Home charger with only 220V 20amp

[Russ]

I know kW and rate will be slower but can I wire a nema 14-50 receptacle to accept the plug from the Ford charger that comes with the car to a 220 20amp circuit or will the electronics inside the Ford box kill the current/charge? Is there any danger there either? What kind of charge rate would I expect with just 20amp? I was thinking between 3-4 kw/hr?

Also how important is it to purchase some other home charging system, rather then using the cable and box that came from for Ford with my mach e?

Thanks

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[Skip Towne]

No.

The Ford charger cannot know what the ampacity of the circuit is and will try to draw 30 amps - which will kick out the breaker. (and risk electrical fire)

Also noteworthy, its against code to put a higher capacity receptacle on a circuit such that using the receptacle for its designed purpose will overload the circuit. Think of the subsequent property owner who thinks they can use the receptacle as designed.

It is very necessary to buy a charger rated for your available circuit and regular home use. The ford provided charger is designed for episodic or emergency use. See the multitude of threads on this forum about how that charger will fail with daily use. (I can attest to that problem personally)

 

[AtomicInternet]

If you're talking the "Ford Mobile Charger" that comes with the car, you definitely need a different one for long-term use. Tons of threads against using it full time on here, it does not last.

The "Ford Connected Charge Station" however lets you limit amps and you could knock it back to 20 amps, but I agree with above that's only going to cause a tripped breaker (or fire) for the next unsuspecting owner.

There are a bunch of cheap 240v EV chargers on Amazon that may pull under 20 amps max if you've only got a 20A circuit available, but I'd make some permanent warnings around the plug saying it's 20A (and read reviews that prove the one you buy won't try to pull more)

 

[hypersnake]

if you only have capacity for a 240V, 20A circuit just make sure you get a separate charger that can be adjusted to that amperage.

For example, the Grizzle-E classic can be hardwired with a 20A circuit and then set within the unit to only charge at 240V, 16A (80% of a 20A circuit rating)

DO NOT try to play electrician and do something against code like running smaller wires to a larger rated receptacle or putting smaller wires on a larger rated breaker. You will cause damage to your home. As a matter of fact, based on your post, I would really hire an electrician to do this installation.

 

[Russ]

Thanks. Will do.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I know kW and rate will be slower but can I wire a nema 14-50 receptacle to accept the plug from the Ford charger that comes with the car to a 220 20amp circuit or will the electronics inside the Ford box kill the current/charge? Is there any danger there either? What kind of charge rate would I expect with just 20amp? I was thinking between 3-4 kw/hr?

Also how important is it to purchase some other home charging system, rather then using the cable and box that came from for Ford with my mach e?

Thanks

Wiring a 50A receptacle to a 20A circuit is against code and very dangerous.

Trying to use your 30A Mobile Charger on a 20A circuit will hopefully pop the circuit breaker and might possibly damage your circuit.

As others have said, you will need a charger that you can set up for 16 max charging (80% of 20A circuit). Have your electrician install an EV-compatible receptacle and plan to leave the charger plugged in. Even better, have the electrician hard-wire the charger.

 

[Dear_OP]

At 16A, it is barely better than L1. Not sure if it is worth the hassle.

 

[ocdxfv]

16 amps @ 240 volts = 3.8kW
12 amps @ 120 volts = 1.4kW
Almost 3x faster.

 

[kdonnel]

20 amp 240v is more than enough for the vast majority of people.

But you need a different EVSE than the Ford charger that might have come with your car.

Often times the garage receptacles are on their own circuit.

Swapping the breaker for a 240v breaker, removing any other receptacles, and then something like a ChargePoint Home or WallBox or any number of other EVSE that lets you set the circuit breaker size gets the owner 16A of 240V charging.

Unless you need 80+% of the battery every single day, 16A of 240V charging will put back what you use in a day overnight. After long trips you might not make it back to your target percentage but will more than likely make it back to more than enough for the next day.

I have shared a single 24A (30A circuit) EVSE for almost three years between two different EV and never wished I had spent more money for faster charging.

As for putting a 14-50 receptacle on a 20amp circuit, as long as it is the only receptacle it is my understanding it is not against code. In fact my ChargePoint Home came with stickers to put on the receptacle to label the circuit size.

Not an electrician but I believe the relevant part of the code is:
"a single receptacle installed on an individual branch circuit shall have an ampere rating not less than that of the branch circuit."

So there is no code violation in putting a 14-50 on a 20 amp circuit as long as it is the only receptacle.

Here is my 14-50 on a 30 amp circuit, labeled with the labels that came with my ChargePoint Home.

 

[Russ]

I'd be fine with 3.x kw per hour versus 110. Thanks again. I have an electrician coming just hadn't talked this details yet

 

[ocdxfv]

Hardwiring an EVSE set to 16a max would probably be your best bet.

 

[HuntingPudel]

If you only have a 240V 20A circuit available, you are limited to a 6-20R outlet. There are very few EVSEs that have the 6-20P mains plug (Tesla’s Mobile Connector has one available). ??

 

[Snakebitten]

I have purposely lowered my charging rate down to as low as 12-amps/240V just to see what affect it has on the 12V AGM SOC. (experimenting)

It's still WAY faster than an L1 charge rate.
And there are still ample evening/overnight hours of charging available to hit my typical SOC target. (85% displayed)

By the way, slowing down the charging rate does indeed appear to result in a higher low voltage SOC in the morning. As high as 99% SOC for the Ford PID

Not something I feel necessary to do normally, but will do once a month or so, similar to charging the HVB to 100% for cell balancing and BMS calibration.

 

[Garbone]

My wifes car can only pull 20amps or it faults out. I have our Emporia charger set to 20amps works well enough overnight but when I need to charge faster I can put it up to 40amps to charge my car but mostly just leave it at 20.

 

[glenthompson]

At 16A, it is barely better than L1. Not sure if it is worth the hassle.

I have a 2022 Prius Prime. On 120v it takes almost 6 hours for a full charge. On a 240v circuit it charges in about 2 hours. The onboard charger can’t take more than 16 amps.

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