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

Davedough

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I think the Chargepoint Home Flex will work for me. I want WiFi enabled which is what made me not so interested in the GrizzlE. It puts out good amperage and I have a 100 amp circuit dedicated just to the car. It’s variable so I can change the draw depending on my charging habits going forward. Thanks for the suggestions everyone
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timbop

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You don't need an electrician to swap the hard wired charger either. The connection will be made in a junction box, you just need to cut the power and undo and redo the wire nuts. Same as changing a light fixture, outlet or switch in your house.
With which a lot of people are not comfortable. I am, but a lot are not.
 

Maquis

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Not super exciting because I don’t have a charger yet but I managed to get a 100 amp panel installed in my garage from my main panel that’s in my basement and about 75 feet away. The actual exciting part? What would have cost me a couple thousand bucks ended up being completely free because of a favor for a friend. Now I need to shop for a charger.
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What size wire is that feeder? It looks possibly small for 100A. Might just be the picture - hard to tell.
 

Davedough

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What size wire is that feeder? It looks possibly small for 100A. Might just be the picture - hard to tell.
I'm honestly not sure the size, but the picture isn't doing it justice because its quite thick. My friend who installed it is a master commercial electrician so I trust he knows what he's doing.
 

Tremor38

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Your master electrician friend did not mechanically protect that cable by the looks of it and therefore it wouldn’t pass an inspection where I’m from.
I would recommend you put it in a conduit from the wall to the panel.
 


CHeil402

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Your master electrician friend did not mechanically protect that cable by the looks of it and therefore it wouldn’t pass an inspection where I’m from.
I would recommend you put it in a conduit from the wall to the panel.
It should also be affixed to the wall within 18 inches of the panel.
 

TheVirtualTim

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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.)
Correct. I went through this in my garage and had wiring done for both garage bays using 6 gauge wire (designed to handle 60 amps) ... and there are four wires in the cable (to support all four wires of NEMA 14-50).

In reality, most hard-wired chargers just use 3 wires ... the two legs of 240v power plus ground and they don't use the neutral wire. A NEMA 14-50 plug adds the neutral wire.)

There was (1) A premium because it was 6 gauge wires (capable of 60 amps) and (2) another premium for that 4th wire (used for neutral). That *did* increase the cost of installation (noticeably).

I paid the premium for versatility ... not knowing what I might want in the future. If you KNOW you wont ever need to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet then a 3-conductor wire would suffice. Also, if you know you don't need 60 amps (to handle 48 amp charging) the cost would have gone down a bit more. I wanted all of my options open and didn't want to wire for lower amperage or based on assumption that a 3-conductor wire would be enough. The cost of hiring an electrician to update the wiring would be more than the premium for getting a cable pulled that can handle any scenario.

I should mention that probably the most significant cost of my own project is that I own a home built in 1940 (the insulators on my wire conductors throughout the house are woven fabric and nothing is grounded). I have a detached garage that only had a single 20 amp 120 volt circuit. The power line and meter on my home is only rated for 100 amp service. So there were quite a number of upgrades needed ... even if I only wanted to have 48 amp charging service for one garage bay. Knowing this, I decided that if I had to do all the work to upgrade the power for just one garage bay ... I may as well get it upgraded to handle EV charging on both garage bays (not that I need it today ... but I didn't ever want to have to upgrade my electrical again.)
 

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Your master electrician friend did not mechanically protect that cable by the looks of it and therefore it wouldn’t pass an inspection where I’m from.
I would recommend you put it in a conduit from the wall to the panel.
I think that is true in Canada, but in the US, the NEC only says it cannot be exposed where "subject to physical damage". That leaves it open to interpretation by the inspector. Without seeing the entire area in the vicinity of this installation, I can't guess as to whether or not it might be an issue.

The comment about the cable needing to be secured within 18" of the box is also true.
 

RedStormREHS

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Concur! Since the breaker box is installed in an accessible, exposed ground area, 110V/220V unprotected wire bundle absolutely should be inside rigid conduit pipe like EMT! It's also needs to be clamped to wall. Better to be safe and permitted by your local building authority.
 

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Yeah, wow. I mean I'd probably do that exposed wire without conduit if I was 2 big screwdrivers deep, like I am now, but not sober lol.
 

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You mention about a tax credit for installing the 240/14-50 outlet, is this new? I installed mine in 2018 and never heard of this.
Tax credits started in 2019 and was renewed for 2021, when you purchase a new one for the MME you will get a 30% tax break. I am guessing you will need to return the Nissan one with the Leaf, so that should put you in the market.
The tax credit started in 2005-ish. However, congress didn't renew it for tax year 2018 or 2019. As a result, the tax credit wasn't available initially for those two years. In 2019, congress renewed it for 2020, and applied it RETROACTIVELY for 2018 and 2019.

You need to amend your 2018 tax return to take advantage. You have until 4/17/2021 to amend your 2018 return, assuming your filed your 2018 return on or before the due date. Now's not too late.

 
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I think that is true in Canada, but in the US, the NEC only says it cannot be exposed where "subject to physical damage". That leaves it open to interpretation by the inspector. Without seeing the entire area in the vicinity of this installation, I can't guess as to whether or not it might be an issue.

The comment about the cable needing to be secured within 18" of the box is also true.

But trust me, although Canadian electrical rules are different, not many professional electricians do it correctly.

Loose wires in walls is a common fact even in new homes built!

In my previous home, I had done my entire basement washroom electrical work, and when I sold the house, the home inspector that the buyers had hired to check out the house said to me: "you did the electrical work?" I said "yes, how did you know?"

His answer: "Well it's well done, as per regulations"

ROFLMAO!!!
 
 




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