Ford Reveals New Lineup of EV Chargers + a Home Version
This is mostly about commercial charging stations for companies. However, the company does offer a home version which I have added a picture and the pricing. Not cheap. It does solve the issue of where do I charge my vehicle? Not endorsing this as it is early on in the introduction of EVs and barely touching on the economics of an EV.
Still, my Detroit attachment to automotive.
The other factor(s), needing to be brought to the forefront is the cost of materials over time. Materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earths, and other materials supply are adequate and easy to obtain now. As the switch to EVs, etc. rams up, these materials will become less available due to a more a difficult process of obtaining them and a decreasing supply. Costs will increase. We touched upon the issue here:
Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, Angry Bear.
This may not be a forever solution and wasting resource due to vanity will cost us now and in the future. The IEA was detailing the extent of the resources as presented in an earlier commentary at of Angry Bear.
Ford Pro Reveals New Lineup of EV Chargers for Commercial Customers, DBusiness Magazine, Tin Keenan
Ford Pro, the commercial division within Dearborn’s Ford Motor Co., today revealed new charging hardware added to its suite of end-to-end solutions to help make it easier for commercial customers to transition their fleets to electric.
Ford Pro, the commercial division within Dearborn’s Ford Motor Co., today revealed new charging hardware added to its suite of end-to-end solutions to help make it easier for commercial customers to transition their fleets to electric.
The new Series 2 AC Charging Station 80 amp and expanded DC Fast Charger options are designed for commercial vehicle use and have several with new features.
Coupled with Ford Pro’s charging management software, the company says it provides a fully integrated solution that simplifies EV charging for both Ford and non-Ford electric vehicles. Charging times, which can take hours, were not provided.
Ted Cannis, CEO of Ford Pro . . .
“We’re committed to helping businesses make the transition to electric easy with a single-minded focus on curated commercial charging solutions. With our tailored EV consulting and portfolio of charging hardware and software solutions, we can design, implement, and operate solutions for Ford and other brands that will last for many years to come. And we are not afraid to tell customers when electrification is not yet a good fit and support them with other solutions.”
Ford Pro’s BEV Fit team offers available complimentary consulting to customers to help identify available incentives, consult on charging site design and construction, and collaborate with local utilities on energy needs.
Now available for pre-order, the Series 2 AC Charging Station 80 amp comes with features that simplify and help improve the charging experience at the workplace for fleet operators and their drivers including:
- Enhanced security with RFID that limits unwanted charger access. Fleet operators can issue a unique Ford Pro RFID card to control access to chargers enabling charging sessions to be limited to specific individuals or vehicles, by specifying day and times for access. The new RFID software also supports Ford and non-Ford vehicles unlocking the ability for fleet operators to track energy reports through Ford Pro’s charging management software.
- Improved detachable cable and connector reduces time and expense of charger repairs avoiding replacement of the entire charging station if a cable or connector is damaged.
- Wide range of connectivity options with cellular pre-configured and optional Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity by an ethernet installation for locations with restricted cellular coverage.
- The new Series 2 AC Charging Station 80 Amp will be ISO-15118 ready and equipped to enable future functionality over the air such as advanced vehicle to charger communications that can identify and log when a specific vehicle connects. Ford Pro designed the new hardware to be ready for the future, so customers are better prepared for new electric vehicles and capabilities to come.
- New LCD screen on the Series 2 charger displays step-by-step instructions to initiate charging and important information including charge duration, fault alerts, energy usage, and more.
- Temperature sensors to monitor and alert for overheating by derating the charger automatically.
- Extended operating temperature range of -40C (-40F) to 50C (122F) and operating altitude of up to 3500m to serve the needs of customers in more places.
The new Ford Pro charging hardware is backed by a three-year warranty on charger parts and labor and continues to provide around-the-clock tech support to help increase uptime and productivity for customers.
Ford Pro Telematics, chargers, software, and service work seamlessly to provide fleet operators and managers with a single solution to monitor their vehicle network 24/7.
Ford Pro also is revealing extended DC Fast Charger options in 180kW and 240kW giving fleet operators and their drivers more versatility at their workplace with more power and shortened charge times. Aluminum pedestals feature an improved cable retractor and a sleeker look. The new Ford Pro DC Fast Chargers are available for pre-order here.
Ford Pro Chargers work with Ford Pro’s smart charging software to help ensure vehicles are charged when customers need them. The integrated software and hardware solution helps fleet managers optimize how, when and where EVs are charged along with utility reimbursement reporting, important for home-based drivers.
Using Ford Pro Charging solutions also can allow customers to charge more vehicles at a given time. Customers can deploy more EVs without necessarily needing to wait for an infrastructure upgrade. The software also tracks performance and provides fleet managers with insights like kWh consumption, charge speed and distance to empty, and helps optimize total cost of ownership.
Ford Pro says businesses can help lower their total cost of ownership through understanding the various incentives available to them. To help ease confusion, Ford Pro has compiled commercial incentives to make it easy to find available tax credits on EV, charging equipment and charging installation costs here.
The company also launched a program with professional services firm Ernst & Young to help give customers no-cost information to learn about IRA tax credits for which they may qualify. Available incentives include:
- Up to a 30 percent federal tax credit on charging and installation costs.
- Up to $7,500 back on each new qualified EV purchased in 2023.
- Hundreds of federal, state, and local EV incentives and rebates.
Commercial & Home EV Charging Stations & Products, Ford Pro™
Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions, Angry Bear as taken from IEA Executive Summary.
Hopefully this is relevant. Ford is going to start using Tesla chargine technology, but not until 2025. In the mean time, caveat emptor,
Electric Vehicle Charging Can Be Confusing. Here’s What to Know.
NY Times – Augut 28
Many carmakers and charging companies are switching to the Tesla plug for electric vehicles. Why are they doing that, and what will it mean?
There is no reason for the typical user of an electric vehicle (with a typical commute) to waste his money on a fast charger. Plugging into a wall outlet overnight will easily charge (or top off) for 60 or 70 miles. If the user has been topping off every night, the cases when he will need to go to a public charger will be rare indeed. Note that this logic also argues for a modern hybrid with a 60 mile range. A 60-mile plug-in is both much cheaper (with much less material usage), and much lighter (therefore more energy efficient) than a 40o-mile electric, with zero range anxiety.
That has been my experience: like a phone or a tablet, every time I use it I plug it into a 110 outlet (once or twice a week) overnight to top up. The Level 2 is nice, charges the same ~25% in a couple of hours, but not everyone has access to a dryer outlet, and extensions run ten dollars a foot; I’ve installed a dedicated 220 outlet but have only used it once or twice
Important to understand how much time “overnight” means here.
Well, I’m not in (Northern) Alaska and I’d really rather not find hair in my rabbit soup … overnight: six to eight hours, same as downtown. I plug it in in the evening, unplug it in the morning … overnight
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-29/china-reaches-peak-gasoline-in-milestone-for-electric-vehicles
August 30, 2023
China Reaches Peak Gasoline in Milestone for Electric Vehicles
Sinopec, the country’s top oil refiner, brought its forecast forward by two years in a development that didn’t get its due.
By Colin McKerracher – Bloomberg
Earlier this month, Chinese oil giant Sinopec made a surprise announcement that mostly flew under the radar. It’s now expecting gasoline demand in China to peak this year, two years earlier than its previous outlooks.
The main culprit? The surging number of electric vehicles on the road…
As I’ve written previously, calling peaks is often a no-win endeavor for industry analysts. The call will either be correct but seem obvious after the fact, or wrong and lead to years of mockery. But this isn’t an analyst calling a peak; it’s China’s largest fuel distributor. Sinopec knows the fuel business, and more importantly, it has an interest in the business remaining robust. Saying it’s all downhill from here for gasoline is quite a statement….
What is problematic about this article, is the absence of a comparison on electric vehicles and charging. For instance, in Israel EVs are now dominant and I would like a sense of how they are being charged and the weights of EVs being sold. Norway is another prime EV market. Then there is China, and knowing about the Chinese experience would be helpful.
ltr:
If they did it the way it is done in Europe or Asia and China, they would sell few of them. It doesn’t go vroom, vroom. That is the sense of American buyers of vehicles although there is a trend in another way . . . sensibility. The link to the IEA is on this post. IEA pints to many reasons why we should be sensible.
No mix yet of what other countries are doing yet. It is a good idea to do something evaluating the difference. My tie is short though. Working on more writers. They will come . . .
Also, a post that likens billions of religious people to people who are physically ill or infected by a virus or “parasite” should be open to criticism. “Illness” was a theme repeatedly used against the Chinese from the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and on. The analogy should be, must be, open to criticism.
@ltr,
The analogy is open to criticism. On-topic comments that are critical of the content of that or any other post are welcome.