Ford's Connected Charge Station

Billyk24

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One can use what ever ESVE they have or want but it needs to be "thick enough" to handle the amps being pulled by the car and out of the electrical outlet box. Clipper Creek has a number of options.
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Whatstreet

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One can use what ever ESVE they have or want but it needs to be "thick enough" to handle the amps being pulled by the car and out of the electrical outlet box. Clipper Creek has a number of options.
The EVSE communicates with the car about the charge rate for the line it is connected to and the car will not charge at a greater current than what was communicated.
 

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100A is overkill, just crazy and expensive and not future proof at all. No EVs in development are targeting an AC charging system that high. The largest I've seen is 48A, most are 32A. 100A means Most homes would need panel upgrades, you'll need expensive wires and breakers, and not a single car planned out the next three years would ever use it. Sure you could put multiple chargers on the same breaker but even then, still over kill. Personally I'd prefer multiple breakers if you're installing multiple EVSE. You run close to max load thermally it'll eventually trip then you have two cars not charged.

Do you sleep more than six hours? at 32A you get 25 Miles of charge an hour. Plug in, go to bed, you have charge 150 miles in that six. The longest charge I've ever needed was 8.5 hours. I arrived home after driving 200 miles with 10% left. It was charged fully before I woke up.

40A will do you, that'll give you 32A of power to the charger, and 25 miles in an hour. The most you could use is if you put in is 60A breaker as the AC charger in the Mach E is 48A. that's the most it can ever use for the life of the car. No bigger charger or more AC Amperage is going to change that. DC is a different monster and not possible at the house currently, maybe solar will change that as you wouldn't need to invert to AC but nothing is out yet that I've seen, could change, but fast charging all the time is bad for battery life.

If you need to charge quickly, drive to the nearest EA and use a DC charger. Speaking from experience other than novelty or a road trip after the first week you're never going to care much about charging speed.

I know I'm just some random dude on the internet, but I'm telling you a 40A 240V breaker is 'good enough' for most of us and the 60A/48A Usable is the best case but over kill unless you have plenty of panel room and don't need a full upgrade to do it. people tend to obsess about this and you'll get lot of opinions, but if your goal is to drive to work and back and other things around the day, then go home and go to bed and not be in your cars for around 6-8 hours, this is the best and most cost optimal option.
 

Billyk24

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50 amp on 240v should produce 29 to 30 miles of range a hour.
 


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I have a 22-mile round trip (e.g., 11 miles each way) commute to work, and I would plan that this would almost exclusively be a commuter car with perhaps 1 - 2 long trips / year. I've almost completely convinced myself that I will just use the normal 110v outlet I already have in my garage, and will not invest in a 240V or a clipper creek or the Ford Connect charger.

If my maths is not too terrible, at 3 miles / hour charge rate that I should be able to get from 110v outlet, then 8 hours gives me 24 miles of range, or 2 more than I will typically use every day.

Add to that, I'll still have 2 more ICE cars in the driveway as alternatives. For the rare long trip, I'll just use a public charger if need be.

Are there any current EV owners here in a similar situation as me that can assure me I'm thinking this through correctly? I realize that a few hundred $$ isn't much, but a penny saved is a penny earned :)
 

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my commute's slightly longer and i have occasional errands that go beyond how much an overnight re-charge might provide. but then i'll probably have weekends where i can "catch up" and top off (to 80%). so i'd probably try living with a 110V for a little while.

that said, i've heard there may be some incentives including 50% rebates on the cost of installing a charging station....so while i may not the charger installed initially, i may eventually to take advantage of the rebates
 

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My commute is 20 miles one way (40 total). When I first got my Focus Electric I only used the 120V charger (keep in mind that the 40 mile commute is over 1/2 of the battery of a 2013 FFE).

I could easily replace the commute overnight and then a little more but not much.

Once I had the Level-2 charger installed I found that even charging the car while we ate dinner replaced enough in the battery for many more errands.

All this changed with the Bolt: Since it has sufficient range I can go 3 or 4 days without plugging it in--in the summer. In the winter it gets plugged in every night so that the wall can keep the battery warm.
 

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cool, yeah i definitely see the reduction in range anxiety if it charges up quickly while eating dinner (ie. if there's after dinner evening plans, etc).

but does keeping it plugged in, whether you need the range or not, to keep the battery warm during colder months help prevent battery degradation? is that the reason? sorry, i'm a newbie.

My commute is 20 miles one way (40 total). When I first got my Focus Electric I only used the 120V charger (keep in mind that the 40 mile commute is over 1/2 of the battery of a 2013 FFE).

I could easily replace the commute overnight and then a little more but not much.

Once I had the Level-2 charger installed I found that even charging the car while we ate dinner replaced enough in the battery for many more errands.

All this changed with the Bolt: Since it has sufficient range I can go 3 or 4 days without plugging it in--in the summer. In the winter it gets plugged in every night so that the wall can keep the battery warm.
 

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cool, yeah i definitely see the reduction in range anxiety if it charges up quickly while eating dinner (ie. if there's after dinner evening plans, etc).

but does keeping it plugged in, whether you need the range or not, to keep the battery warm during colder months help prevent battery degradation? is that the reason? sorry, i'm a newbie.
The Focus Electric had/has a battery conditioning system where if you keep it plugged in in cold weather it will heat the battery to around 40F (indeed when turning off the car in below freezing temps a message would pop up on the dash saying "plug me in").
Not only does this increase the life of the battery but also gets it ready for charging: The battery has to be somewhat warm to charge (note that if you're doing a long road trip in cold weather your DCFC fast charge will not start until the battery is warmed up enough).
 

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cool, yeah i definitely see the reduction in range anxiety if it charges up quickly while eating dinner (ie. if there's after dinner evening plans, etc).

but does keeping it plugged in, whether you need the range or not, to keep the battery warm during colder months help prevent battery degradation? is that the reason? sorry, i'm a newbie.
I live in a cold climate and have been doing a lot of technical research on EV batteries and cold temperatures. Bottom Line: It appears that while cold temperatures do affect charge rate and battery performance, the effect is temporary. Unlike hot temperatures, cold temperatures cause little, if any, permanent affect with regards to lithium battery degradation or long term charging performance. The research I used was laboratory technical data vs. notional, user-observed conclusions.
 

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I plan to use my exisitng EVSE from Clippercreek that I had used for my Volt. It is a 240V/16A. It will charge about 12 Miles per hour. So in 10 hours I would have about 120 miles of charge. More than enough for most trips. At some point in the first year I would upgrade my 240 circuit from 16A to 32A and use the Ford supplied Mobil Charger.
 

Billyk24

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I plan to use my exisitng EVSE from Clippercreek that I had used for my Volt. It is a 240V/16A. It will charge about 12 Miles per hour. So in 10 hours I would have about 120 miles of charge. More than enough for most trips. At some point in the first year I would upgrade my 240 circuit from 16A to 32A and use the Ford supplied Mobil Charger.
Could you upgrade to 40amp breaker so your run is a continuous 32 amp?
 

Billyk24

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The wiring in that circuit also needs to be upgraded (in most cases) to safely replace a 20A circuit breaker with a 40A breaker.
That wiring is likely going to have to be 8awg. 6awg is needed for the 50amp breaker. This is where the material cost factor is if the line is any distance.
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