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Lucid Home Charger Plug

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AP22

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2024
Messages
4
Cars
Lucid Air Touring
 
AP22 said:
Hi all,

I just bought the Lucid Home Charger and would like to install it, but rather than hard wiring it, I would like to install a NEMA 10-30 plug. Could I simply install this directly to the wire terminals?


Thank you!
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An electrician could install a 14-50 plug onto Lucid's home charger, or a 14-30, but it really isn't designed for that. A 10-30 isn't possible as that plug is obsolete and has no ground conductor.

Hardwiring lucid's station as it was designed for will be much safer and will likely cost the same or less.

There's a false economy in thinking you need a plug so that you can swap out the charging station or take it with you. Neither is very likely, and it's not that expensive to have an electrician swap or disconnect it for you.
 
Also, using a 14-30 or 14-50 plug, you'll be hamstringing Lucid's beast of a charger. In my opinion you'd be much better off hardwiring it to at least a 60-amp breaker.
 
DeaneG said:
An electrician could install a 14-50 plug onto Lucid's home charger, or a 14-30, but it really isn't designed for that. A 10-30 isn't possible as that plug is obsolete and has no ground conductor.

Hardwiring lucid's station as it was designed for will be much safer and will likely cost the same or less.

There's a false economy in thinking you need a plug so that you can swap out the charging station or take it with you. Neither is very likely, and it's not that expensive to have an electrician swap or disconnect it for you.
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It is not that hard to add a nema plug if you want to use the charger which came with the car if you get it hard wired. Labor is almost the same for hard wire or an outlet. Likewise if you get an outlet you can easily install the hard wired charger. I have nema 14-50 outlet for lucid. I hope the rangeXtend is the one they are including in the newer cars.
 
Marty said:
I had an electrician install a 240v 40amp circuit breaker and I just plug in the cable that can with the car. It works great.
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You'd want a 50 amp-capable wire run and circuit breaker with the cable that comes with the car, not 40 amp.
 
DeaneG said:
You'd want a 50 amp-capable wire run and circuit breaker with the cable that comes with the car, not 40 amp.
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On the back of my charing cable it says 40 amp max. I call customer service and said I should use the 40 amp circuit breaker because the 50 amp might pop the circuit breaker.
 
Marty said:
On the back of my charing cable it says 40 amp max. I call customer service and said I should use the 40 amp circuit breaker because the 50 amp might pop the circuit breaker.
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It's possible you misunderstood customer service, or that they gave you incorrect information. If your electrician installed a 14-50 receptacle, it should have a 50-amp breaker and the appropriate gauge wire for that breaker. A 40 amp breaker is permissible by code on a 14-50 receptacle, but this is not correct for EV charging using Lucid's mobile cable. The main issue is that the 40 amp breaker may trip after a while if there are other hot breakers near it in the panel. This is one reason why for "continuous" loads, like EV charging, the breaker must be sized 25% larger than the expected continuous current.
 
DeaneG said:
It's possible you misunderstood customer service, or that they gave you incorrect information. If your electrician installed a 14-50 receptacle, it should have a 50-amp breaker and the appropriate gauge wire for that breaker. A 40 amp breaker is permissible by code on a 14-50 receptacle, but this is not correct for EV charging using Lucid's mobile cable. The main issue is that the 40 amp breaker may trip after a while if there are other hot breakers near it in the panel. This is one reason why for "continuous" loads, like EV charging, the breaker must be sized 25% larger than the expected continuous current.
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I under stand what you are saying. The back of my charging cable says 40 amp max. The service manager at Lucid said to use the 40 amp.
 
Marty said:
I under stand what you are saying. The back of my charging cable says 40 amp max. The service manager at Lucid said to use the 40 amp.
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Would you mind taking a picture of the breaker, plug, and cable? I promise none of us are trying to hassle you here; we just want to make sure you don't accidentally burn your house down. <3
 
borski said:
Would you mind taking a picture of the breaker, plug, and cable? I promise none of us are trying to hassle you here; we just want to make sure you don't accidentally burn your house down. <3
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Hi Borski, as you can see in the first photo, second line under, Lucid mobile charging cable, na, it says 40 amp max. The wire the electrician install is #8.

I appreciate the info and the help. I want to thank you guys. If there is still some questions please let me know.

Marty
 

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Marty said:
Hi Borski, as you can see in the first photo, second line under, Lucid mobile charging cable, na, it says 40 amp max. The wire the electrician install is #8.

I appreciate the info and the help. I want to thank you guys. If there is still some questions please let me know.

Marty
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You should find a new electrician. There are a number of misunderstandings here:

1) The continuous current that the Lucid charger can pull, at maximum, is 40 amps - on that you're correct, and that is what it says.

2) However, in order for it to pass electrical/fire code requirements, any continuous loads (like an EV charger) must be, at maximum, 80% of the breaker and wire. That is, a 40A continuous load must be on a 50A breaker and wire, as 40A is 80% of 50A. If you wanted to run it at 48A, you would need to hardwire an EVSE, and put it on a 60A breaker on 60A gauge wire, as 48A is 80% of 60A.

3) In order to run 50A wire, you need to use #6 AWG wire.

4) The "50" in 14-50 literally means 50A breaker and wire.

5) You should ensure your outlet is a commercial outlet, not a $15 Leviton or cheap Home Depot/Lowes outlet. EVs melt them. The $15 Leviton residential grade outlets sold at Home Depot are not sufficient to support daily vehicle charging. The Leviton outlet has fiberglass insulators that tend to melt out after a few months of vehicle charging. The outlets are not designed specifically for EV charging; they are designed for plugging in RVs and range ovens. Ranges will pull max power once in a while when we roast a turkey, but EV charging will be pulling maximum amperage for hours on end every night. For this heavy use, you want an industrial grade NEMA 14-50 outlet, by one of these three brands: Hubbell, Bryant, or Cooper. These use glass or ceramic insulators and should last 3-5 years before they, too, eventually need to be replaced. At $50 – $100, they are not cheap.

You should find a new electrician, ASAP, and make sure they're licensed.
 
AP22 said:
Hi all,

I just bought the Lucid Home Charger and would like to install it, but rather than hard wiring it, I would like to install a NEMA 10-30 plug. Could I simply install this directly to the wire terminals?


Thank you!
Click to expand...
I'm not quite sure why you would want to install an outlet to plug the Lucid Wall Charger into. What would this gain you? If you do not currently have wiring already installed to an EV charger or NEMA 14-50 outlet, I don't see that this would save money or provide any benefit (unless you want the ability to unplug the Lucid charger and plug in an electric range or dryer instead). A NEMA 14-50 outlet is limited to 50 amps peak (meaning that the car can pull a max continuous 42 amps (80%). The Lucid wall charger can pull as much as 80 amps (requiring a 100 amp breaker/wiring). While you may not need to charge that fast at home (and your main panel/other draws in your house) might not permit the addition of a new 100 amp circuit and wiring, you are still probably better off hardwiring the Lucid wall charger to a 60 amp breaker & wiring enabling the car to pull 48 amps continuous. That being said, if you want to take advantage of the future functionality of the Lucid wall charger to enable the car to serve as a backup battery for your house during a power outage, it may be best to set it up at full capacity (100 amp breaker), since the breaker's limit works both ways. If you do this, then during a power outage, your house can pull 100 amps peak (and 80 amps continuously) from your car.
 
borski said:
You should find a new electrician. There are a number of misunderstandings here:

1) The continuous current that the Lucid charger can pull, at maximum, is 40 amps - on that you're correct, and that is what it says.

2) However, in order for it to pass electrical/fire code requirements, any continuous loads (like an EV charger) must be, at maximum, 80% of the breaker and wire. That is, a 40A continuous load must be on a 50A breaker and wire, as 40A is 80% of 50A. If you wanted to run it at 48A, you would need to hardwire an EVSE, and put it on a 60A breaker on 60A gauge wire, as 48A is 80% of 60A.

3) In order to run 50A wire, you need to use #6 AWG wire.

4) The "50" in 14-50 literally means 50A breaker and wire.

5) You should ensure your outlet is a commercial outlet, not a $15 Leviton or cheap Home Depot/Lowes outlet. EVs melt them. The $15 Leviton residential grade outlets sold at Home Depot are not sufficient to support daily vehicle charging. The Leviton outlet has fiberglass insulators that tend to melt out after a few months of vehicle charging. The outlets are not designed specifically for EV charging; they are designed for plugging in RVs and range ovens. Ranges will pull max power once in a while when we roast a turkey, but EV charging will be pulling maximum amperage for hours on end every night. For this heavy use, you want an industrial grade NEMA 14-50 outlet, by one of these three brands: Hubbell, Bryant, or Cooper. These use glass or ceramic insulators and should last 3-5 years before they, too, eventually need to be replaced. At $50 – $100, they are not cheap.

You should find a new electrician, ASAP, and make sure they're licensed.
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This is all exactly correct. I’m amazed that an electrician did not know that, and installed a literal fire hazard into a customer’s home.
 
Bobby said:
This is all exactly correct. I’m amazed that an electrician did not know that, and installed a literal fire hazard into a customer’s home.
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Exactly. I often wonder when people say Electrician, is the person a licensed, journeyman, or a handyman that does wires. Then again, I have seen licensed electricians that primarily do remodels that do not understand torquing 10 gauge and larger wire lugs.
 
borski said:
You should find a new electrician. There are a number of misunderstandings here:

1) The continuous current that the Lucid charger can pull, at maximum, is 40 amps - on that you're correct, and that is what it says.

2) However, in order for it to pass electrical/fire code requirements, any continuous loads (like an EV charger) must be, at maximum, 80% of the breaker and wire. That is, a 40A continuous load must be on a 50A breaker and wire, as 40A is 80% of 50A. If you wanted to run it at 48A, you would need to hardwire an EVSE, and put it on a 60A breaker on 60A gauge wire, as 48A is 80% of 60A.

3) In order to run 50A wire, you need to use #6 AWG wire.

4) The "50" in 14-50 literally means 50A breaker and wire.

5) You should ensure your outlet is a commercial outlet, not a $15 Leviton or cheap Home Depot/Lowes outlet. EVs melt them. The $15 Leviton residential grade outlets sold at Home Depot are not sufficient to support daily vehicle charging. The Leviton outlet has fiberglass insulators that tend to melt out after a few months of vehicle charging. The outlets are not designed specifically for EV charging; they are designed for plugging in RVs and range ovens. Ranges will pull max power once in a while when we roast a turkey, but EV charging will be pulling maximum amperage for hours on end every night. For this heavy use, you want an industrial grade NEMA 14-50 outlet, by one of these three brands: Hubbell, Bryant, or Cooper. These use glass or ceramic insulators and should last 3-5 years before they, too, eventually need to be replaced. At $50 – $100, they are not cheap.

You should find a new electrician, ASAP, and make sure they're licensed.
Click to expand...
My God @borski, I can now go back to Kathmandu knowing the form is in excellent hands!!!
 
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