A few charging questions

[Benny’66]

Hey there. I've owned my GT since October but I'm just getting around to looking more deeply into charging and really have only just started to use public charging. I have a few questions below.

1) I have a NEMA 14-50 240V plug on a GFI-protected 50 AMP circuit in my garage dedicated to my Mach-E. Would there be any benefit, at all, to spending money on a charging station (the ford one or Chargepoint, or whatever). It seems like these products are mostly aimed at vehicles that don't come with level 2 chargers, and the Ford mobile charger with the above setup I listed should be equivilent.

2) Is there any way I can easily test how many amps and any other relevant stats for what the car is drawing? Besides looking in the app at the expected time of charge completion. Or will this require special equipment to test?

3) I wasn't aware of the Plug-And-Charge setting until this week. Will this setting make it so I don't have to download the proprietary app for every charging network and set it up when I first park? For example, last week I went to a "Volta" charger for the first time and spent a good 10 minutes screwing with their app before I could walk away.

4) Is the above procedure also a replacement for having to find a charger in the Fordpass app and activating that way?

5) Has anyone set up a charger on the exterior of their home (versus how I have it in my garage near the plug and panel)? Pros/Cons? How easy was it?

6) Do people find they have to back in to most public charging stations as they were positioned for vehicles (like Tesla) with the charger in the back and will not reach to our charging port in front of the driver's door?

My wife “allowed” me to install the exterior EVSE on the side of the driveway as long as it was hidden in the landscaping and looked “professionally” installed. It gives me a ton of flexibility because my garage already has a 50 amp welding plug so I could use the “mobile charger” in the rare instance I parked in the garage. Since I live in a development, I don’t have to worry about someone stealing my electrons parked in my driveway.

The install was rather easy. I used rigid conduit so I only needed to go 6” deep and the distance to the house was only 12’. Panel box was on the same wall in the basement so it was easy to pull the #6 wires and #8 ground. I just used a metal mailbox post from Lowes. Ran Sealtite inside the post from the rigid up to the elbow. Switched to pvc when I entered the basement over to the panel box. And I was able to use a 60 amp breaker so the chargepoint is set at 50amp (MachE can only use 48 of it). There have been some Friday nights getting home from work that I can get a few extra miles in her before going cruising.

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[MachEnthusiast]

Yeah and I'm in WA. I have Volta nearby so I'll try doing it without the activation to see if it just works. Maybe it's an optional step even though the sticker on the side of the unit said I needed to.

 

[MachEnthusiast]

My wife “allowed” me to install the exterior EVSE on the side of the driveway as long as it was hidden in the landscaping and looked “professionally” installed. It gives me a ton of flexibility because my garage already has a 50 amp welding plug so I could use the “mobile charger” in the rare instance I parked in the garage. Since I live in a development, I don’t have to worry about someone stealing my electrons parked in my driveway.

The install was rather easy. I used rigid conduit so I only needed to go 6” deep and the distance to the house was only 12’. Panel box was on the same wall in the basement so it was easy to pull the #6 wires and #8 ground. I just used a metal mailbox post from Lowes. Ran Sealtite inside the post from the rigid up to the elbow. Switched to pvc when I entered the basement over to the panel box. And I was able to use a 60 amp breaker so the chargepoint is set at 50amp (MachE can only use 48 of it). There have been some Friday nights getting home from work that I can get a few extra miles in her before going cruising.

This is fantastic to see and exactly the type of reply I was hoping for on the first couple questions. Thank you! Metal mailbox post was a great idea. I think I could affix it to the siding of my house and attach it right outside the garage. If I'm clever I can run the line from the garage to the outside unit in a new hole I'd create for a faucet or something - just caulk it well afterward.

I'd suspect that since I live in a dead-end street of single family homes, nobody is going to park in my inclined driveway and charge their car without me noticing, ha. But I guess I could build a box with a padlock around it if I was anxious about it if I took a trip with the car or something. I'll bet some of these units even would send me a push notification if a car got hooked up to it.

 

[generaltso]

I was able to use a 60 amp breaker so the chargepoint is set at 50amp (MachE can only use 48 of it).

If you told the ChargePoint app you have a 60A breaker, it automatically set the max charging rate to 48A because it’s 80% of the breaker size. In this case it also happens to be the maximum rate the MME can take anyway.

 

[Fixbear]

Hey there. I've owned my GT since October but I'm just getting around to looking more deeply into charging and really have only just started to use public charging. I have a few questions below.

1) I have a NEMA 14-50 240V plug on a GFI-protected 50 AMP circuit in my garage dedicated to my Mach-E. Would there be any benefit, at all, to spending money on a charging station (the ford one or Chargepoint, or whatever). It seems like these products are mostly aimed at vehicles that don't come with level 2 chargers, and the Ford mobile charger with the above setup I listed should be equivilent.

2) Is there any way I can easily test how many amps and any other relevant stats for what the car is drawing? Besides looking in the app at the expected time of charge completion. Or will this require special equipment to test?

3) I wasn't aware of the Plug-And-Charge setting until this week. Will this setting make it so I don't have to download the proprietary app for every charging network and set it up when I first park? For example, last week I went to a "Volta" charger for the first time and spent a good 10 minutes screwing with their app before I could walk away.

4) Is the above procedure also a replacement for having to find a charger in the Fordpass app and activating that way?

5) Has anyone set up a charger on the exterior of their home (versus how I have it in my garage near the plug and panel)? Pros/Cons? How easy was it?

6) Do people find they have to back in to most public charging stations as they were positioned for vehicles (like Tesla) with the charger in the back and will not reach to our charging port in front of the driver's door?

The Ford charger is light and not built for permanent outdoor install. So after a month of using it I installed a panel board next to where we park to install a real level 2 EVSE. Two pressure treated 4X6's and 3 2X8's cut to 4 ft screwed on. Installed a RV panel with a 14-50 50 amp and duplex GFI outlet 20 Amp. I had just lost my mid 50's Garage to a tree that required me to replace the Electrical service to the house 6 months earlier. Then installed a GrizzlE. Almost halved the charge times needed from the Ford unit. Would do it again with a larger supply line so I could charge at 48 amps. I'm in the process of buying a second BEV, and will need to install a second one on the other side of the yard.
We live in an area that gets quite cold in the winter that requires EV's be plugged in for battery protection. Thats why we selected the GrizzlE Avalanche due to the cold weather charge cable design.

 

[MachEnthusiast]

For those with knowledge of Chargepoint Home Flex and Grizzl-E... Can I max the amps delivered to MME with either of these units? I'm confused about the whole 80% thing. My circuit is rated at 50 Amps with a NEMA 14-50 plug like I said above. I think MME can draw something like 48 Amps? Since this number is more than 80% of 50 Amps, it seems like my circuit won't even allow max draw, let alone these units. But I think I have a fundamental misunderstanding here of how this stuff works. If I'm not mistaken no level 2 charger will deliver more than 40 Amps to MME on my 50 Amp Circuit and I should have maybe put in something with more amps.

Edit: after watching a video on YouTube it sounds like somehow Ford's home charger delivers the full 48 amps, even though the 3rd party ones can't. Can somebody explain why this is the only charger that can? Especially since there are other cars out there that charge faster.

 

[Dzrhino]

I bought a Grizzl-E Level 2 EV Charger, 16/24/32/40 Amp, NEMA 14-50 Plug/06-50 Plug, 24 feet Premium Cable. I installed it (by putting up the mounting plate and plugging it in) and had impressive results with it. It comes set for 40 Amp, so you wouldn't have to change anything. My circuit is one that was set up for a dryer in my garage, just changed the plug on it to a 14-50. I have my GT set to start charging at midnight and turn off by 3PM which are the discount hours from PG&E here locally for EV.

 

[generaltso]

For those with knowledge of Chargepoint Home Flex and Grizzl-E... Can I max the amps delivered to MME with either of these units? I'm confused about the whole 80% thing. My circuit is rated at 50 Amps with a NEMA 14-50 plug like I said above. I think MME can draw something like 48 Amps? Since this number is more than 80% of 50 Amps, it seems like my circuit won't even allow max draw, let alone these units. But I think I have a fundamental misunderstanding here of how this stuff works. If I'm not mistaken no level 2 charger will deliver more than 40 Amps to MME on my 50 Amp Circuit and I should have maybe put in something with more amps.

Edit: after watching a video on YouTube it sounds like somehow Ford's home charger delivers the full 48 amps, even though the 3rd party ones can't. Can somebody explain why this is the only charger that can? Especially since there are other cars out there that charge faster.

It sounds like you understand it pretty well. You have a 50A circuit, so you can only charge up to 40A (80% rule). If you want to charge at 48A, you need a 60A circuit and your EVSE (charger) needs to be hardwired. My ChargePoint Home Flex delivers 48A just fine.

 

[MachEnthusiast]

It sounds like you understand it pretty well. You have a 50A circuit, so you can only charge up to 40A (80% rule). If you want to charge at 48A, you need a 60A circuit and your EVSE (charger) needs to be hardwired. My ChargePoint Home Flex delivers 48A just fine.

I suppose I can have an electrician come and add some juice to it since it was a new circuit he put in just for my MME at 50A. I didn't know the CP Home Flex could go above 40A on any circuit as just a limitation of the hardware. Surprised to hear you're getting 48A even on a 60A circuit. I was clearly watching a review of that unit with bad info.

 

[generaltso]

I suppose I can have an electrician come and add some juice to it since it was a new circuit he put in just for my MME at 50A. I didn't know the CP Home Flex could go above 40A on any circuit as just a limitation of the hardware. Surprised to hear you're getting 48A even on a 60A circuit. I was clearly watching a review of that unit with bad info.

He may have to run new wire if the existing wire was sized for a 50A circuit. You’ll also have to ditch the the 14-50 outlet and hardwire the unit. At this point, it may not be worth the effort.

 

[PilotMark]

This is fantastic to see and exactly the type of reply I was hoping for on the first couple questions. Thank you! Metal mailbox post was a great idea. I think I could affix it to the siding of my house and attach it right outside the garage. If I'm clever I can run the line from the garage to the outside unit in a new hole I'd create for a faucet or something - just caulk it well afterward.

I'd suspect that since I live in a dead-end street of single family homes, nobody is going to park in my inclined driveway and charge their car without me noticing, ha. But I guess I could build a box with a padlock around it if I was anxious about it if I took a trip with the car or something. I'll bet some of these units even would send me a push notification if a car got hooked up to it.

Just turn off the breaker when you're gone.

 

[MachEnthusiast]

What an obvious thing I should have thought of myself. Good advice!

 

[SinaiKD]

Like PilotMark, I am waiting on my MME GT. Hoping for next week!

As for charging, I opted to install a ChargePoint, direct wired on a 60 amp breaker. This will be for daily charging so I can keep my Ford charger in the MME for trips.

Plan is to back in my MME GT (avoiding spouse door dings).

As shown, I will drop down for easy nightly charging, avoiding any tripping hazards.

 

[MachEnthusiast]

cool setup!!

 

[mkhuffman]

I suppose I can have an electrician come and add some juice to it since it was a new circuit he put in just for my MME at 50A. I didn't know the CP Home Flex could go above 40A on any circuit as just a limitation of the hardware. Surprised to hear you're getting 48A even on a 60A circuit. I was clearly watching a review of that unit with bad info.

The only thing I can add to The General's response is to answer your question about the 80% "rule".

A 50 Amp breaker won't blow right away if you run 50 Amps through it; however, eventually it will. The breaker is only designed to handle 80% of it's rating if the current is steady, like when charging a car.

That is why a 48 Amp charger requires a 60 Amp breaker. And a 60 Amp breaker requires wiring that is rated for 60 Amps. And there are no outlet/plug combinations that are rated at 60 Amps for residential use. Which is why all 48 Amp EVSEs must be hardwired.

I have a hardwired Emporia charger that is 48 Amps. There are a lot of 48 Amp EVSEs available.

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