My Ford Connected Charge Station arrived!

[methorian]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the deal with a special wall charger? I've been using an old-fashioned JuiceBox Level 2 for my Focus EV for 5 years. No wi-fi, no bluetooth, just a dumb charger. I program my Focus to "Value Charge" after midnight when the rates are lower. Does the Mach E not have that kind of capability?

You can use any EVSE you'd like with the Mach-E. Ford simply released their own smart EVSE that integrates with the FordPass app.

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[Garbone]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the deal with a special wall charger? I've been using an old-fashioned JuiceBox Level 2 for my Focus EV for 5 years. No wi-fi, no bluetooth, just a dumb charger. I program my Focus to "Value Charge" after midnight when the rates are lower. Does the Mach E not have that kind of capability?

I just want Ford to take my money at this point.

 

[1pt21Gigawatts]

My Ford Connected Charge Station just arrived! Now, I just need my dealer to figure out the Ford Options plan! ? I have an electrician coming out tomorrow to install. Once installed, I will post more pics.

how'd the install go?

 

[SAVAGE]

how'd the install go?

It hasn’t. Unfortunately the install had to be rescheduled to Friday. But considering my car is sitting about 4 miles from my house and they can’t figure the contracts out, I think Friday will be acceptable. ?

 

[Garbone]

It hasn’t. Unfortunately the install had to be rescheduled to Friday. But considering my car is sitting about 4 miles from my house and they can’t figure the contracts out, I think Friday will be acceptable. ?

I have to commend you as you are taking the paper work delay better than I am and it is not even my car... ?

 

[SAVAGE]

I have to commend you as you are taking the paper work delay better than I am and it is not even my car... ?

Well I figured that I waited this long, so whats a few more days.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the deal with a special wall charger? I've been using an old-fashioned JuiceBox Level 2 for my Focus EV for 5 years. No wi-fi, no bluetooth, just a dumb charger. I program my Focus to "Value Charge" after midnight when the rates are lower. Does the Mach E not have that kind of capability?

You can use any charger with a J1772 plug (which is the industry standard for just about all new cars apart from Tesla).

The car comes with a Ford "Mobile Charger" ... which plugs into either a NEMA 14-50 wall plug (what a newer house with an electric dryer or electric range would use) ... and it also has basic 120v outlet (but it can only pull 12 amps with the assumption that it's a 15 amp circuit and at that rate you only get about 3 miles of range per hour on a 120v outlet ... but it does technically work.)

Most people will keep the mobile charger in the back of the car and put a wall-mounted charger in their garage or driveway. Many (most?) wall-mounted chargers are designed for exposure to weather ... outdoor installs wont hurt them; they can take the snow & rain.

Chargers come in various capacity sizes (amperage ratings). The Mach-E is able to use up to 48 amps (@ 240v AC). There are some chargers which exceed 48 amps (not many ... but they do exist) but there's no point since the car wont use any more than 48 amps.

There are pretty basic chargers that cost less. There are nicer models that can join your home WiFi and have an app that lets you monitor usage, charging times, etc. The chargers often include Bluetooth ... but they only use Bluetooth as a temporary thing to get through the configuration (because it's easy to get it to talk to their app on your phone via Bluetooth). The apps then configure the charger to use your home WiFi and other settings (such as maximum charging rate, etc.)

The Ford Connected Charger supports Bluetooth (for configuration) and WiFi. It does monitor your charging (so you can view your charging history ... something you can't do with a basic charger). It also allows you to remotely lock & unlock the charger (it does not physically lock the charging plug to the holster ... it simply disables charging). So if you have to install a charger in outdoors in a shared area (e.g. Condo parking garages, etc.) you can prevent other people from charging their cars on your bill.

The Ford Connected Charger uses a separate 'setup' app to configure the charger ... but then it adds the charger to your Ford Pass app. So there's a slight convenience in that you see and control everything via your Ford Pass app (although launching a separate app isn't really a big deal.)

I also have a ChargePoint Home Flex charger (it can do up to 50 amps ... but again the car wont use more than 48). It was much easier to install and configure than the Ford Connected Charger (they make it REALLY easy). It *also* uses Bluetooth to configure and joins your home WiFi and logs all your charging sessions ... but you use the ChargePoint app to control it (this is the *same* ChargePoint app that is used to charge at any of their public network of chargers). One nuance ... they *require* that you create a ChargePoint account and enter a credit card number for billing. They DO NOT charge your credit card when you charge at home ... but the only way to control their charger is via their app and you cannot use their app without an account and you cannot create an account without a credit card. Not a big deal to me ... but I can see how some people might not like that.

A charger that plugs into a NEMA 14-50 outlet cannot draw more than 40 amps continuously (it's unsafe ... the outlet isn't rated for it).

If you want 48 amp charging rates then it has to be hard-wired. All the manufacturers will tell you to hire an electrician to do a hard-wire install.

LASTLY... the reason I bought the ChargePoint (after I already bought the Ford Connected Charger) is because I had the garage pre-wired for a second car and THEN discovered that my local energy utility had a $500 rebate *if* I bought a charger from one of the two vendors on their approved list (those were ChargePoint and Enel X brands). So I got a $700 ChargePoint which was $650 on sale at Amazon ... then a $500 rebate ... making it a $150. Since I would need to buy a second charger eventually ... may as well get it for $150.

 

[Jimrpa]

Mine JUST arrived. I opened the box to take a look and that sucker is HUGE! I didn’t remove it, but it was about twice the height and twice the width of what I expected from the pictures. If anyone has any ideas of these things being “small”, forget it. I’ll measure it later.

 

[benk016]

You can use any charger with a J1772 plug (which is the industry standard for just about all new cars apart from Tesla).

The car comes with a Ford "Mobile Charger" ... which plugs into either a NEMA 14-50 wall plug (what a newer house with an electric dryer or electric range would use) ... and it also has basic 120v outlet (but it can only pull 12 amps with the assumption that it's a 15 amp circuit and at that rate you only get about 3 miles of range per hour on a 120v outlet ... but it does technically work.)

Most people will keep the mobile charger in the back of the car and put a wall-mounted charger in their garage or driveway. Many (most?) wall-mounted chargers are designed for exposure to weather ... outdoor installs wont hurt them; they can take the snow & rain.

Chargers come in various capacity sizes (amperage ratings). The Mach-E is able to use up to 48 amps (@ 240v AC). There are some chargers which exceed 48 amps (not many ... but they do exist) but there's no point since the car wont use any more than 48 amps.

There are pretty basic chargers that cost less. There are nicer models that can join your home WiFi and have an app that lets you monitor usage, charging times, etc. The chargers often include Bluetooth ... but they only use Bluetooth as a temporary thing to get through the configuration (because it's easy to get it to talk to their app on your phone via Bluetooth). The apps then configure the charger to use your home WiFi and other settings (such as maximum charging rate, etc.)

The Ford Connected Charger supports Bluetooth (for configuration) and WiFi. It does monitor your charging (so you can view your charging history ... something you can't do with a basic charger). It also allows you to remotely lock & unlock the charger (it does not physically lock the charging plug to the holster ... it simply disables charging). So if you have to install a charger in outdoors in a shared area (e.g. Condo parking garages, etc.) you can prevent other people from charging their cars on your bill.

The Ford Connected Charger uses a separate 'setup' app to configure the charger ... but then it adds the charger to your Ford Pass app. So there's a slight convenience in that you see and control everything via your Ford Pass app (although launching a separate app isn't really a big deal.)

I also have a ChargePoint Home Flex charger (it can do up to 50 amps ... but again the car wont use more than 48). It was much easier to install and configure than the Ford Connected Charger (they make it REALLY easy). It *also* uses Bluetooth to configure and joins your home WiFi and logs all your charging sessions ... but you use the ChargePoint app to control it (this is the *same* ChargePoint app that is used to charge at any of their public network of chargers). One nuance ... they *require* that you create a ChargePoint account and enter a credit card number for billing. They DO NOT charge your credit card when you charge at home ... but the only way to control their charger is via their app and you cannot use their app without an account and you cannot create an account without a credit card. Not a big deal to me ... but I can see how some people might not like that.

A charger that plugs into a NEMA 14-50 outlet cannot draw more than 40 amps continuously (it's unsafe ... the outlet isn't rated for it).

If you want 48 amp charging rates then it has to be hard-wired. All the manufacturers will tell you to hire an electrician to do a hard-wire install.

LASTLY... the reason I bought the ChargePoint (after I already bought the Ford Connected Charger) is because I had the garage pre-wired for a second car and THEN discovered that my local energy utility had a $500 rebate *if* I bought a charger from one of the two vendors on their approved list (those were ChargePoint and Enel X brands). So I got a $700 ChargePoint which was $650 on sale at Amazon ... then a $500 rebate ... making it a $150. Since I would need to buy a second charger eventually ... may as well get it for $150.

As a side note, I got my Chargepoint Home Flex yesterday. I haven't installed it, but I have downloaded the app to create an account. It didn't ask me for a credit card to create an account. It had a skip option for that. So this may have been updated to not require it.

 

[eltonlin]

As a side note, I got my Chargepoint Home Flex yesterday. I haven't installed it, but I have downloaded the app to create an account. It didn't ask me for a credit card to create an account. It had a skip option for that. So this may have been updated to not require it.

I don't recall being asked for a credit card either - shouldn't be needed to manage a home charger.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

As a side note, I got my Chargepoint Home Flex yesterday. I haven't installed it, but I have downloaded the app to create an account. It didn't ask me for a credit card to create an account. It had a skip option for that. So this may have been updated to not require it.

That's good to know. I recall being told it was required to create the account and I didn't recall seeing an option to skip it. But it really seemed weird (and I've seen reviewers comment) that you have to enter a credit card number to create an account just to use your own home charger.

Possibly I missed the "skip" option ... or maybe they just updated the app.

 

[MarknKC]

You can use any charger with a J1772 plug (which is the industry standard for just about all new cars apart from Tesla).

The car comes with a Ford "Mobile Charger" ... which plugs into either a NEMA 14-50 wall plug (what a newer house with an electric dryer or electric range would use) ... and it also has basic 120v outlet (but it can only pull 12 amps with the assumption that it's a 15 amp circuit and at that rate you only get about 3 miles of range per hour on a 120v outlet ... but it does technically work.)

Most people will keep the mobile charger in the back of the car and put a wall-mounted charger in their garage or driveway. Many (most?) wall-mounted chargers are designed for exposure to weather ... outdoor installs wont hurt them; they can take the snow & rain.

Chargers come in various capacity sizes (amperage ratings). The Mach-E is able to use up to 48 amps (@ 240v AC). There are some chargers which exceed 48 amps (not many ... but they do exist) but there's no point since the car wont use any more than 48 amps.

There are pretty basic chargers that cost less. There are nicer models that can join your home WiFi and have an app that lets you monitor usage, charging times, etc. The chargers often include Bluetooth ... but they only use Bluetooth as a temporary thing to get through the configuration (because it's easy to get it to talk to their app on your phone via Bluetooth). The apps then configure the charger to use your home WiFi and other settings (such as maximum charging rate, etc.)

The Ford Connected Charger supports Bluetooth (for configuration) and WiFi. It does monitor your charging (so you can view your charging history ... something you can't do with a basic charger). It also allows you to remotely lock & unlock the charger (it does not physically lock the charging plug to the holster ... it simply disables charging). So if you have to install a charger in outdoors in a shared area (e.g. Condo parking garages, etc.) you can prevent other people from charging their cars on your bill.

The Ford Connected Charger uses a separate 'setup' app to configure the charger ... but then it adds the charger to your Ford Pass app. So there's a slight convenience in that you see and control everything via your Ford Pass app (although launching a separate app isn't really a big deal.)

I also have a ChargePoint Home Flex charger (it can do up to 50 amps ... but again the car wont use more than 48). It was much easier to install and configure than the Ford Connected Charger (they make it REALLY easy). It *also* uses Bluetooth to configure and joins your home WiFi and logs all your charging sessions ... but you use the ChargePoint app to control it (this is the *same* ChargePoint app that is used to charge at any of their public network of chargers). One nuance ... they *require* that you create a ChargePoint account and enter a credit card number for billing. They DO NOT charge your credit card when you charge at home ... but the only way to control their charger is via their app and you cannot use their app without an account and you cannot create an account without a credit card. Not a big deal to me ... but I can see how some people might not like that.

A charger that plugs into a NEMA 14-50 outlet cannot draw more than 40 amps continuously (it's unsafe ... the outlet isn't rated for it).

If you want 48 amp charging rates then it has to be hard-wired. All the manufacturers will tell you to hire an electrician to do a hard-wire install.

LASTLY... the reason I bought the ChargePoint (after I already bought the Ford Connected Charger) is because I had the garage pre-wired for a second car and THEN discovered that my local energy utility had a $500 rebate *if* I bought a charger from one of the two vendors on their approved list (those were ChargePoint and Enel X brands). So I got a $700 ChargePoint which was $650 on sale at Amazon ... then a $500 rebate ... making it a $150. Since I would need to buy a second charger eventually ... may as well get it for $150.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll just stick with my humble little 40A JuiceBox. No frills. All the charging data I can get to on MyFordMobile. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing "required" about the Ford charger.

 

[Jimrpa]

Mine JUST arrived. I opened the box to take a look and that sucker is HUGE! I didn’t remove it, but it was about twice the height and twice the width of what I expected from the pictures. If anyone has any ideas of these things being “small”, forget it. I’ll measure it later.

Here are the dimensions, in case anyone is interested:
17" high
9" wide
7" deep (at least - I did not remove it from the box to precisely measure it)

 

[methorian]

That's good to know. I recall being told it was required to create the account and I didn't recall seeing an option to skip it. But it really seemed weird (and I've seen reviewers comment) that you have to enter a credit card number to create an account just to use your own home charger.

Possibly I missed the "skip" option ... or maybe they just updated the app.

I'm assuming you didn't have the Chargepoint app installed before getting your home Flex. The Chargepoint app is also used to charge at public Chargepoint branded chargers, which sometimes cost money, so they app probably asked if you'd like to load a default credit card to use for that purpose. You can definitely skip that step if you'd like since it doesn't matter when just using the app to manage your personal Flex home EVSE.

 

[benk016]

I'm assuming you didn't have the Chargepoint app installed before getting your home Flex. The Chargepoint app is also used to charge at public Chargepoint branded chargers, which sometimes cost money, so they app probably asked if you'd like to load a default credit card to use for that purpose. You can definitely skip that step if you'd like since it doesn't matter when just using the app to manage your personal Flex home EVSE.

I believe they used to force you to add a card. There are several old reviews on amazon that mention its not able to be skipped. But you definitely can skip it now. Looks like they pay attention to customer feedback.

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