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Residential Charging Stations -- Now what?


meyersnole
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  • 2 weeks later...

I updated the top post with this comment:

 

I have my new car in the garage for the weekend and am living with the L1 charger. So far this is working out well. Still only a short time, but not once have I had a problem where the car does not have enough charge to get me where I want to go. So, you may want to try the included charger before going through this expense. I may still go forward with the L2 charger, but for now I am not in any rush to get this done.

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I'm getting the L2 charger because of the 50% rebate from the city and the 30% tax credit from the feds. Otherwise I'd have gotten a second L1 cable from Ford as I don't want to keep digging out the L! when home to travel with it to use somewhere else (work) almost every day... Now my employeer is considering the City's offer to pay most of the cost for a L2 at work. woo hoo?

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I updated the top post with this comment:

 

I have my new car in the garage for the weekend and am living with the L1 charger. So far this is working out well. Still only a short time, but not once have I had a problem where the car does not have enough charge to get me where I want to go. So, you may want to try the included charger before going through this expense. I may still go forward with the L2 charger, but for now I am not in any rush to get this done.

I'm not making much in the way of comments, meyersnole, but I am reading your posts with great interest...keep em coming. I'm still Jones'n for my car.

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I'm getting the L2 charger because of the 50% rebate from the city and the 30% tax credit from the feds. Otherwise I'd have gotten a second L1 cable from Ford as I don't want to keep digging out the L! when home to travel with it to use somewhere else (work) almost every day... Now my employeer is considering the City's offer to pay most of the cost for a L2 at work. woo hoo?

I signed up for a chargepoint card the other day, and as part of the registration it asked where I worked (so they could bug them to install a charger!). I hope that works.

 

There are no local incentives in North Carolina, and given the current politics I do not expect any soon. I would still qualify for the Federal one though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just pulled the pin on a GE Wattstation level 2 chargepoint. Amazon has them for $799 direct from GE, and qualifying for Prime. Unfortunately GE charges IL sales tax. Oh well, still $50 less than the local big boxes. And I'll have it in two days. Not that I'll install it that soon. Gotta wait for it to warm up a bit for that. I am lucky, though, in that my service panel is in the garage and I apprenticed for a year, so I'll be saving on labor.

 

Anywho, I was reading some other threads and I liked the Wattstation feature of a button to push for zero stand-by draw. No need for an extra switch or anything more complicated than just a NEMA 6-50 outlet within 12".

 

I'll let you all know how it goes in a few weeks!

 

Edit 3-21-13: Got the Wattstation today! (Prime is two-day shipping, but this came from KY, so that's one day to me!) The outer carton was in terrible condition, but the actual GE marketing carton was in ok shape and a quick inspection for damage on the actual unit revealed none. Unfortunately had a spring break on the garage door yesterday, so I won't be doing any work until I get that replaced. Plus it's still freakin cold out, so the install will have to wait a few more weeks. I'll keep posting here in edits as progress is made.

 

First impressions after the unboxing are all positive! Nice appearance, though a little large if I'm honest. All the shiny black plastic is covered in stick-film to protect it during shipping and install. Nicely packaged. If I find time over the weekend, I'll post some pics.

Edited by Scooter80
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I just pulled the pin on a GE Wattstation level 2 chargepoint. Amazon has them for $799 direct from GE, and qualifying for Prime. Unfortunately GE charges IL sales tax. Oh well, still $50 less than the local big boxes. And I'll have it in two days. Not that I'll install it that soon. Gotta wait for it to warm up a bit for that. I am lucky, though, in that my service panel is in the garage and I apprenticed for a year, so I'll be saving on labor. Anywho, I was reading some other threads and I liked the Wattstation feature of a button to push for zero stand-by draw. No need for an extra switch or anything more complicated than just a NEMA 6-50 outlet within 12". I'll let you all know how it goes in a few weeks!

Smooth move there Scooter80, I like that GE unit too. Being able to install it yourself will save you about $800.

 

I finally decided to return the Leviton L2 I bought from Home Depot and contracted with Mr Electric to install the Ford L2 unit...it will cost me $1,500 for parts and labor, plus tax, and they will be here 3/26 to do the install. That will be a busy day, since that is the ETA for my car too but I hope to have it sooner.

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I have started to put user names next the users who installed them. So please tell us why when you tell us your choice, so when people click on your name they know why you like that particular unit.

 

pluggedin -- do you have a link for how to go about the Ford Charger install? Did you just start here? http://www.mrelectric.com/

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I have started to put user names next the users who installed them. So please tell us why when you tell us your choice, so when people click on your name they know why you like that particular unit.

 

pluggedin -- do you have a link for how to go about the Ford Charger install? Did you just start here? http://www.mrelectric.com/

No, I wound up contacting Mr Electric indirectly. Here's how.

 

I went to Home Depot looking for something that was retractable so I could suspend my charging cable from the ceiling. While talking to one of the Home Depot associates he mentioned they now had the chargers in stock, which surprised me because I looked online before I went there and all of the chargers had to be ordered online.

 

So we went to look at what they had in stock and it was a Schnieder L1, I think. Anyway, I told them I would order my charger online and they suggested I have their guy set up the install through their install desk. Which I did.

 

The paperwork I had did not indicate Mr Electric but when they called to make an appointment to come out to give me an estimate I discovered they were under the Mr Electric umbrella and used that name when I called them subsequent to the install quote.

 

So, once their guy, Damien, came out to the house and I explained to him what I was doing he gave me a quote to install the Leviton L2 that I bought from Home Depot and a quote for buying and installing a Ford L2 charger.

 

Damien explained that if I decided to install the Ford charger, he would have call Best Buy to purchase the charger and since I bypassed the Best Buy Geek Squad they might still charge me the $99 for a site inspection but he would see if they would wave the charge. He made the call while standing in my garage and whoever he talked to said they would wave the $99.

 

So that's how I got to Mr Electric. My suggestion, however, is to call Mr Electric, directly, to see if you can bypass The Geek Squad like I did. The link you provided above for Mr Electric is a good place to start.

 

In case you missed my post where I outlined Mr Electrics visit, you can see it here: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/569-geek-squad-install-of-l2-charger/. I indicate in that post that I went directly to Mr Electric but I was just trying to shorten the post up some, since it was long to begin with.

 

As you know, I decided to buy the Ford charger because it was less expensive to buy and install and I liked the way it was made. There is a link in the post above to view the Ford L2 charger and its specs.

Edited by pluggedin
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Smooth move there Scooter80, I like that GE unit too. Being able to install it yourself will save you about $800.

 

I finally decided to return the Leviton L2 I bought from Home Depot and contracted with Mr Electric to install the Ford L2 unit...it will cost me $1,500 for parts and labor, plus tax, and they will be here 3/26 to do the install. That will be a busy day, since that is the ETA for my car too but I hope to have it sooner.

 

I'm getting the same Leviton L2 unit as the Ford branded one, installed for roughly $1100. The Charger on Amazon (or Home Depot) is $750 and my electrician is installing the breaker to plug part for ~$350. I'm getting the plug installed this weekend and ordering the charger when I hear the car is near (late April/May?). It will just plug in when it comes as I opted to NOT get the hard wired version.

 

Which part are you getting cheaper? The charger or the install fee? I ask as I thought both were more expensive if you got the Ford branded one. It has the same specs as the Leviton EVB22-3PM Evr-Green 160 Home Charging Station, 3.8kW output, Level 2

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Since I did the install myself the wire and outlet were the only additional costs.

 

Note that the power cord is one foot long, comes out of the bottom of the unit, and is stiff as a board.  An extension cord is not permitted.

 

Look at the picture in my post to see how tight the outlet installation has to be.

 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/536-l1-charging-amperage-requirements/?p=1254

 

I recommend installing the unit first so the electrician can accurately place the outlet.

I had to install the outlet upside down from the way it would normally be installed.

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Got the Wattstation today! (Prime is two-day shipping, but this came from KY, so that's one day to me!) The outer carton was in terrible condition, but the actual GE marketing carton was in ok shape and a quick inspection for damage on the actual unit revealed none. Unfortunately had a spring break on the garage door yesterday, so I won't be doing any work until I get that replaced. Plus it's still freakin cold out, so the install will have to wait a few more weeks.

 

First impressions after the unboxing are all positive! Nice appearance, though a little large if I'm honest. All the shiny black plastic is covered in stick-film to protect it during shipping and install. Nicely packaged. If I find time over the weekend, I'll post some pics.

 

I have, and will try to continue to update my first post that meyersnole has so kindly linked to in the OP

Edited by Scooter80
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Peter, please let us know how things go with the Versicharge. I'm seriously considering it, and I might hold out for the SG model. It looks a little big, although smaller than the GE unit, but I think most people that have them are happy with it. Of course my main concern is having a good EVSE with a 3 year warrantee that I feel confident in plugging into a $40K car.

 

There's a good video review on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R326WFD7J8U5X/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0083ZZFEA&nodeID=228013&store=hi

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I'm getting the same Leviton L2 unit as the Ford branded one, installed for roughly $1100. The Charger on Amazon (or Home Depot) is $750 and my electrician is installing the breaker to plug part for ~$350. I'm getting the plug installed this weekend and ordering the charger when I hear the car is near (late April/May?). It will just plug in when it comes as I opted to NOT get the hard wired version.

 

Which part are you getting cheaper? The charger or the install fee? I ask as I thought both were more expensive if you got the Ford branded one. It has the same specs as the Leviton EVB22-3PM Evr-Green 160 Home Charging Station, 3.8kW output, Level 2

Both parts and labor were cheaper with the Ford L2 charger. The charger itself is $800 (but includes a breakaway mounting bracket, in case you try to drive off with the plug in the car charge port) and labor is $700. All plus tax.

 

I think the labor is high and should be about the $350 you mentioned, but it was even higher for the Leviton unit (by about $365) because Mr Electric and Ford have an agreement on install prices for their charger.

 

They want another $210 (approx) to install an on/off breaker next to the unit because, Damian (Mr Electric) said, he is installing a 50 amp breaker in the service box, which I am not going to do that because I figure it will be about a 10 year pay back for the switch.

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The Ford L2 charger is a 16 amp unit. 

 

Why is he installing a 50 amp breaker which will require the installation of 6 gauge wire.  Breakers are sized to protect the wire, not the load.

 

A 20 amp breaker with 12 gauge wire is all that is needed.  You don't need a breaker at the unit, just a 20 amp 240 volt double pole switch.  It costs about $8.00.

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The Ford L2 charger is a 16 amp unit. 

 

Why is he installing a 50 amp breaker which will require the installation of 6 gauge wire.  Breakers are sized to protect the wire, not the load.

 

A 20 amp breaker with 12 gauge wire is all that is needed.  You don't need a breaker at the unit, just a 20 amp 240 volt double pole switch.  It costs about $8.00.

Electrical Input

Input/Output Power:

7.68kVA

lnput Voltage:

208/240 VAC

 

Input/Output Current:

32A

Required Service Panel Breaker:

40 A,double pole breaker (non-GFCI type) on on a dedicated circuit

Output charging Connector:

SAE J1772 EV connector on 18' (5.48 m) cable

 

Above are partial specs for the 32A Ford L2 charger. They call for a 40 A breaker but Mr Electric has decided to put in a 50 A breaker in for some reason. He said why but I don't remember.

 

See the full specs here: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=a9cf5f77e2ad295c&id=A9CF5F77E2AD295C!410&Bsrc=SkyMail&Bpub=SDX.SkyDrive&sc=Documents&authkey=!AKvnlvuK7sr_I5E. I copied these pages directly from Mr Electric's Installer Manual, provided to them by Ford.

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