Electric Ford Transit - How will this work?

[whynot]

Putting my sparkie's hat on ... the tricky bit is not the cost or the installation difficulty of the final circuit (be that 15A, 20A, or 32A). The tricky bit is recalculating the impact on the installation's maximum demand calculation and the subsequent impact on the correct sizing of the consumers mains (the wiring from the overhead pole or underground pillar to the switchboard).

Most houses pre-1976 standard, particularly if they had gas cooking and heating, were wired with 6mm2 consumer's mains. This size wiring has a rating of 32 amps.

More common practice up until recently is for consumer's mains to be wired in 16mm2 cable, with a rating of 63 amps. A typical maximum demand calculation for a home with electric heating and cooking would be somewhere around 50 amps.

In the latest edition of AS3000 (which, by law is the definitive document on wiring rules) an electric vehicle's contribution to maximum demand is taken at 100% load.

Depending on the exiting maximum demand calculation, a dedicated EV connection point can easily push the maximum demand calculation beyond the rating of the existing consumers mains and the rating of the existing switchboard.

Uprating both (switchboard and consumer mains) could be big dollars. But, as the saying presently goes ... if you can afford an EV, you can also afford a switchboard upgrade. It is really a case by case basis that requires a site visit by an electrician.

Not trying to put people off an EV, but it is worth something checking out if you are thinking about installing a charger larger than 2.3kW.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by whynot

Putting my sparkie's hat on ... the tricky bit is not the cost or the installation difficulty of the final circuit (be that 15A, 20A, or 32A). The tricky bit is recalculating the impact on the installation's maximum demand calculation and the subsequent impact on the correct sizing of the consumers mains (the wiring from the overhead pole or underground pillar to the switchboard).



Most houses pre-1976 standard, particularly if they had gas cooking and heating, were wired with 6mm2 consumer's mains. This size wiring has a rating of 32 amps.



More common practice up until recently is for consumer's mains to be wired in 16mm2 cable, with a rating of 63 amps. A typical maximum demand calculation for a home with electric heating and cooking would be somewhere around 50 amps.



In the latest edition of AS3000 (which, by law is the definitive document on wiring rules) an electric vehicle's contribution to maximum demand is taken at 100% load.



Depending on the exiting maximum demand calculation, a dedicated EV connection point can easily push the maximum demand calculation beyond the rating of the existing consumers mains and the rating of the existing switchboard.



Uprating both (switchboard and consumer mains) could be big dollars. But, as the saying presently goes ... if you can afford an EV, you can also afford a switchboard upgrade. It is really a case by case basis that requires a site visit by an electrician.



Not trying to put people off an EV, but it is worth something checking out if you are thinking about installing a charger larger than 2.3kW.

Parents house is a 1970 house and had 83 amps available and didn't have an issue with the EV charger plug (the 32amp plug). L1 had no issues in their calculations nor did the L2.

That's said, I'm sure there are a few houses that would fall foul of the limits you have advised but they probably need an upgrade by now anyway.

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[Pokitren]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Ford Pro which should be coming here soon, is a division within Ford that does commercial vehicle management. Might offer solutions for these sort of issues.


https://fordpro.com/en-us/


Imagine combining the world-class cars, trucks, vans and SUVs you need to build your fleet with the service options, financing flexibility and telematics data you need to manage it. With Ford Pro, you can do just that and:

Shop for and finance a fleet that suits your specific business needs
Improve fleet uptime through new service and maintenance options
Manage all-electric vehicle charging with E-Telematics1
Monitor your fleet’s vehicle health data with cloud-based software solutions from Ford Pro™ Intelligence™2
Track vehicles and driver behaviors with Ford Pro™ Telematics2

It sounds like some kind of management system for big business. So far it is not clear what it is for, we seem to manage by ourselves

[Dr Smith]

Do you want fries on your tray table.....Some more info on the upcoming EV Transit Custom...

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-new...of-2024-launch

[au2000]

Be interesting to see how a etranst goes when fully loaded
The f150 towing tests were interesting, would a fully loaded etransit last a full day of courier work in the city or would it need at least 1 charge?
I can see proper tradies having to charge these once loaded at least once maybe twice a day.

[xisled]

Thing to remember this won’t happen over night. This will be years in the making.

Over the next few years we will see servo converting space to ev chargers. They will start adding cafes to the servo for people to wait for the car/vehicle to charge. Have lunch while you charge your tradie van.

By the time EV out weigh ICE vehicles there will be charge stations all around the place. Think of how many servo’s there are, these will all have charge stations. Some have already started adding charge stations.

[Top_Ghia]

Originally Posted by xisled

Thing to remember this won’t happen over night. This will be years in the making.

Over the next few years we will see servo converting space to ev chargers. They will start adding cafes to the servo for people to wait for the car/vehicle to charge. Have lunch while you charge your tradie van.

By the time EV out weigh ICE vehicles there will be charge stations all around the place. Think of how many servo’s there are, these will all have charge stations. Some have already started adding charge stations.

I live in rural Victoria and locally 2 huge service stations have been built and opened in the last couple of months. They both have large cafe/dining areas attached to them. One has a multi bay car wash as well.

Between them there is a total of ZERO charging stations. I find this extraordinary but a realistic indicator that ICE vehicles are here to stay.
Luckily the area is well covered by the one public 32kv charger.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

I live in rural Victoria and locally 2 huge service stations have been built and opened in the last couple of months. They both have large cafe/dining areas attached to them. One has a multi bay car wash as well.

Between them there is a total of ZERO charging stations. I find this extraordinary but a realistic indicator that ICE vehicles are here to stay.
Luckily the area is well covered by the one public 32kv charger.

Two new rebuilt APCO come to mind, in this area no EV chargers, good bakery.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by au2000

Be interesting to see how a etranst goes when fully loaded
The f150 towing tests were interesting, would a fully loaded etransit last a full day of courier work in the city or would it need at least 1 charge?
I can see proper tradies having to charge these once loaded at least once maybe twice a day.

Can’t see it being a problem to most tradies.They go to the site,most times for a few hours then off either to the next job or home at the end of the day.Some probably go and park in a loading zone to get their takeaway lunch,but most wouldn’t do 100km/ day

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Can’t see it being a problem to most tradies.They go to the site,most times for a few hours then off either to the next job or home at the end of the day.Some probably go and park in a loading zone to get their takeaway lunch,but most wouldn’t do 100km/ day

Might be meaning electricians, plumbers etc who spend maybe an hour here, an hour there constantly moving between short jobs.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Might be meaning electricians, plumbers etc who spend maybe an hour here, an hour there constantly moving between short jobs.

Fully agree on the types of trades,but most of them wouldn’t be travelling long distances or many times per day.

[au2000]

More so with the van fully loaded.. how will that impact the estimated distance they can travel before a charge.

[au2000]

This gives a better insight I think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ10HhE0rFw

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by au2000

This gives a better insight I think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ10HhE0rFw

Sorry but I stopped watching as soon as I saw who the presenter was.

[Franco Cozzo]

I think I posted a pic about the EV transit and some of the positives from my perspective about how simple an EV is in comparison to our traditional cars.

I'll see if I can dig it up and quote it in here.

[au2000]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Sorry but I stopped watching as soon as I saw who the presenter was.

Excluding the presenter himself, the explanation was more so what I found interesting, for a typical tradie travelling fully loaded less than 200 or so ks a day and going from home/office to site and back the e transit will do it easily and will take on a standard home outlet about 11 hrs to charge, better for the smaller business that can pop it on charge while in their factory also, the only ones it probably won’t suit is couriers.

The daily charging is the part I found interesting as if it will cost about $20 per charge x 5 that’s about $100 a week on your electricity bill (charging daily).

[Wretched]

[Top_Ghia]

Originally Posted by au2000

Excluding the presenter himself, the explanation was more so what I found interesting, for a typical tradie travelling fully loaded less than 200 or so ks a day and going from home/office to site and back the e transit will do it easily and will take on a standard home outlet about 11 hrs to charge, better for the smaller business that can pop it on charge while in their factory also, the only ones it probably won’t suit is couriers.

The daily charging is the part I found interesting as if it will cost about $20 per charge x 5 that’s about $100 a week on your electricity bill (charging daily).

The figures are fudged. If you read all manufacturers literature about running costs, they’re all based on 20 cents per kw.
Nobody is paying 20 cents any more. 30 cents per kw would be more realistic.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

The figures are fudged. If you read all manufacturers literature about running costs, they’re all based on 20 cents per kw.
Nobody is paying 20 cents any more. 30 cents per kw would be more realistic.

EV plans let you charge for 11 cents or less per kWh. Just get one of them and you'll be find. I used to pay 6.73 cents till recently.

[xisled]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

I live in rural Victoria and locally 2 huge service stations have been built and opened in the last couple of months. They both have large cafe/dining areas attached to them. One has a multi bay car wash as well.

Between them there is a total of ZERO charging stations. I find this extraordinary but a realistic indicator that ICE vehicles are here to stay.
Luckily the area is well covered by the one public 32kv charger.

You are correct, ICE vehicles will be around for some time yet, but servos are getting ready for future prof when bowsers will be replaced by ev charge stations.

Shell is a perfect example. The servo near me has a charge station attached to it, the attendant said it’s a trial to see how many EV they can attract. It’s across the road from a major shopping centre with food outlets on the outside and in a 30 second walking distance.

Also Shell are trying to change their image, they recently purchase a green energy retailer called Powershop.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by xisled

Also Shell are trying to change their image, they recently purchase a green energy retailer called Powershop.

Yep! And they lost a lot of customers who didn't like the fact that Shell bought a previously Carbon Neutral company. That said, I use them and they have special EV plans that make is super cheap to charge from the grid (6-11cents per kWh). I like them!

[au2000]

It’s the way forward, I still think for local commuting a ev will be in my future, but for long distance ice will still be an option

[Top_Ghia]

Originally Posted by au2000

It’s the way forward, I still think for local commuting a ev will be in my future, but for long distance ice will still be an option

I see many many people setting up like this.
Ev is just no good for a lot of long distance weekend/travel work that many people aspire to.
So people will set up the “weekender” for towing/travel duties and the ev for the daily commute/school run/shopping cart/virtue signaling.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

I see many many people setting up like this.
Ev is just no good for a lot of long distance weekend/travel work that many people aspire to.
So people will set up the “weekender” for towing/travel duties and the ev for the daily commute/school run/shopping cart/virtue signaling.

I do feel that the EVs will ( like everything else)progress and improve just like the I.C.E. has.Batteries will get smaller for a given output,motors will get much more efficient,regenerative charging will get better.I feel that within 4-5 years the typical EV could well have up to 800-1000km range and a fast recharge of maybe only 30 mins.Fast chargers will be in every reasonable size carpark and service stations will all have fast chargers.Even the courier driver will get a fast charge in the time it takes to have lunch and a coffee.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by au2000

It’s the way forward, I still think for local commuting a ev will be in my future, but for long distance ice will still be an option

Thats what I thought as well. Now my ICE cars have never left Sydney. My EV's have gone up and down the coast plenty of times to Phillip Island/12 apostles to Cains in the north and have gone to Broken Hill and Mildura out West. Even out to Adelaide.

[Dr Smith]

Originally Posted by kypez

Thats what I thought as well. Now my ICE cars have never left Sydney. My EV's have gone up and down the coast plenty of times to Phillip Island/12 apostles to Cains in the north and have gone to Broken Hill and Mildura out West. Even out to Adelaide.

Do you think if you didn't own Teslas and the backup of their better charging setup this could be different?

[39ClevoUte]

All well and good, but there is no way the current infrastructure can support everyone in my street charging an EV overnight. We are already being asked not to overload the network on hot days and nights etc to prevent failure. We will all need to bankroll a massive network improvement.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by 39ClevoUte

All well and good, but there is no way the current infrastructure can support everyone in my street charging an EV overnight. We are already being asked not to overload the network on hot days and nights etc to prevent failure. We will all need to bankroll a massive network improvement.

Maybe the system will change wherby public charging stations will be readily available.So the trend maybe to gat a fast charge at the servo or supermarket car park.The supermarket would probably be the best option with a multitude of chargers,because in reality we most likely spend anywhere from 30-60 mins in the supermarket every week.

[kypez]

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

Do you think if you didn't own Teslas and the backup of their better charging setup this could be different?

You mean if I bought a different brand? Absolutely. But that's the reason I bought into the brand. It will get better but isn't there yet for other brands. You can still do all the trips. It's just that There are more chances you'll be waiting for your turn at chargers. There are enough charge locations but not enough chargers if that makes sense.

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[kypez]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Maybe the system will change wherby public charging stations will be readily available.So the trend maybe to gat a fast charge at the servo or supermarket car park.The supermarket would probably be the best option with a multitude of chargers,because in reality we most likely spend anywhere from 30-60 mins in the supermarket every week.

Interestingly, many of Teslas Rapid chargers in cities are in shopping centres.

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