Ford 48amp Charger vs other makes?

ChasingCoral

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Threads
375
Messages
12,402
Reaction score
24,516
Location
Maryland
Vehicles
GB E4X FE, Leaf, Tacoma, F-150 Lightning ordered
Occupation
Retired oceanographer
Country flag
I am currently looking at charging solutions.

https://www.ford.com/powertrains/battery-electric-vehicles/#home-charging

My question is aside from cost will their be an vehicle integration advantage to having a Ford high amp Charger vs something like a 50amp juice box.

For me the actual install will be pretty easy so that is not the issue, my concern if by saving a few hundred bucks on a charger will I loose functionality.

Who plans on getting the Ford offering? I know the other choices are good setups.

Luckily for me I should have a few months to noodle this one out as I have not received a build date yet.
BTW, I see you are new here. The search feature on the site is your friend. As you might imagine, this is not the first time this topic has come up. I encourage you to start with existing information before starting the discussion all over again.
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ge-station-what-are-the-unique-features.1753/
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/fords-connected-charge-station.117/
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/shopping-for-a-home-charger.1190/
Sponsored

 

shutterbug

Well-Known Member
First Name
Joseph
Joined
Nov 5, 2020
Threads
8
Messages
1,113
Reaction score
1,549
Location
AZ
Vehicles
Grabber Blue FE
Country flag
The only real advantage of the Ford Connected Charge Station is that it is capable of 48A charging.
No it's not. There are other chargers capable of charging at 48A. The only advantage of the Ford Connected charger is the privilege to spend more money.
 

DBC

Well-Known Member
First Name
Don
Joined
Oct 1, 2020
Threads
8
Messages
1,224
Reaction score
1,428
Location
San Diego
Vehicles
Volt ELR
Country flag
I think the recommendation from Tom Moloughney at Insideevs is to start with the charger that comes with the MME. It supports 240V charging and will be more than adequate. That way you'll be able to make a better decision once you have some experience with home charging. Given the time you spend at home, you rarely if ever would need high power charging at home.

Just make sure if you run cable to size it for the maximum you'll need. Outlets and breakers are easy and cheap to replace. Cable not so much. If you already have cable then some decisions are likely already made.

True but don’t EVSEs generally provide a pretty flat charging curve?
Yes except for some taper at the end which isn't worth worrying about. I don't think I've ever known what the charge rate was and it never occurred to me to wonder. You're probably similar.
 

EVmodeler

Well-Known Member
First Name
Doug
Joined
Oct 30, 2020
Threads
9
Messages
117
Reaction score
274
Location
SW Virginia
Vehicles
Mach-E AWD ER IB Job 1
Occupation
Engr Prof emeritus
Country flag
Yes except for some taper at the end which isn't worth worrying about. I don't think I've ever known what the charge rate was and it never occurred to me to wonder. You're probably similar.
L2 EVSEs have a max AC current they can supply, but the taper at the end is the result of the current draw from the Vehicle - the BMS in the vehicle as SOC rises.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DBC


JamieGeek

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Threads
82
Messages
3,556
Reaction score
6,746
Location
Southeastern Michigan
Website
spareelectrons.wordpress.com
Vehicles
Mach-E, old: Bolt, C-Max Energi, Focus Electric
Country flag
The car has to be on. It's the same place that shows you regen. Also it displays net charge going into the battery. Mine is 2020.
Ah yeah didn't think to do that (keep the car on).
 

ChasingCoral

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Threads
375
Messages
12,402
Reaction score
24,516
Location
Maryland
Vehicles
GB E4X FE, Leaf, Tacoma, F-150 Lightning ordered
Occupation
Retired oceanographer
Country flag
I think the recommendation from Tom Moloughney at Insideevs is to start with the charger that comes with the MME. It supports 240V charging and will be more than adequate. That way you'll be able to make a better decision once you have some experience with home charging. Given the time you spend at home, you rarely if ever would need high power charging at home.

Just make sure if you run cable to size it for the maximum you'll need. Outlets and breakers are easy and cheap to replace. Cable not so much. If you already have cable then some decisions are likely already made.

Yes except for some taper at the end which isn't worth worrying about. I don't think I've ever known what the charge rate was and it never occurred to me to wonder. You're probably similar.
The stated charge times on L1/L2 for the Leaf assume flat charging. They are all stated in kW/h per hour or time to full charge. Unlike DCFC, nothing is stated about that changing with SOC.
The same statement applies to the Mach E so far, too. Ford has said nothing about L1/L2 rate changing.

Personally, I have the Leaf set to recharge to 100% by 8:00 am each day. Plug it in and it will finish by 8:00 am without thinking about how long that will take.
The same can be done with the Mach E with the added benefit that you can set whatever maximum SOC you want.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DBC

SnBGC

Well-Known Member
First Name
Greg
Joined
Apr 20, 2020
Threads
46
Messages
5,955
Reaction score
9,749
Location
Phoenix
Vehicles
2021 Mach-E FE, 2021 Wrangler 4xe High Altitude
Occupation
Manager
Country flag
True but don’t EVSEs generally provide a pretty flat charging curve?
It very much depends on the EVSE.
Contactor type EVSE units are fairly flat. Right up to their rating and stays there.

Solid state type, such as the mobile unit that ships with the vehicle can vary quite a bit depending on how warm it gets. My niece bought one from Amazon when she purchased her first EV in April of 2019. It had a display on it that showed the charge speed and it would vary from 3 to 6 kW while we sat and watched. Sometimes it would shut off completely, cool down and then resume once the temp stabilized. One of my neighbors had a similar issue with his EVSE. I think that was a Clipper Creek brand.....
 

jdmrc93

Well-Known Member
First Name
Joe
Joined
Jun 25, 2020
Threads
20
Messages
345
Reaction score
874
Location
Allen Park, MI, USA
Vehicles
2021 Mustang Mach-E First Edition in Grabber Blue
Occupation
IT Network Engineer
Country flag
If I could put in my two cents...

I personally went with the ChargePoint Home Flex for a couple reasons, and here they are:

1) Price: $650 vs $800

2) Availability: Now vs Later

3) Mounting (biggest deciding factor for me): ChargePoint Home Flex has a place for externally mounted conduit, and also NEMA 14-50/6-50 (replaceable, same port). The Ford Connected Charge Station has to be mounted to a wall with the supply coming directly from behind. I am mounting this to an exterior brick wall, and right behind it is my kitchen. My house was built in the 1940s and I am NOT opening that can of worms. I am going to direct feed it via conduit from the basement, as the new panels are directly underneath.

4) Ease of use with other vehicles: ChargePoint app is universal. Do I need to use the Ford app regardless of vehicle make/model? That's a "most likely", and if this is a rebranded Webasto charger, will it work with a native Webasto EVSE app instead of Ford's? These questions haven't been answered by Ford. My husband is getting a Mini Cooper Countryman PHEV, I don't want to use the Ford app for his Mini Cooper. I don't want to run into any handshake/charging issues down the line.

5) Cable Management: ChargePoint cable can wrap around the unit itself, while the Ford unit has to have a separate mount. I like how contained the ChargePoint unit is.

6) Aesthetics: I like the way the ChargePoint looks a lot more. I'm weird like that, but there's a reason I won't even consider a Clipper Creek, Grizzl-e, Siemens VersiCharge, or even Juice Box... I just don't think they look good. And yes, that's enough for me. But I had other reasons as well, clearly. If we didn't care about aesthetics, we would have been fine with Ford's original compliance car design.
 

ChasingCoral

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Threads
375
Messages
12,402
Reaction score
24,516
Location
Maryland
Vehicles
GB E4X FE, Leaf, Tacoma, F-150 Lightning ordered
Occupation
Retired oceanographer
Country flag

Kamuelaflyer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2020
Threads
9
Messages
7,921
Reaction score
15,843
Location
Hawaii
Vehicles
2021 Premium Infinite Blue. ER AWD. 2020 Raptor
Country flag
 




Top