Getting Ready - Electric in House

[bellhop]

Not looking for professional electrician advice, just want to get some feedback and thoughts.

We currently have 100amp service in our house. It's an older home (build 1965). My initial thought was to upgrade the service to 200 amp service and be done. Called an electrician and he quoted $3300 for the Wisconsin area. This was to install new service box, PLUS run a new plug out to the garage. What started as a 3300 upgrade has now spiraled in to a situation with the power company. (have to move the service outside, tear up the patio, install new wires, possibly cut down trees and who know, take my first born son Oh - and the power company can't even come to DESIGN the new service for another 6 weeks.

Here's what we got on that 100 amp service. Hot tub, Electric Dryer, AC, and Electric Range. Some of you may be thinking. How is that even possible with the hot tub? During the summer, the hot tub gets drained. (I hate bugs) and AC takes over. Vice versa in the winter.

As an alternative TEMP solution. I propose to my electrician I just buy a new gas DRYER and we move the plug out the garage. It's not perfect, but my question is with the overnight charging options do my friends over at the MachEForum think this might be a temporary solution?

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[timbop]

Well, the good news is that yes you can put a lower amperage charging circuit in so I do think you can swap out the dryer and run the former dryer line to the garage. You can buy a charger like the grizzl-e that lets you select the charging current, or get a clipper creek 24A charger (assuming the dryer line is 30A). That will require an electrician and a plumber, but it sounds like that might be cheaper in the long run.

 

[generaltso]

Sure. But keep in mind that your dryer circuit is probably rated at 30 amps. That means that you'll be charging at 24 amps (safely). And it remains to be seen if the Mach-E will let you choose the charging amperage that the car will draw. If you can't set that from the car, you wouldn't want to plug the included Ford Mobile Charger into that circuit because it will try to draw 32 amps and pop the breaker. But you could get a different EVSE that can be set to 24 amps.

 

[methorian]

I think it's a fine solution so long as you're sticking with a 30A circuit, like your dyer probably is/was. You'll need an EVSE that can go down to 24A. Something like the Grizzl-E would be a good purchase. You can set it down to 24A for now, and if/when you get a larger service, you could put it on a 50A circuit for 40A charging.

 

[JamieGeek]

Agree with the above comments.

Only adding that your hot tub and/or A/C won't likely be running when you're charging (overnight) most of the time.

 

[Mopey]

So, charging from a standard 110v outlet won’t work for you? Do you have a long daily commute?

 

[JamieGeek]

So, charging from a standard 110v outlet won’t work for you? Do you have a long daily commute?

Charging a Mach-E even the SR version from 120V won't work for just about everyone. Even the SR battery is small enough that 120V charging would take days!

 

[imstriker]

No personal experience here, but I know on some forums people talk about the Dryer Buddy: https://www.bsaelectronics.com/collections/dryer-buddys

 

[eltonlin]

Chargepoint Flex goes from 16A - 50A

 

[janitorjim]

sounds like at some point soon you are going to need to do the upgrade so why waste time and extra expense with a temp solution and just go for the full solution. Do you expect the mach e to arrive in the next 6 to 8 weeks anyway?

 

[RonTCat]

Not looking for professional electrician advice, just want to get some feedback and thoughts.

We currently have 100amp service in our house. It's an older home (build 1965). My initial thought was to upgrade the service to 200 amp service and be done. Called an electrician and he quoted $3300 for the Wisconsin area. This was to install new service box, PLUS run a new plug out to the garage. What started as a 3300 upgrade has now spiraled in to a situation with the power company. (have to move the service outside, tear up the patio, install new wires, possibly cut down trees and who know, take my first born son Oh - and the power company can't even come to DESIGN the new service for another 6 weeks.

Here's what we got on that 100 amp service. Hot tub, Electric Dryer, AC, and Electric Range. Some of you may be thinking. How is that even possible with the hot tub? During the summer, the hot tub gets drained. (I hate bugs) and AC takes over. Vice versa in the winter.

As an alternative TEMP solution. I propose to my electrician I just buy a new gas DRYER and we move the plug out the garage. It's not perfect, but my question is with the overnight charging options do my friends over at the MachEForum think this might be a temporary solution?

Yes, it is a pratical temporary solution. The downside is if you ran the battery to low on the Mach-E, it would likely take 24 hrs on the charger to top it off (or stop at the local Kohl's to charge, lol, and buy me something while you are there. Need socks). When the electrician moves the dryer outlet, have him/her replace the connector with a 14-50 type, which works with the charger that comes with the vehicle.

For the permanent solution, have your electrician run 60 amp service for the Mach-e, and then you can take advantage of the maximum practical charging rate (48 amps).

 

[CHeil402]

You can certainly charge from 120 V if you're just doing small trips (3 miles / hr for 10 hours = 30 miles). As far as the 240 V is concerned, you can certainly add a new breaker to the panel if you have space for a new double pole breaker even with your existing connections (no need to move the dryer). The issue would be that you would need to be sure not to turn everything on at the same time (definately not convenient but doable). As long as the wiring to the EV charger and breaker are sized appropriately. Also, most EV chargers are settable for allowed max current, so you could certainly limit it (even if you have a 50 A breaker / wire) so you are less likely to hit your 100 A max.

Note, even if you just run at the same 10 A as the 120 V outlet, since you're doubling the voltage, you're doubling the charge rate without bumping up the current. Power = Voltage x Current and the wiring / breaker just needs to be sized for the current (Electrical Engineer here ).

 

[methorian]

You can certainly charge from 120 V if you're just doing small trips (3 miles / hr for 10 hours = 30 miles). As far as the 240 V is concerned, you can certainly add a new breaker to the panel if you have space for a new double pole breaker even with your existing connections (no need to move the dryer). The issue would be that you would need to be sure not to turn everything on at the same time (definately not convenient but doable). As long as the wiring to the EV charger and breaker are sized appropriately. Also, most EV chargers are settable for allowed max current, so you could certainly limit it (even if you have a 50 A breaker / wire) so you are less likely to hit your 100 A max.

This, to me, is the best "temporary" solution. You may need to put some 15/20A circuits on tandem breakers if they aren't already to free up space, but if you can get another 2-pole breaker in the panel, it'd be best to run it for a 50A circuit and limit the power on the EVSE side of things. Could keep the electric dryer and just make sure you don't run it/the range while you've got your car charging.

That way when you do upgrade your panel you don't also have to upgrade the EVSE circuit to utilize your extra power.

 

[Mopey]

Charging a Mach-E even the SR version from 120V won't work for just about everyone. Even the SR battery is small enough that 120V charging would take days!

It will work fine for people who plug in every night and have a round trip commute of less than 30 miles per day - which I believe fits many people's life style.

 

[JamieGeek]

It will work fine for people who plug in every night and have a round trip commute of less than 30 miles per day - which I believe fits many people's life style.

Sure if that is the only place you take the Mach-E.

When I got the Focus Electric with its paltry 70 miles of range I started using the Level-1 charger. My commute is 40 miles total (so only 10 more than your example). Until I got the Level-2 I could only drive the FFE to work and back. All other times it was plugged in and charging.

Once the Level-2 was installed I found I could easily add enough charge during dinner so that I could use the car later in the evening for things (take our son to practice/games, go shopping, go to a movie, etc.).

Sure there are days when you don't do anything after work (more frequently now if you even go to work) but having a brand new car that you want to drive around and then you can't because its sitting there getting a slow drip drip drip of electricity is not the exeperience a Mach-E owner wants (don't even mention the weekends).

I've lost count of how many new EV owner's that I've spoken with who have initially told me "yeah we're going to see how it goes with the Level-1" only to reconnect with them later hearing "The Level-2 went in two weeks later..."

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