Charger FAQ/Explanation

[Golfhack]

Much appreciated.

 

[Volund]

Thanks for all of the replies, very helpful and answered my questions

 

[borski]

We do know. From Lucid. “Housed in a sleek, compact form that complements any style of decor, the Lucid Connected Home Charging Station is capable of charging up to 80 miles of range per hour (80 amps, 240 volts). It’s built to perform indoors or outdoors through all seasons, and comes with a generous 24-foot cable. Best of all, it promises to be better in the future, with software updates that will enable bi-directional charging — meaning you can use your car to power your house (additional hardware needed).”

Sorry, I meant we don’t know price. Mistyped!

 

[emoylv]

$1200 plus installation.

Lucid Releases Pricey At-Home Wall Charger

The maker of the Air EV has priced its Level 2 wall charging unit at $1200, saying it can provide 80 miles of range per hour of charging.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[Shuasha]

If you already have a smart meter from your electric company, you it's pretty easy to tell what your house uses. Just check the electric company's website. Where I live, you can also buy a little display that talks to your smart meter that gives you instantaneous readings of power usage.
For example, ours is a 3700 sq ft house with pool, 2 AC units, a few servers running 24/7, and natural gas heat. Our normal overnight minimum usage is around 1400 watts when the pool pump is going, max is around 9000 watts when both AC units are going. I would easily be able to run the whole house on 19.2kw for a while, especially with solar taking up a lot of the daytime usage. (assuming there's some way to have both active at the same time, by default solar cuts off when the power is out for safety reasons).

 

[terrygone]

If you already have a smart meter from your electric company, you it's pretty easy to tell what your house uses. Just check the electric company's website. Where I live, you can also buy a little display that talks to your smart meter that gives you instantaneous readings of power usage.
For example, ours is a 3700 sq ft house with pool, 2 AC units, a few servers running 24/7, and natural gas heat. Our normal overnight minimum usage is around 1400 watts when the pool pump is going, max is around 9000 watts when both AC units are going. I would easily be able to run the whole house on 19.2kw for a while, especially with solar taking up a lot of the daytime usage. (assuming there's some way to have both active at the same time, by default solar cuts off when the power is out for safety reasons).

Would you please provide a little more detail where one could find the power usage display for your smart meter & what power company you're using. Thanks for the post.

 

[Shuasha]

Would you please provide a little more detail where one could find the power usage display for your smart meter & what power company you're using. Thanks for the post.

I'm in the Chicago area so it's ComEd. Historical data is on their website under "Energy Usage". I can buy a little device from their website called a Rainforest EMU-2 that displays instantaneous usage.

I would imagine looking at the meter itself would also show usage, I don't know what they use in Cali.

 

[Negan1000]

Would you please provide a little more detail where one could find the power usage display for your smart meter & what power company you're using. Thanks for the post.

Create an online login with your utility. Login to your account. You should be able to see your bills and usage. For So Cal Edison the usage is shown by billing cycle, day and hours. Use the hourly information to estimate your nominal consumption. Then you can estimate how long of an outage the battery will support.

 

[terrygone]

I'm in the Chicago area so it's ComEd. Historical data is on their website under "Energy Usage". I can buy a little device from their website called a Rainforest EMU-2 that displays instantaneous usage.

I would imagine looking at the meter itself would also show usage, I don't know what they use in Cali.

Thank you. After reading your post regarding the monitor I reached out to my power company (PG&E) Fresno, CA. and within two days confirmed "Emporia Vue" monitor compatibility and purchased and installed without any issues. Thank you so much. Until I read your post I had no idea such a product existed. Works great !

 

[Golfhack]

I'm now leaning toward installing a hardwired Juicebox 48 in my garage in order to charge my AT (whenever it arrives). I considered just using a NEMA 14-50 outlet but with the Federal and State credits, the Juicebox seems to make the most sense (actually more than the Lucid charger). Here's my reasoning. Please tell me if I'm wrong. The Federal tax credit for installing EV charging equipment is 30% of the cost up to a max of $1,000. The Maryland credit is 40% of the cost up to a max of $700. Let's say the electrician charges me $1,200 for installation (guess). The Juicebox 48 is $690 so total is around $1,900. With rebates, I would expect to get $570 + $700 = $1,270 back making the total cost $630. Furthermore, because the Juicebox is WiFi programmable, my power company will give me $50/year if I charge between 9pm and 6am > 90% of the time. The electricity will also be cheaper at that time of night through Time Of Use (TOU) rates. The Lucid EVSE doesn't currently have programmable charging and therefore doesn't qualify for the $50 per year. While it charges faster, I don't think that will make any difference to me - 48 miles/hr is still plenty fast overnight. The only regret is not having bidirectional charging (whenever that happens). Thoughts?
Also, can I ask the electrician to run a 100amp wire (futureproof) and still use the Juicebox 48 or must it be 60amps?
Thanks!

 

[emoylv]

I'm now leaning toward installing a hardwired Juicebox 48 in my garage in order to charge my AT (whenever it arrives). I considered just using a NEMA 14-50 outlet but with the Federal and State credits, the Juicebox seems to make the most sense (actually more than the Lucid charger). Here's my reasoning. Please tell me if I'm wrong. The Federal tax credit for installing EV charging equipment is 30% of the cost up to a max of $1,000. The Maryland credit is 40% of the cost up to a max of $700. Let's say the electrician charges me $1,200 for installation (guess). The Juicebox 48 is $690 so total is around $1,900. With rebates, I would expect to get $570 + $700 = $1,270 back making the total cost $630. Furthermore, because the Juicebox is WiFi programmable, my power company will give me $50/year if I charge between 9pm and 6am > 90% of the time. The electricity will also be cheaper at that time of night through Time Of Use (TOU) rates. The Lucid EVSE doesn't currently have programmable charging and therefore doesn't qualify for the $50 per year. While it charges faster, I don't think that will make any difference to me - 48 miles/hr is still plenty fast overnight. The only regret is not having bidirectional charging (whenever that happens). Thoughts?
Also, can I ask the electrician to run a 100amp wire (futureproof) and still use the Juicebox 48 or must it be 60amps?
Thanks!

A 100A breaker requires #3 copper conductor. Make sure a #3 wire will fit the lug in the Juicebox. 48. Owners of the Juicebox 48 on this forum can chime in whether or not it will take a #3 conductor.

 

[Volund]

A 100A breaker requires #3 copper conductor. Make sure a #3 wire will fit the lug in the Juicebox. 48. Owners of the Juicebox 48 on this forum can chime in whether or not it will take a #3 conductor.

What about juice box 80A?
I'm tempted of just getting whatever the highest one is, especially if I can program it for off-peak hours, then why not?

My electrician told me my sub panel is rated at 200 amps

 

[Golfhack]

My electrician told me that my electrical service does not have the capacity to add a 100amp charger. Upgrading to accommodate 100amps would be costly, require permits and likely could not be completed for several months (I should have my car before then). Not sure if 60amps is possible or not (waiting on email reply). I'm therefore looking at 50 or 60amps and using either the Juicebox 40 or 48.

 

[Steveinarizona]

GFCI protection is not required for single-phase or three-phase, 240-volt, 30- or 50-ampere receptacles, or similar. During the 2020 NEC code cycle it was substantiated that unintended tripping of GFCI protective devices often creates significant safety issues.

The installation manual on the Home Flex says that one should not use a GFCI breaker.

 

[DeaneG]

The installation manual on the Home Flex says that one should not use a GFCI breaker.

This is why EVSEs should be hardwired instead.

 

[LucidNC]

My electrician told me that my electrical service does not have the capacity to add a 100amp charger. Upgrading to accommodate 100amps would be costly, require permits and likely could not be completed for several months (I should have my car before then). Not sure if 60amps is possible or not (waiting on email reply). I'm therefore looking at 50 or 60amps and using either the Juicebox 40 or 48.

I have one ChargePoint hardwired to a 50AMP breaker and another to a 60AMP (which has a 48A continuous draw) breaker.
I don't know what kind of driving you'll be doing, but a daily charge (80%) is easily attainable in a few hours (depending on how much percentage you have on the car). I found both units to be sufficient for my needs.
I don't think you'll go wrong with the Juicebox 48

 

[DeaneG]

My electrician told me that my electrical service does not have the capacity to add a 100amp charger...

He should be able to tell you what capacity is available for EV charging.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

I'm using a Juice Box 40 hardwire. It comes with a half-meter of conduit tail that goes right into your sub-panel to a 50 amp breaker to your main box. I had 100 amp breaker to copper line installed from main panel to garage sub-panel, and put a 50 amp breaker in the

sub panel to feed the 40amp Juice Box. It draws over 9 kW which is plenty to fill up overnight. Easy to install. Nice looking unit.


I had not expected the Lucid Home Charging Station to be here so quickly, but I can hard-wire it directly to the 100 amp line from the main panel and won't need the garage sub panel or the Juice Box. My timing is off: Inspector just approved the Jucie Box install and now I'm planning to remove it.

 

[lsbuffs]

Now that I've finalized my Touring order, I'm trying to come up to speed on the charging considerations. I'm leaning towards a 14-50 plug, thinking that will be sufficient for my needs. I have a 200AMP main panel (on outside wall in backyard) and a sub panel in the garage, right next to my car. Looking at the main panel, the sub panel is fed by a 60AMP breaker. I'm assuming that the 60AMP sub panel is insufficient.
Hopefully the fact I already have a sub panel in the garage helps. Would it be best to upgrade that to a 100AMP sub panel? If so, wondering how big a deal that may be?

Update: Received estimate to install a new 100amp circuit from the main electrical panel to the garage sub panel. Because I have 3 phase power (*note: 3 phase power, common in my area of North Central Phoenix, is a pain in the butt. Additional electrical work was required when I recently installed a new HVAC unit), my 200amp main panel is filled up so would be more difficult to install a dedicated 60amp circuit directly to the EVSE. Installation will cap off the original 60amp feeder wires in the main panel and sub panel, install a new 60amp 240v circuit out of the sub panel, and hardwire the ChargePoint Home Flex. Cost - $2297.25.

 

[Golfhack]

Does this cost include the wall charger?