours and my consideration. As @Nak says, competition is good and we all benefit.

Ford is now in the incredibly important first follower position behind the market leader. If the Mach-E is successful, we'll see a bunch more EVs follow suit and hasten the widespread adoption of EVs. Don't underestimate the power of first followers.

First followers explained in under 3 minutes.

 

[jksu]

repeating an often cited observation about another successful company but apple has, especially post-steve jobs, been a frequent 1st follower. let others try out the bleeding-edge tech 1st and then put it’s spin/take (which is often quite good) and use it’s incredible scale and network of subcontractors to build and marketing to make significantly more profit.

if ford can pull an “apple” with the mach-e with a polished well thought out product and back it up with higher quality and service than tesla, they have a shot of being competitive

 

[ChasingCoral]

if ford can pull an “apple” with the mach-e with a polished well thought out product and back it up with higher quality and service than tesla, they have a shot of being competitive

More likely, Ford will pull an IBM. IBM decided to enter the personal computer market in response to Apple, Tandy/RadioShack, and Commodore. Similarly, as Tesla pulled the Apple. Ford will pull an IBM. That's the roll of the first follower.

 

[bogey928]

Hey! I happen to know a bit about the charger at Ford. There’s one that comes with the vehicle, and one that will be available for purchase.
It will be available a few months before the deliveries of the car (a few months from now) and can be financed with the vehicle so you don’t have to pay up front if you don’t want to.
Ours is meant to go with the vehicle, so it’s tested a bit more thoroughly than most chargers, and you’ll get a lot of cool features with it that you wouldn’t get quite as much with a different brand (it’s equivalent to the Tesla Wi-Zfi wall connector they just announced). It also comes with a good warranty as it’s handled like the warranty of the vehicle.
I can answer some questions you have about it if you’d like!

Hey David,

I apologize if this has been asked and answered already, but I did try to look throughout the forum and could not find a clear answer.

My question is this: Can you clarify the requirements for hardwiring the wall mounted Ford Connect Charging station?

I currently have a Siemens VersiCharge hardwired in my garage to charge my 2017 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV. It is on a 50amp breaker with 6AWG wire. The input power connections are: "Line 1, Line 2, Earth Ground". So 2 hots and a ground, therefore there is no neutral wire running to it.

I am wondering if I want to swap the VersiCharge with the Ford Connect if I will need to add the neutral.

Thanks for your time and all the great info you have provided so far!

 

[dbsb3233]

More likely, Ford will pull an IBM. IBM decided to enter the personal computer market in response to Apple, Tandy/RadioShack, and Commodore. Similarly, as Tesla pulled the Apple. Ford will pull an IBM. That's the roll of the first follower.

I get the reference (and lived through it ? ). My only objection to the comparison is that IBM tended to fade from being a major PC players in the consumer market (focusing more on the business market), while Dell, Compaq, Gateway, etc were the names most consumers knew better.

A more apt analogy might be from the cell phone world. Ford's looking to be the Samsung to Tesla's Apple. Apple is a great analogy for Tesla. Including being far more exclusive and proprietary (like with their Superchargers).

I think Ford is in position to do quite well with EVs.

 

[dbsb3233]

Just so you know, a 60A breaker and corresponding wiring is necessary to charge at 48A - as you are right now with the 50A breaker you’d have to limit charging to 40A. You can still use it the way it is if you don’t want to bother upgrading for the extra 8A.

Could you elaborate on the "limit charging to a lower amperage" just a bit? How does one limit it? Is that a setting on the Mach-e screen? Or a setting within the charger itself?

And is that also available on the included Ford Mobile Charge, if say, one only has a 30A outlet?

 

[ChasingCoral]

I think Ford is in position to do quite well with EVs.

Agreed. That's why I have a deposit down on an FE.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Could you elaborate on the "limit charging to a lower amperage" just a bit? How does one limit it? Is that a setting on the Mach-e screen? Or a setting within the charger itself?

And is that also available on the included Ford Mobile Charge, if say, one only has a 30A outlet?

All of this is really going to depend on the design of the charger, the phone app, and the Mach E interface, all of which are currently unknowns.

However, to give you a good idea of how this works, check out the ChargePoint HomeFlex. It adjusts to the car and can be controlled by your app. https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/

I'm hoping the Ford charger is at least as flexible.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Many Walmarts around here already have EA charging stations.

Both the Walmarts by me have them, and they are almost always unavailable for one of two reasons: ICE cars in the spaces (they are very good spaces, close to the doors), and/or the chargers are broken. The only times in four years I have been able to use one at a Walmart were both "off hours" (very very early and very very late in the day). The stores see no reason to enforce "EV Only" apparently,

The local Meijer and the local Giant Eagle (both Midwest chains) both have EV charging areas (the Giant Eagle ones are EA, the Meijer has ChargePoint), and both stores wisely have them a bit back in the lot, where you wouldn't normally choose to park because of the relative distance.

(mind you I realize this is off topic for this thread but since it was mentioned I wanted to jump in )

 

[hybrid2bev]

That's the one that would be my first choice. My guess is $500. (That would match Tesla.) Plus it looks like there will be lots of benefits to using that charger with the Ford app. Plus if you ever damage your car and you're using a third party charger like Clipper Creek I'm guessing your up a creek. If you're using a Ford charger with a Ford car and something is damaged I'm guessing that Ford would take care of you. Cheaper, better, faster, safer. Kind of a no brainer for me.

My guess is a bit higher for the Ford Connected Charger. Thinking like iPhone 11 with 125gb range. But it should have some great FordPass connected features.

 

[Billyk24]

Both the Walmarts by me have them, and they are almost always unavailable for one of two reasons: ICE cars in the spaces (they are very good spaces, close to the doors), and/or the chargers are broken. The only times in four years I have been able to use one at a Walmart were both "off hours" (very very early and very very late in the day). The stores see no reason to enforce "EV Only" apparently,

The local Meijer and the local Giant Eagle (both Midwest chains) both have EV charging areas (the Giant Eagle ones are EA, the Meijer has ChargePoint), and both stores wisely have them a bit back in the lot, where you wouldn't normally choose to park because of the relative distance.

(mind you I realize this is off topic for this thread but since it was mentioned I wanted to jump in )

Which 4 Getgo stations have fast electrical charging? Giant Eagle received 660,000 from pa department of environmental and conservation for this.

 

[silverelan]

Yeah, i'm curious if there are any benefits to using the Ford wall charger. If it was communicating to the car and vice-versa and both are controllable with the app, that could be neat but also redundant. No clue.

@LYTMCQ, do you have a Tesla HPWC? If so, would you swap it out for a Ford wall charger?
@phila, what do you use now for your I-PACE?

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