Charging At Home Question

[lonedevel]

I just had the Lucid Home charger installed by an electrician recommended by Qmerit. I highly recommend this process as they were reasonably priced and far more knowledgable about the whole process, as some home electricians aren't familiar with EV electrical requirements. Qmerit chose a nearby electrical contractor that does large scale EV installations, industrial electrical work and home electrical work which made me confident that they know what they were doing. Also recommend watching the "State of Charge" channel on Youtube which is a good guide on best practices for charging EVs.

I have a 200 Amp panel and had a 100 Amp breaker installed (only using about 40 Amps peak from my existing household usage). This is the standard for an 80 Amp service for the peak capacity of the Lucid Home charger. The charger is solid and safe and I get about 18 Kwh peak output. This has stayed fairly constant for a 4-5 hour charge time. I haven't tried to charge it from 10% or less to full yet only because I still have the free charging benefit at Electrify America.

What reduces the risk is to have properly sized copper cabling, proper cable management (e.g conduit) and wired installation to the charger. I read in a number of online guides that many of the dryer style plugs are not rated to handle continuous 80 amp current for extended durations and can melt or burn due to the amount of heat produced. Also making sure the wire lugs are properly torqued on the charger avoids any loosening of the contacts due to heat expansion or contraction.

 

[smorvay]

I installed the Lucid charger myself and it works perfectly. I used all the recommended cabling, breaker and termination ends, and followed all the local codes.

It was a pain in the ass to install myself, but I did save about $1,500.

I had a friend help with the installation. I'm not sure if I could have done it on my own. That damn 2 gage wire and conduit are heavy as hell and holding it up while trying to mount it to the wall would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible to do solo.

Running that charger at max 80 amps gives 80 miles/hr, and the convenience makes it all worth while. Plus the charger looks cool!

 

[brianman]

I am using a regular wall charger outlet similar to Dryers (see image)

Looks like a NEMA 14-50. 50A breaker / 40A usable

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

The Lucid connected home charging station IS ADJUSTABLE.
You can lower the amperage by re-setting internal switches (DIP).
It comes capable of 80 amps continuous if you have an 100 ampere circuit. But no worries = you can lower the charger's power.
If you can only pull 60 amps or 40 amps you can reset the DIP switches to prevent your house from burning.

This is no joke. It you have any doubt about your electrician (like the guy above)...fire him. I had to send my electrician back when he showed up without a torque screwdriver/wrench. The terminal lugs must be tightened to spec. with the correct torque, using the correct tool.

Do not use a "dryer" outlet for charging your car. This is not designed for repeated plugging/unplugging. EV chargers are cheap and add value to your home. The cost to professionally install and have township inspection is trivial. Go hardwired. Make yourself happy. It's the future.

The cable gets hot ... good to know it's been properly installed and inspected.

Lots of help available from users of this site. It's good to do some basic research so you know if your electrician is cutting corners. My township inspector never looked at the work = he just asked who I hired and gave me a sticker. At least I'm legal if the house does burn down.

" ... my brother-in-law installed the charger..."

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Reading through this thread... ( deleted comment about Lucid sales team )

Perhaps it's time we had an FYI on this site to pick up the slack...

When I go to buy a car I'm always surprised at how little the sales people know, about what they are selling and the industry in general.

Let's get some basics:

1. Stop fooling around. If you can, install a home charger. The future is here.
2. Get a licensed pro to install your charger, and have the work inspected so your insurance is there if you need it.
3. Rule of thumb = 80%. Your load should not exceed 80% of the circuit's rating.
4. Get the work inspected and logged with the township.

I won't buy a home that has a charger and no inspection.

 

[illopp00]

Reading through this thread... ( deleted comment about Lucid sales team )

Perhaps it's time we had an FYI on this site to pick up the slack...

When I go to buy a car I'm always surprised at how little the sales people know, about what they are selling and the industry in general.

Let's get some basics:

1. Stop fooling around. If you can, install a home charger. The future is here.
2. Get a licensed pro to install your charger, and have the work inspected so your insurance is there if you need it.
3. Rule of thumb = 80%. Your load should not exceed 80% of the circuit's rating.
4. Get the work inspected and logged with the township.

I won't buy a home that has a charger and no inspection.

My town required all the right permits, inspections etc to release the rebate. Some towns are still offering those along with fed tax incentives, so get all the documentation.

 

[L-Dude]

3. Rule of thumb = 80%. Your load should not exceed 80% of the circuit's rating.

That's not a rule of thumb-it's specified by code.