Preparing for Mach-E charging at home - preparation and installing charger

dbsb3233

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But the cost of the Ford Connected Wall Charger to buy and then have an electrician come and do all the work would cost more than just have the electrician come and install the 14-50 outlet. He still has to do the wiring and the breaker.
The cost of the Ford Connected Wall Charger is more than just using the Ford Mobile Charger that comes with the car, for sure. At $799, it's also usually more than most 3rd party chargers.

But whether an electrician will charge more (or less) for a hardwire connection vs an outlet just depends on the electrician you choose. In theory it's the same basic amount of work and shouldn't cost any different, but some may anyway. As Shutterbug said above, 2 quoted him more, 2 less, and one the same. And only by a modest amount.

Note, however, that it often costs more to run a higher power circuit than a lower one, because it takes heavier wire. So if you're comparing an install of a 60A circuit (for the Ford Connected) to a 40A or 50A circuit, it's probably gonna cost a bit more. Although not much extra (maybe $50). (Unless of course you don't have that much capacity available in your panel, and they have to add a subpanel. That can get costly.)
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timbop

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There are 2 cases wherein having a hardwired EVSE isn't as good as a plugin EVSE:
  1. You need to HAVE the EVSE in your possession when the electrician comes out to do the work (and the Ford EVSE isn't available yet), and you also have to wait for the electrician to do the work, then the inspector to come out and approve the work. Ordinarily those are very quick, but these days getting electricians may take much longer. So, if you get the car before the hardwired EVSE can be installed, you're stuck at 120V charging for a period of time. A NEMA 14-50 outlet lets the electrician do the work ahead of time, and you can use the included travel charger from day 1
  2. While the initial installation costs about the same, if there is a problem and you need to send the EVSE back due to a warranty issue you'll have to schedule and pay the electrician at least one additional time. With a plugin you can do it yourself. You can alsu plug in the included travel charger while waiting for a new EVSE to arrive.
 

buffasnow

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Shouldn't typically be any cost savings from an electrician for wiring a 14-50 outlet vs a hard-wired EVSE. In fact, the outlet probably costs a bit more (the cost of the outlet/box/plate, although that's just a few bucks). Terminating the connections to an EVSE is no more work than terminating the connections to an outlet.
Interesting points on my home EVSE choices, FWIW: I had only 120V in my garage so I had the electricians install a 14-50 on a 240V 50A breaker and 4ga. I am plugging the Chargepoint Home Flex into the 14-50 for now to maintain the ability to use a different EVSE (or the outlet for something else), but the 4ga gives me some future options. It was only a buck a foot more than the 6ga.
The 14-50 installation was slightly more costly than the direct wire (about $25), but it also saved me the trouble of making a decision about how to change gauges since I believe the Chargepoint accepts 6ga maximum when direct wiring.
The 14-50 accepts 4ga maximum, and it was fine except the bend radius/geometry of the 4ga wire entering the back of the 14-50 was such that the electrician had to install a larger box than a normal double-gang.
 

shutterbug

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There are 2 cases wherein having a hardwired EVSE isn't as good as a plugin EVSE:
  1. You need to HAVE the EVSE in your possession when the electrician comes out to do the work (and the Ford EVSE isn't available yet), and you also have to wait for the electrician to do the work, then the inspector to come out and approve the work. Ordinarily those are very quick, but these days getting electricians may take much longer. So, if you get the car before the hardwired EVSE can be installed, you're stuck at 120V charging for a period of time. A NEMA 14-50 outlet lets the electrician do the work ahead of time, and you can use the included travel charger from day 1
  2. While the initial installation costs about the same, if there is a problem and you need to send the EVSE back due to a warranty issue you'll have to schedule and pay the electrician at least one additional time. With a plugin you can do it yourself. You can alsu plug in the included travel charger while waiting for a new EVSE to arrive.
I can't take issue with 2nd point. However when it comes to 1st:
  • I ordered my ChargePoint from Amazon on Monday afternoon, and had it waiting outside my door on Wednesday evening. When I called out for quotes, most of them were able to come about a week later. And then another week or so to schedule the actual work. There would be the same time regardless of whether you choose plug or hard-wire.
  • I wasn't required to have an inspection. I think most of the country don't require one either.
  • With the (understandable) delays of MME delivery, it seems to me that chances of getting the car before installing the charger are fairly small.
  • At the time I made my decision, the tax credit was going to expire at the end of the year, so I wanted to take advantage of it and not wait until the car came.
  • The charger I got could be plugged in or hard wired. So I could order it and then decide on how I was going to use it.
  • To my way of thinking, I was always going to get a wall charger (I did have plenty of panel capacity). I realize that it is an extra expense, but when you are spending $40K-$60K on the car, $300-$500 (after credit), isn't such a big deal.
  • I also asked how much would it cost to replace hard wired setup with a plug (in case I moved), and was told that it would be about $60.
  • Finally, and this is personal. I wanted max power at reasonable cost. For my day to day use, I could have easily used a 30A circuit, but after using 110V charging for my PHEV for the last six years, I wanted more. After using the new charger with PHEV for the last 2 weeks (very small battery and very slow rate), I am convinced I made the right decision and can't wait for the car to get here, so the full power of the charger can be unleashed.
 

WiilysStang

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I can't take issue with 2nd point. However when it comes to 1st:
  • I ordered my ChargePoint from Amazon on Monday afternoon, and had it waiting outside my door on Wednesday evening. When I called out for quotes, most of them were able to come about a week later. And then another week or so to schedule the actual work. There would be the same time regardless of whether you choose plug or hard-wire.
  • I wasn't required to have an inspection. I think most of the country don't require one either.
  • With the (understandable) delays of MME delivery, it seems to me that chances of getting the car before installing the charger are fairly small.
  • At the time I made my decision, the tax credit was going to expire at the end of the year, so I wanted to take advantage of it and not wait until the car came.
  • The charger I got could be plugged in or hard wired. So I could order it and then decide on how I was going to use it.
  • To my way of thinking, I was always going to get a wall charger (I did have plenty of panel capacity). I realize that it is an extra expense, but when you are spending $40K-$60K on the car, $300-$500 (after credit), isn't such a big deal.
  • I also asked how much would it cost to replace hard wired setup with a plug (in case I moved), and was told that it would be about $60.
  • Finally, and this is personal. I wanted max power at reasonable cost. For my day to day use, I could have easily used a 30A circuit, but after using 110V charging for my PHEV for the last six years, I wanted more. After using the new charger with PHEV for the last 2 weeks (very small battery and very slow rate), I am convinced I made the right decision and can't wait for the car to get here, so the full power of the charger can be unleashed.
All good points except I would take issue with the point on needing an Inspection. In my town, I needed the inspection ,the bad news is that the cost of the inspection because a third party does it for the town was that it cost to close to the cost of the electrician to do the work. I am still glad I did it because when you go to sell your residence most lawyers will put an addendum in the sales contract or it is in there already that you all electric work that needs to be inspected has been done. If you sign the sales agreement and not had the inspection, then you do face the potential liability down the road. I think of it also as a renovation to my home. If you were renovating your kitchen, the town requires permits and inspections. I also suspect that most communities do require an inspection vs. no inspection at all.
 


mr_raider

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Anyone know if a 6-50 can be converted to a 14-50 and how complex that is?
 

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Anyone know if a 6-50 can be converted to a 14-50 and how complex that is?
It would require running new wire (to supply a neutral). If there's conduit in place from the breaker to the outlet, and the conduit is large enough, you could just run a single wire for the neutral in the existing conduit. If no conduit you'd have to completely replace the existing wiring.
 

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Anyone know if a 6-50 can be converted to a 14-50 and how complex that is?
What Meth said. If the 6-50 outlet has 4 wires running to it, it's 30 minutes and inexpensive. If not, and that's the likely situtation, see Meth's reply.
 

Kamuelaflyer

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Anyone know if a 6-50 can be converted to a 14-50 and how complex that is?
You can always purchase a 6-50 EVSE as well. There are quite a few companies that offer them. You won’t have the backup of directly using the outlet with your mobile charger though. For that you’d need an adapter.
 

JamieGeek

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Chargepoint just sent me an email saying "we noticed you haven't charged yet, do you need help?"

NO, I need my Mach-E dang-it!!
Well if you take a paperclip and put it between...oh wait nvm.
 

TheSeg

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Chargepoint just sent me an email saying "we noticed you haven't charged yet, do you need help?"

NO, I need my Mach-E dang-it!!
When I had my charger installed, I asked a friend with a Tesla to come by to charge his car to test everything out (we socially distanced chatted for an hour). I guess that's why I haven't received this email - I have one charge already on my ChargePoint account.
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