Mach E as home power?

[Fred Bombelyn]

Does anyone make a traction battery DC to 240 Volt AC inverter?

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[ChasingCoral]

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...uty-12v-cables-for-import-export-power.37415/

 

[Fred Bombelyn]

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...uty-12v-cables-for-import-export-power.37415/

No, I'm talking about the 300 volt traction battery, not the 12 volt one. I already have my Escape PHEV rigged to do that.

 

[Fred Bombelyn]

Something that plugs directly into the charging port, sort of like a bidirectional charger.

 

[E90alex]

No. There’s no way to tap directly into the HV battery. The charge port cannot export power.

 

[devmach-e]

The current version of the Mach-E does not support what you want. No clue if a future version will. If you want such a thing, you'll need to step up to the Lightning F-150 and install the requisite hardware for your home to make it work.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Someone on this forum has tapped into a 50A, NNN voltage line, but I haven’t seen them post anything about it recently.

Someone on the Lightning forums did too, because they didn’t want to purchase the Home Integration System. Then their truck was “mysteriously” “stolen” and burned up.

IMO, if you have to ask how to do this, you don’t have the experience necessary to do it safely.

 

[Fred Bombelyn]

Someone on this forum has tapped into a 50A, NNN voltage line, but I haven’t seen them post anything about it recently.

Someone on the Lightning forums did too, because they didn’t want to purchase the Home Integration System. Then their truck was “mysteriously” “stolen” and burned up.

IMO, if you have to ask how to do this, you don’t have the experience necessary to do it safely.

Unless it can be plugged into the charge port, there is no way to do it safely. That's why I specifically asked for that.

 

[E90alex]

Ok, why not? If you plug a charger in, it goes across the battery. Why would an inverter plugged in not do the same?

Because they designed it that way. The power only flows in one direction.The DC pins in the charge port aren’t always connected to the battery. That would be a huge safety issue.

The Lightning can export power but only with the Ford Charge Station Pro and other specific proprietary equipment to provide whole home backup.

Other EVs can support V2L with an adapter but only 120V (eg Ioniq5).

There is no universal standard for V2L/V2H/V2G yet.

 

[E90alex]

Ok then go ahead and make an adapter if it’s so simple. You’ll make a lot of money.

The HV battery and charger are not just dumb circuits. There’s communication protocols and safety mechanisms to ensure it only works as designed. Outflowing power from the HV battery to the charge port is definitely not something that’s normally allowed. Even a simple dumb in line diode can be used to make a circuit only flow one direction. You can bet the HV battery and charging electronics will be more sophisticated than a simple diode.

 

[devmach-e]

Something like this EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra | EcoFlow US , with the proper connector, correct voltage, and circuitry to pick up the vehicle's DC contactor. I'm gonna contact them and recommend this.

It won't work. The car simply wasn't designed to V2L/V2G. The necessary software and hardware isn't present in the Mach-E to do what you want.

 

[Fred Bombelyn]

So, the answer is there is not one, and can't be because the vehicle employes reverse power/current protection. Too bad, you would think all EV's would be able to supply 230 volt power for home outages without resorting to the clunky 12 volt battery method.

 

[ChuckA]

Something that plugs directly into the charging port, sort of like a bidirectional charger.

I have a portable 6600 kWh generator which I used 3 times in 20 years. I wouldn’t recommend ruining a $15,000 battery when it’s far more efficient to look at generators or battery backup solutions.

 

[bbulkow]

Does anyone make a traction battery DC to 240 Volt AC inverter?

So here's the problem. Obviously, the "level2" J plug is dealing in AC, and it imports and converts to DC before feeding the battery. That won't work.

The DC charging circuit has a complicated interface, because you need to have the charger feed exactly the right amount of A and V to charge but not blow up. Those power circuits use the BMS which measures flow. You'd need a connector that "initiates charge" and specifies the correct amount of everything, then takes DC out, with none of the car's measurement or protection the wiser. And you had to generate the right protocol to pretend to be a charger (not impossible, it's all specified). The BMS is the part that makes sure you're charging all the different cells the right amount, and controls flow to each of them.

However, there are apparently a number of output circuits you can tap into. For example, the heater circuit is somewhere around 5kw.

The 12v bus will allow about 1500w for non-GT electronics. My house typically runs around 750W (not AC or heat obviously) so this modest amount of power actually will get me pretty far. It'll certainly run internet and lights and keep the freezer running etc.

 

[Snakebitten]

I know it's a car, rather than a truck, but it is a little disappointing that the SAME company that was clever enough to tap a little bitty 1.5KWH 300V battery in the F150 Hybrid for 240V/30Amps of available AC power, didn't even tap the 100KWH 300V in the Mach-E battery for an outlet to charge a laptop. ??

Not even as an option.

The "Solar Generator" space is exploding with innovation and competition. I personally believe the two approaches are inevitably going to merge in some really cool ways.

A MacGyver approach currently might be to set a 3600 watt Solar Generator (~3KWH LFP) in the trunk of the Mach-E. They are about 80lbs, but very compact. (on left)

Then purchase one of the automotive "alternator" (DC/DC converter) chargers and connect it to the AGM under the hood and throttle the output to match the solar input on the Solar Generator. This would be a way to leverage the Mach-E's HV battery to recharge the Generator's LFP.

This particular brand lets you combine 2 3600 watt units into 1 7.2KW 240V generator. (picture includes add on LFP batteries. But without them you would have 7.2KW with 6KWH of native storage. About $2600)

Still, the F150 Powerboost method is so clean and works wonderfully. And the option is so inexpensive when scaled for production. For me, the Onboard liquid cooled 7.2KW inverter would be worth the loss in Frunk space compared to the heat pump.

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