What Level 2 Charger did you buy/install?

[Earthdog]

Yes, but the car will only accept more up to 3.6 kW, so it will charge just as fast as virtually all of the L2 chargers. Ford's only faster car is the newer Focus Electric with the 7.2ish on-board charger. So you could charge one of them or a Leaf faster...

 

I'm hoping to buy a backup L1 charger as I use mine a lot. Ford is insane and marked theirs as a service part and close to $600.

 

Shaggy Metropluggin.com sells the Level 1 for $495.00.

[larryh]

I finally had the PowerMax 30A / 18' 240 V charger installed today along with a timer.  The charger is a very nice unit.  Mr. Electric was here from 9:30 AM until 5:30 pm doing the installation.  The service panel is in the basement, so he had to go through about 35' of floor joists to get to the garage and then another 30' to the charger.  I also had a meter socket installed to take advantage of the power company's lower rates at $0.0585 / kWh.  I still need to contact the power company to have the new meter installed.  The total installation cost was $1550.  The peak hour rates from the power company is $0.3785 / kWh.  So I don't want to be charging during peak hours.  Unfortunately, Value Charge consumes 60 Watts of power waiting to charge.  In addition, if the battery is depleted, the car battery will be charged to 10% immediately and then charging will continue during off peak hours.  At $.03785 / kWh, Value Charge would be costing me more than not subscribing to the power company's special rate program for EVs.  So I opted to use a timer instead.

 

Edited August 27, 2013 at 11:33 PM by larryh

[Russael]

Sweet.  Don't forget to claim all of that for your federal taxes at the end of the year (there's a charging station credit).  I don't see why you can't include labor in it, so you should be golden.  You'll get I think 30% back from that.

 

But now begs the question... do you use go times or do you plan to?  That timer is going to ruin that unless your go time happens to fall during off-peak rates.

[larryh]

Yes, I plan to take the tax credit.  It is worth $465 off the installation.  I had previously adjusted the tax credits I claimed on the W4 form. 

 

The timer is set to turn the charger off from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm during peak hours.  My GO times are set for early in the morning.  I rarely go anywhere after I get home from work so not charging during peak hours is fine with me.  The timer can easily be overridden if I want to charge during peak hours.  But at peak hour rates, it would be cheaper to use gas.  It has cold load pick up, so there will be a randomized delay before charging begins when the timer turns the charger on.

 

The charger is a high quality unit.  It has an on/off switch and button to stop charging.  It makes no noise and has a very thick/heavy cord for plugging into the car.  The installation still requires inspection.  Mr. Electric mentioned that he just installed two Ford Leviton chargers for a dealer.  The inspector failed the installation because the chargers did not have a sticker on them stating that ventilation is not required.  Obviously he was not amused since the dealer was quite far away.  So he has to order a sticker from the manufacturer and go back to the dealer to put them on the chargers and have them reinspected.  The first thing he checked was to verify that the Power Max charger already had all the required labeling.

Edited August 28, 2013 at 10:19 AM by larryh

[Russael]

Ahhh, so you just have the timer to shut the charger off during peak rates... gotcha.  I was thinking you had it set to only have the charger on during the cheapest window and off the rest of the time.

 

As far as I know, all chargers do a cold load pickup and have that randomized delay.  I think the window is within 15 minutes which isn't bad.  At least now you won't have to piddle with the value charging stuff with the car.  You'll just have to keep an eye on the timer, especially if you have a lot of power outages.

 

My leviton doesn't have an on/off switch, but it does have a button to stop charging like yours.  Mine makes an oddball noise when I plug the car in just before I hear the pop of the charging relay.  Aside from that, I haven't had any issues with it.

 

Inspectors are quite picky and they know of things that you can't find anywhere else which I think is crazy.  I asked the city inspector if there was some sort of repository of building codes somewhere and he says there isn't, so that begs the question, where do THEY get their info?

[rtshinn]

"The peak hour rates from the power company is $0.3785 / kWh."

Wow... just.. wow..

[murphy]

Inspectors are quite picky and they know of things that you can't find anywhere else which I think is crazy.  I asked the city inspector if there was some sort of repository of building codes somewhere and he says there isn't, so that begs the question, where do THEY get their info?

As far as electrical inspections are concerned they have to follow the National Electrical Code.  They don't get to make it up as they go although some try.

You can always request that that they show you the paragraph in the NEC code book that backs up what they are telling you.

 

 

http://www.nfpa.org/catalog/category.asp?category_name=National%20Electrical%20Code%20%28NEC%29&cookie_test=1

[Earthdog]

I finally had the PowerMax 30A / 18' 240 V charger installed today along with a timer.  The charger is a very nice unit.  Mr. Electric was here from 9:30 AM until 5:30 pm doing the installation.  The service panel is in the basement, so he had to go through about 35' of floor joists to get to the garage and then another 30' to the charger.  I also had a meter socket installed to take advantage of the power company's lower rates at $0.0585 / kWh.  I still need to contact the power company to have the new meter installed.  The total installation cost was $1550.  The peak hour rates from the power company is $0.3785 / kWh.  So I don't want to be charging during peak hours.  Unfortunately, Value Charge consumes 60 Watts of power waiting to charge.  In addition, if the battery is depleted, the car battery will be charged to 10% immediately and then charging will continue during off peak hours.  At $.03785 / kWh, Value Charge would be costing me more than not subscribing to the power company's special rate program for EVs.  So I opted to use a timer instead.

 

 

Larryh thats one of the first Bosch/SPX units I've actually seen out there. Last I heard they were backlogged 8 weeks. I will say watch your unit closely SPX (Bosch purchased) has a bad history, hopefully they have addressed all the issues.

[dlb92]

38 cents/Kwh in atlanta?  Why so much?  How much is your regular rate? I thought usually rates are only that high in places like CA, NY

[larryh]

I plan to use Value Charge as a backup in case the time on the timer is off. 

 

The rates quoted above only apply to the separately metered circuit for an ESVE. Night and weekend/holiday rates are $0.0585.  Peak rates during the week from 4 pm to 9 pm are $0.3785.  All other hours are $0.10144.  I simply don't charge the car from 4 pm to 9 pm on weekdays--I have no reason to do so.  The rates for the rest of my home are $0.10144.  I live in MN.  

Edited August 28, 2013 at 08:51 PM by larryh

[larryh]

I found the following labeling requirements for EVSE:

 

The electric vehicle charging system shall be listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (i.e., UL) in compliance with UL 2202 "Standard for Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging System Equipment." (CEC 90.7)

 

The electric vehicle charging system shall be installed in accordance with manufacturer’s guideline and shall be suitable for the environment (indoor/outdoor). If installed indoors, the charging station shall be labeled "Ventilation Not Required" in a location clearly visible after installation. (CEC 625.15)

 

So one needs to check that the unit complies with these before inspection.

Edited August 28, 2013 at 09:53 PM by larryh

[larryh]

Everything is working as expected.  I have the timer set to turn the charger off during peak hours from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  I have Value Charge enabled to start charging at 9:00 pm as a backup in case the clock for the timer is not set correctly.

 

When I arrive home, the timer has turned off the charger.  I plug in the car.  Since the charger is off, nothing happens.  At 9:00 pm, Value Charge attempts to charge the car.  But the timer has not turned on the charger yet.  So nothing happens (except I get an MFM alert stating that the car is not charging when expected).  Then a little later, the timer powers up the charger and the car begins to charge.  The HVB is charged as normal.

 

I had a GO time set with the cabin temperature set to 65 degrees this morning.  15 minutes prior to the GO time the car starting running the AC.  At the GO time, the car stopped running the AC.  The HVB charge remained at 100%.  With the 120 V charger, this would drain the HVB a small amount. 

 

So I am happy with the new setup.  It is doing what I expected.

Edited August 29, 2013 at 09:53 AM by larryh

[Russael]

Sweet.  Good deal.  Hopefully that'll work better for you than the built in value charge features of the car.

 

And yeah, go time performance is going to work much better than it did before.  It's kind of funny since the car actually gets quite noisy when the A/C part is running.  I can hear it when approaching the garage. It sort of sounds like an air compressor.  It gets pretty warm around the car too since the radiator fan comes on to move air through the condenser.

 

There may be some hope for us getting charging stations at work.  A 3rd person just picked themselves up a Volt about 2 weeks ago (so now there are 2 Volt owners and me), and both of them are being pretty noisy about getting said charging stations installed.  We'll see how that goes.

[shaggy314]

I'm going to get a Sharpy and write "no ventalation required" on mine at home, just in case.  ;-)

[larryh]

Yes, the inspectors may seem to be rather picky.  But I don't want to have to go through the trouble and expense of a second inspection.  I know that they will be looking at the labels on the Charger.   So at least I have eliminated one potential violation that could fail the inspection.

 

Last year I replaced the windows on my house.  All the building inspector was interested in was testing my fire alarms.  No one bothered to tell me that he would do that.  I ended up having to replace all 8 of them and schedule another inspection.  It makes me wonder if inspectors enjoy harassing homeowners and contractors.  I complained to the officials (and the contractors) that I was not informed about the fire alarms, but that got me nowhere.  They better only be looking only at the charger installation during this inspection and not pick some other random item that violates code.  Otherwise, inspections can become very costly.  The inspection permit should state clearly what the inspector is looking for.

Edited August 30, 2013 at 11:02 AM by larryh

[larryh]

 

There may be some hope for us getting charging stations at work.  A 3rd person just picked themselves up a Volt about 2 weeks ago (so now there are 2 Volt owners and me), and both of them are being pretty noisy about getting said charging stations installed.  We'll see how that goes.

 

I don't know of many local companies near me that have charging stations installed for their employees.  But it would be nice if more of them would do that.  In the least, they could provide outlets for employees to use with their own chargers.

[murphy]

OT: Replacing windows has the potential to create a lot of dust.  Dust in the smoke detector chambers can render them useless.  Many smoke detectors have a procedure for cleaning the chamber.  They also should be replaced about every 10 years.  If a lot of dust is expected during construction the chambers should be covered to protect them.

[murphy]

I don't know of many local companies near me that have charging stations installed for their employees.  But it would be nice if more of them would do that.  In the least, they could provide outlets for employees to use with their own chargers.

If they don't make you pay for the electricity to charge a PHEV the non PHEV drivers could make a case that they should be reimbursed for the gasoline they use to drive home.  The easy way out is to ignore the problem.

[larryh]

The smoke detectors were 15 years old.  I told the contractor that they did not work.  The contractor told me that the city only checks to see that they are installed on each floor and in each bedroom and the hallway, and that they do not test them.  Contractors, be it for home repairs or installing chargers, need to be aware of the inspection requirements and save everyone a lot of grief.

Edited August 30, 2013 at 11:35 AM by larryh

[Russael]

If they don't make you pay for the electricity to charge a PHEV the non PHEV drivers could make a case that they should be reimbursed for the gasoline they use to drive home.  The easy way out is to ignore the problem.

 

That is one reason that prevented me from asking about having charging stations installed.  They only benefit those who drive PHEVs or BEVs (so 3 people).  On the flipside, they could use it as PR saying that they're encouraging their employees to drive green.  And they (the people who asked to have charging stations installed) also offered to pay for the electricity at the going rate, which I'm fine with too.

Edited August 30, 2013 at 12:12 PM by Russael

[jeff_h]

That is one reason that prevented me from asking about having charging stations installed.  They only benefit those who drive PHEVs or BEVs (so 3 people).  On the flipside, they could use it as PR saying that they're encouraging their employees to drive green.  And they (the people who asked to have charging stations installed) also offered to pay for the electricity at the going rate, which I'm fine with too.

 

These are the same points I made to my company two years ago -

 

1) I'd be happy to pay for the electricity I use, we can look at the electricity rate and approximate cost of a daily charge and do payroll deduction, we can even use a formula that is more favorable to the company and I'll still save money over buying the gas.

2) The company can tout this green initiative, which may not be a huge deal for an IT company but if there is someone in the leadership who is interested in this technology, there ya go.

 

However that went nowhere for me -- good luck on your efforts, hope they turn out better than mine.

[http]

These are the same points I made to my company two years ago -

 

1) I'd be happy to pay for the electricity I use, we can look at the electricity rate and approximate cost of a daily charge and do payroll deduction, we can even use a formula that is more favorable to the company and I'll still save money over buying the gas.

2) The company can tout this green initiative, which may not be a huge deal for an IT company but if there is someone in the leadership who is interested in this technology, there ya go.

 

However that went nowhere for me -- good luck on your efforts, hope they turn out better than mine.

 

My company installed a ChargePoint station.  Actually, they allowed ChargePoint to install a station and charge the employees $0.49 per KwH to charge. (Yes, gas would be cheaper.) The facilities manager was by one afternoon as I was plugging in and asked how I liked the station.  I told him it was nice, but pricey. He admitted that they only pay 6 cents per KwH, but ChargePoint sets the price and runs the station. 

 

I use the ChargePoint station because even though it's expensive, I still get a kick out of the all electric mode on the Energi.  I also enjoy telling my co-workers that I've got 3K miles on the car and have only been to the gas station twice. (The tank is full right now.) I am hopeful that they may install an additional station and perhaps lower the price a bit.  I've seen another Energi, a C-Max, and a Volt running around the lot.  The Volt guy refuses to use the charger because of the price, and he's all electric with limited range.

[murphy]

The Volt guy refuses to use the charger because of the price, and he's all electric with limited range.

A Volt has a gasoline engine.

[larryh]

The power company installed the meter for my 240 V Power Max charger on Tuesday.  So far, my car reports that it has used 14.6 kWh of electricity.  The meter shows that I used 17 kWh for charging.  The meter accuracy is about 0.2% (two-tenths of a percent).  But, unfortunately, the meter only provides measurement resolution to the nearest kWh.  So the actual energy used is between 17 kWh and 18 kWh.  So if I compute the ratio of power from the electric company used to charge the car divided by the amount of plug-in energy consumed as reported by the car, I get a value between 1.17 and 1.24.  That is far better than the 1.39 ratio for the 120 V charger.  So just by using a 240 V charger, my actual MPGe has increased by 16%.  It appears the 120 V charger is rather inefficient compared to my 240 V charger.  With the 120 V charger, 72% of the energy from the wall outlet is actually used to propel the car.  The rest is wasted.  With the 240 V charger, 83% of the energy is used to propel the car.  I will continue to track the measurements to get more accurate values.

 

A fully depleted battery takes 2 hours and 10 minutes to charge (as reported by My Ford Mobile).  I have determined the power consumed during charging to be between 3.2 and 3.4 kW.  So now it costs me about $0.40 to charge a fully depleted battery.

Edited September 6, 2013 at 12:12 PM by larryh

[murphy]

  I have determined the power consumed during charging to be between 3.2 and 3.4 kW.  So now it costs me about $0.40 to charge a fully depleted battery.

Can you explain that statement.  The power required to charge my battery, when fully depleted, ranges from 6.32 kWh to 7.12 kWH.  The difference probably depends on the SOC of the hybrid battery and the 12 volt battery when the "big" battery is depleted.