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

[Andrew88]

Our Mach-e hasn't arrived yet. But, in preparation, we installed a Chargepoint in the garage on a 50 amp circuit.

Now, my wife just saw the following article in the Washington Post and now we are wondering weather or not it is safe to charge our new Mach-e inside the garage. Does anyone have more insight, or reassuring info from Ford, on this issue?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/04/tesla-fire/

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[Mach-Lee]

Our Mach-e hasn't arrived yet. But, in preparation, we installed a Chargepoint in the garage on a 50 amp circuit.

Now, my wife just saw the following article in the Washington Post and now we are wondering weather or not it is safe to charge our new Mach-e inside the garage. Does anyone have more insight, or reassuring info from Ford, on this issue?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/04/tesla-fire/

There is always the risk with any electric vehicle catching fire, but it's still extremely rare. People forget that gasoline car start on fire everyday but we don't see news articles about those. There have been zero reports of Mach-E fires yet. Ford is aware of the fire issues with other brands and I'm sure has proactively taken steps to minimize the risk.

One thing you can do to help avoid potential battery fires is to follow good battery maintenance practices. Try to always keep the battery between 20-90% charge, avoid going above or below that unless you occasionally need to for a longer trip. Always plug in the car when you're not driving it so the battery can be cooled. Charge regularly and avoid deep discharge/charge cycles. These things will help prevent unstable battery situations.

From a general fire-safety perspective, make sure your garage is fully drywalled with no exposed wood. Make sure all joints are taped so there are no air leaks. Add a heat or smoke sensor in the garage that will remotely alarm in the house. These are all part of building codes in more-restrictive areas if you wanted to bring your garage up to a higher fire standard.

 

[GrisGris]

Yeah, but ICE cars don't randomly catch fire while sitting in the garage, turned off.

I saw that article and it gave me pause as well. Not currently an issue since our garage is full of crap for construction!

But our charger was installed inside the garage and the cord is close enough to the garage door (though not by much!) that we can charge our cars outside with the garage door closed. The cord won't stop most garage doors from closing, as long as they are slack enough to be on the ground of course.

 

[Fat Mach]

Yeah, but ICE cars don't randomly catch fire while sitting in the garage, turned off.

Sure they do. My brother's 2002 F-250 with the V10 was parked in my folks' backyard when it caught fire. It burned most of the dash into itself and shattered the windshield. It then burned out on it's own before my brother found it some days later.

 

[EELinneman]

I understand that there are risks, but these are more than overcome with the benefits in my opinion. Just to be safe, I am installing a heat detector in our garage. From what I have read, a smoke alarm should not be in the garage, but a device to alert you to high heat indicating a fire is a good idea. I bought the Kidde one that ties into our existing hard wired smoke alarms. if one goes off, they all do. Here is the link to the one from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P4YY8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[GrisGris]

I understand that there are risks, but these are more than overcome with the benefits in my opinion. Just to be safe, I am installing a heat detector in our garage. From what I have read, a smoke alarm should not be in the garage, but a device to alert you to high heat indicating a fire is a good idea. I bought the Kidde one that ties into our existing hard wired smoke alarms. if one goes off, they all do. Here is the link to the one from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P4YY8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good idea. Thanks for the link.

 

[SteveJo]

I understand that there are risks, but these are more than overcome with the benefits in my opinion. Just to be safe, I am installing a heat detector in our garage. From what I have read, a smoke alarm should not be in the garage, but a device to alert you to high heat indicating a fire is a good idea. I bought the Kidde one that ties into our existing hard wired smoke alarms. if one goes off, they all do. Here is the link to the one from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P4YY8K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now all we need is a sprinkler system capable of providing 32,000 gallons of water. ?‍

Tesla's Car Crash Needed 32,000 Gallons Of Water To Put Out The Fire - TechStory

 

[BMT1071]

Now all we need is a sprinkler system capable of providing 32,000 gallons of water. ?‍

Tesla's Car Crash Needed 32,000 Gallons Of Water To Put Out The Fire - TechStory

As long as you're on municipal water you have a virtually unlimited supply. ??

 

[OldEVGuy]

I got this one from Amazon that’s battery operated.

https://www.amazon.com/FireAngel-HT...larm+-+Fireangel+Ht-630&qid=1628368893&sr=8-1

 

[Haven]

Here's a spec sheet (bottom one is the one that comes with the car). Charger body is about 11" tall, and the 240v plug pigtail is another 11".

https://www.ford.com/ntzlibs/conten...-sheet/Home_Install_Spec_Sheet_0831_FINAL.pdf

Thanks for the dimensions and spec. I have a Mach E GT scheduled for Sep 11 delivery and am getting the electrical installed. Can you tell me how wide the charger is? I have a narrow spot I was planning to put the NEMA 14-50 receptacle.

 

[dbsb3233]

Thanks for the dimensions and spec. I have a Mach E GT scheduled for Sep 11 delivery and am getting the electrical installed. Can you tell me how wide the charger is? I have a narrow spot I was planning to put the NEMA 14-50 receptacle.

Someone was kind enough to post pics with measurements a few posts after that...

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...nd-installing-charger.610/page-39#post-192888

 

[PA Bob]

I haven't read all these posts so sorry if this has been mentioned. Some home charging stations (like Juice Box) all "power sharing." You can run two 240 outlets on one line with a Juice Box plugged in each and charging simultaneously. The charging time would be slower, but at least you don't have to devote 100 amps of your 200 amp service to outlets you might rarely use together.
Also, keep one safety issue in mind. The charging cord is only protected by GFCI from the charging station forward. I'm not sure the cord from the charging station to the 240 outlet is GFCI protected.

 

[PA Bob]

One more issue on home charging. I plan to drive to my father in law's house which is about 100 miles. He has a dryer on the back porch right where I would park. His outlet is a NEMA 10-30 so I had to get a 10-30 to 15-40 adaptor for the Ford charger. IF you plan to use someone's dryer outlet, make sure which the outlet design is and plan accordingly. Some sites sell a kit with multiple adaptors.

 

[Maquis]

...but at least you don't have to devote 100 amps of your 200 amp service to outlets you might rarely use together.

This is a common misconception. Panel capacity is never "devoted" because of the size or quantity of breakers installed or circuits installed. You could have have ten 50A breakers (circuits) in a 200A panel without issue. The loads that a service can or cannot supply are based on load calculations, not breaker size.

If you add the total amps of all the breakers in a typical 200A service panel, you usually come up with 500 to 1000 amps worth of breakers.

 

[e-pony]

The NEMA 14-50 outlet can only supply up to 80% of its rated capacity continuously, so 40 amps. The hardwire install equipment mentioned can draw 48 amps, that's beyond the allowable continuous rating for the NEMA 14-50.

One thing I didn't notice in the videos, unless I missed it was that the conduit size wasn't really defined. The wire gauge cross sectional area is one of the things that drives the conduit size, not just whether the wires "fit" inside or not.


There are IRS tax credits for install, plus any local credits depending on your region.
https://www.clippercreek.com/tax-credits/

Thx for that link!

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