New Owner - Tesla to Ford transition (home charging questions with a Tesla wall connector)

[allen.s]

I did the same thing last November. I had the Tesla charger on the back wall of my garage, and would back the Model Y in for charging. When I brought the truck home, I didn't have an adapter, so I would plug in using the kit they gave me at the dealer (and plugged it into the dryer socket in the garage). Once I got the adapter (I bought the two-adapter kit from Lectron), everything worked fine.
When I pull the truck in nose-first, the cable reaches, so I don't have your location problem. However, I watched my brother-in-law (licensed master electrician) wire it up, so there's not much mystery to doing it. You could probably get some #6 AWG and extend your run yourself (if you don't mind running it outside the wall...just get some good clips. You might consider upping it one size to #4. Or you could hire an electrician.
I don't know about the Ford deal. Supposedly, I should have gotten a Ford charger, and they should have installed it. Because the adapter worked OK, I wasn't worried about it. They did have an electrician call me. I sent him some photos of my panel and he questioned whether I had the capacity for it. Since my brother-in-law knows more and has way more experience, I think this guy who called was just trying to upsell me. In any case, I never got a charger from Ford. That's OK with me, although I would like to have it, just so I have a spare. If the free charger deal is still going on, and you are in a place where they can get you one and install it, I would call them and have them do that.
Good luck with your new truck. You will have some growing pains. There are lots of things I don't miss about the Tesla (they do have a LOT of quality and service problems). I was hoping that Ford would have benchmarked Tesla and put some effort into leapfrogging past them tech-wise, but that didn't happen. I do miss the Tesla tech and their nav system. I never used the sound effects, but it was nice having all the entertainment options. You will probably want to get a lot of charging apps (EVGo, ChargePoint, Electrify America, etc.). I dropped my Tesla app after I figured out how to delete my car, but ended up re-installing it and subscribing...it makes using Tesla Superchargers easier, and saves you some money. I also got ABRP (A Better Route Planner), which is a little like Google Maps (note: I have an Android phone; if you are an iPhone guy you might check out all the iPhone threads in this forum).
I used ABRP for a while, and still have it as a backup on road trips for finding chargers, but Google Maps has an option that looks for chargers and calculates usage. It's a little limited in that there are no options for setting a duration range, but when I don't use it I miss the extras - Waze alerts, traffic, etc. Also, GMaps does a better job of calculating time to arrive and pct charge at destination.

Yep I nose in to charge in the garage. I ordered the lectron 48a adapter from amazon ahead of time when I decided to make the switch so since yesterday it worked fine nosed in. Backing into my garage it’s a tight fit, garage is 22 feet long so I have ~6-9 inches front and back clearance. Thinking of ordering the new Tesla connector with 24 foot cable to replace the old gen with 18 foot cable - should be cheaper to have that installed than running new conduit. I’m also thinking a ford connector won’t circuit share like having two Tesla on one circuit so I’d need to have the electrician install a switch that sends power to one or the other if I decide to have a dedicated connector installed on a wall with easy reach to the f150. All the conduit is outside the wall so not a problem with replacing drywall in the garage.

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[Zprime29]

Just wanted to chime in to make sure that you are still able to claim the install/FCSP and that it wasn't swapped out for the rebate credit at purchase. Might help sway your decision. If I where in your shoes, I'd talk to an electrician about moving your EVSE and using an adaptor. Or, if a 25' cable will reach, then I'd just swap out for a J1772 unit. I'll second checking out State of Charge YT channel if you decide a new EVSE is in order.

There are always exceptions but it seems to me that most Lightning owners are quite happy with their truck. There's a lot of info here, use that search bar at the top, good chance you will find what you need. If not, there's someone here that can help out.

 

[allen.s]

Just wanted to chime in to make sure that you are still able to claim the install/FCSP and that it wasn't swapped out for the rebate credit at purchase. Might help sway your decision. If I where in your shoes, I'd talk to an electrician about moving your EVSE and using an adaptor. Or, if a 25' cable will reach, then I'd just swap out for a J1772 unit. I'll second checking out State of Charge YT channel if you decide a new EVSE is in order.

There are always exceptions but it seems to me that most Lightning owners are quite happy with their truck. There's a lot of info here, use that search bar at the top, good chance you will find what you need. If not, there's someone here that can help out.

Yep I explored taking the $500 credit instead of the EVSE install offer but the numbers ended up getting wonky so I took the offer. Planning to reach out next few days to find out if they’ll work with my setup

 

[flyct]

My advice. Since you took the Ford EVSE for "Free" with standard installation see if they will run new conduit from old wall connector location to new location 20 feet away and install it there.

If not then I would sell the Ford EVSE, sell your existing Tesla Wall connector and then buy a Tesla UNIVERSAL Wall Connector. Then I would have an electrician run new conduit from the existing Wall Connector location to the new location and install the Universal Wall Connector there.

Be aware that you cannot charge a standard J1772 vehicle or a Tesla vehicle with the Ford "charger". Therefore it will be useless when manufactures go to the Tesla NACS standard in the near future.

My recommendation to all my friends who are new to EVs is to buy a Tesla UNIVERSAL Wall Connector and have it installed. It has a 4 year warranty, a built in J1772 and a NACS plug. It can be configured to charge up to 48 amps on a 60 amp circuit.

• can be set up to 11.5 kW / 48 amp output
• 24-foot cable length
• Integrated J1772 adapter to conveniently charge any electric vehicle
• Four-year warranty for residential use
• Can be set up to power share a single circuit with another Wall Connector

My friend just installed one in his garage for his Cadillac Lyriq and he loves it. Plus when his friend come to visit with their Tesla's they can charge at his house.

Full disclosure. I have 2 Tesla's and a Lightning. I have a Tesla only Wall Connector on a 60 Amp circuit at home and another Wall Connector on a 50 amp circuit at our cabin. I use an adaptor when I charge my Lightning. I'm seriously considering installing another Tesla Wall connector (Universal this time) and power sharing the 60 amp circuit at our house. That way I can charge 2 vehicles at once.

 

[Brent@ANParts]

I second that idea of a new, longer, 24ft wall charger. That way you can get rid of the Tesla wall charger (someone will happily buy that on OfferUp) and you won't have to deal with the adapter or any questionable extension cords. I had a Tesla and a Rivian in my garage at one point, and opted for a 1772 charger to give more flexibility with other EVs. Obviously now everyone is moving to NACS, but oh well I'd still go that route.

 

[Chillguy]

Well.. As an EV enthusiast and owner for the past 13 years my Lightning Platinum is my 5th EV. I lived in NYC and now Texas. I originally paid my electrician in NYC $1000 to run an additional 50 ft dedicated line, 60 Amp breaker and install new electric dryer type electric socket (and additional $400 to fix drywall) . I did though update actual chargers 3 times to allow 50 Amp charging.... So $5K electrical work? You're being RIPPED OFF!
Also, I wouldn't want any adapters for home charging as they fail (and of course there's always a chance for a spontaneous combustion)... For example I purchased LECTRON adapter for me to use Tesla Supercharger network and it freaking just DIED on me 2 months in!... That being said you can easily find a 30 ft charger on Amazon for about $200.. If that length would satisfy your needs... And I'd personally would NOT want to park my Lightning anywhere else but the garage! I just love it too much, lol!

 

[Madtroniks]

Another couple options are buying the Autel J-1772 home charger with 25 foot cord on sale or add a NACS AC extension cord using the temporary flash sale from A2Z.

lowest cost option is the extension cord for $124 shipped.

Autel Home Charger

NACS EXTENSION A2Z - Click here and use discount code “FLASHSPRING” to save 25%

 

[allen.s]

quick follow up and thank you to everyone who replied and provided some amazing feedback!

I was about to order a new Tesla universal wall connector to install on a different wall in the garage when I noticed the cable length is identical to the gen3 connector I already have (for some reason I was convinced it is 18 feet, it's actually 24 feet.)

As soon as I connected the dots I ran to my garage and re-parked the truck in my garage (luckily I had the original gen3 connector installed in between the 2 spots of a 2 car garage door opening I have and was able to fit the truck so that the truck bed would not interfere with the cable and voila!

the wall to bumper distance is about 10 inches and the distance from wall to charge port of the truck is about 18.5 feet so this gives roughly 5 feet of "slack length"... this is using the Lectron adapter I bought. have been testing this configuration for the past few days, seems to work and not put undue tension on the connector at the wall or at the truck when plugged in. So for anyone who can set up this configuration in your garage, a Tesla gen3 WC or Universal WC have IDENTICAL cable lengths and when parking to allow the cable to reach past the corner of the bed will reach the charge port!

 

[flyct]

quick follow up and thank you to everyone who replied and provided some amazing feedback!

I was about to order a new Tesla universal wall connector to install on a different wall in the garage when I noticed the cable length is identical to the gen3 connector I already have (for some reason I was convinced it is 18 feet, it's actually 24 feet.)

As soon as I connected the dots I ran to my garage and re-parked the truck in my garage (luckily I had the original gen3 connector installed in between the 2 spots of a 2 car garage door opening I have and was able to fit the truck so that the truck bed would not interfere with the cable and voila!

the wall to bumper distance is about 10 inches and the distance from wall to charge port of the truck is about 18.5 feet so this gives roughly 5 feet of "slack length"... this is using the Lectron adapter I bought. have been testing this configuration for the past few days, seems to work and not put undue tension on the connector at the wall or at the truck when plugged in. So for anyone who can set up this configuration in your garage, a Tesla gen3 WC or Universal WC have IDENTICAL cable lengths and when parking to allow the cable to reach past the corner of the bed will reach the charge port!

Excellent news!

Don't kick yourself for the misunderstanding. Some original Tesla Wall Connectors only had 18' cords.

It's also nice that you have a built in wheel stop when backing up so you don't hit the wall. Just remember to not hit the tailgate release button after backing up.

 

[allen.s]

Excellent news!

Don't kick yourself for the misunderstanding. Some original Tesla Wall Connectors only had 18' cords.

It's also nice that you have a built in wheel stop when backing up so you don't hit the wall. Just remember to not hit the tailgate release button after backing up.

Thanks! I bought those wheel stops for my wife to keep her from scraping the splitter on her Mercedes on the concrete step. I just "borrowed" one and have since put it in correct position to let me know when to stop. They're the Pyle ones on amazon, pretty cheap and sturdy. Have been using them for about a year.

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