I'm really appreciative of you sharing your experience running a commercial EV in the real world, this is the area in which I think they're going to make the most impact. I'm based up in Michigan, everybody around here is thinking about how the auto industry is going to weather the future and it's a lot of sleepless nights even for those of us not working for the big three directly. Above and beyond the climate problem it's not physically or fiscally possible for us to maintain unlimited access to cheap fossil fuels, and while replacing a lot of private vehicle trips with walkable neighborhoods and good public transit is the smart thing to do you can't exactly replace a tradesman's van with a bus pass. Those chargers, properly called EVSE, electric vehicle service equipment, are built in a pretty clever way for how simple they are. There's a resistor in there that provides a very specific resistance value that lets the vehicle know what size circuit it's connected to, it reads that resistance through one of the little control wires that's built into the standard EV charging plug on the vehicle end. The real charger, as in the electronics that convert the AC wall voltage to battery pack voltage, that's built into the van. So it's very important that the EVSE is set up to know what size circuit it's connected to so it can report that information accurately to the van and it will never pull more current than it's allowed, that resistor is like a speed limit sign.
Yeah the chargers aren't really chargers at all. They are more like plugs with voltage/amperage indicators to tell the onboard charger how much power it has to work with. Pretty cool tech for sure.
Hey Mitch the supplied charger is level one and two. As soon as you step up to 240 V, it is considered level 2 no matter what the amperage. And then there’s level three which is your DC chargers.…
Thanks for the video Mitch. Considering all EV's are basically appliances, these come with a 8 year 100k warranty on the EV system/battery, and most people will only keep them for a few years until a better version comes along, im not going to worry about 'maximizing battery life' for the next guy when the range is already this limited, I will continue charging mine to full as often as possible as my days are also random and lots of times im driving more than 200 miles in a day with it
Can you kindly give advice on what adapter a ETransit can use to utilize the Tesla Charging Stations? This topic is not touched upon as much as vice versa Tesla charging to non Tesla Charging stations which is tad annoying.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Yeah I'm still working out the numbers vs moving to a normal transit or a Promaster as my next van home to live in. Winnebago has built their own based on the transit prior to the E-Transit being completed but its also still in testing. It should still work out for me because I just do small city driving and we have plenty of charging in the area, but I'm still planning this decision out.
Hi , Thanks for sharing information, you said you’re charging 100% all the time because you’re concerned about the short 120 mile range, do you thing this EV Van will be recommended over the Gas, when you have to run probably heavy loads affecting more the poor range ?? and the long time to recharge and find a Charging Station on the Road ???
Good afternoon Sir, my name is Carlos and I live in Baltimore, my trade is basement waterproofing and I I am in the process of purchasing a E transit or a Sprinter van,I have a lots of qs and I want to make sure I am making the right decision, I’ve been watching your videos and they are very helpful, my question to you is what happened with the battery die after five years or 100,000 miles? How much do they cost? It’s so hard for me because I wanna make the correct decision I love Ford products but I also know a diesel engine will give you 3 to 400,000 miles easy. Do you a any suggestions? Thank you so much and I do enjoy your videos
Same thing that happens if your engine dies out of warranty. You have to pay to replace it. What's an engine cost? I have no clue. I don't buy vans based off the cost of the absolute worst case scenario because that never happens. I buy them to use them for 5 years and then sell them to buy another. This way my customers always see a van less than 5 years old in front of their home and I never have to worry about major component repairs.
@@SmedleyPlumbing na you give me one example on why the Sprinters they are inferior? I need to make the correct decision so again any feedback is welcome
Cool, now now why this won’t work in my case. Sadly some cities here in Netherlands won’t allow gas/diesel in a year or two. Hope the technology improves. Otherwise my business can’t live anymore.
I just bought a brand new Ford e-transit electric when I plug in the supplied charger from Ford to 110 volts the charger has a blue light and then I hear a click and it goes to an orange light do you know what's going on?
We did get the pro power pack. However, it's only use is to put power out of the outlets. The van has to be on for it to be in use. And you can't charge the van while it's on. This also means that you can't use the pro power pack while the van is charging.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Thank you for the answer ... I wonder why they did it that way, seems a no brainer that you might want to use it as an emergency charger when away from other sources .. funny thought, you could actually use it to charge another vehicle .. but not your own.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Ok maybe I am misunderstanding something, I thought a portable gen to provide extra power (gasoline gen) was included in the Pro power pack?
Anybody know where the 12v battery is on this van and how big that battery tray is? I'm wondering if any way to send solar (roof mounted single 700w 50v panel) into the system and gain range from it without voiding warranty. Likely nobody but back end Ford engineers are going to know for sure, but wonder if excess current sent to the 12v would be sent to the EV batteries.. maybe? hopefully?
So the van can't charge while turned on. So the best way to utilize solar is to simply plug the factory supplied 120v charger into van and into the solar system while parked.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Hi . Thank You. Sorry did not get that. I think fine that can't charge while "On".. Do you mean make some kind of mod to allow for charging from Solar DC? in the 120v charging system. Also wonder, if you can run the AC while charging? While parked with lights and dash off? wonder if the OEM AC would be able to keep the back cool in Florida?
@@12vLife no mods needed really. If your solar system has an AC outlet, just plug the supplied charger into that outlet and then into the charge port. Yes ac can run while charging.
700 watts after some loss in the charge controller and charger will get you about 1 mile for every hour of full sun....you are not going to gain any advantage worth the trouble with solar panels on the van. You would need an array of panels with about 3kw to add 5 miles for every hour of full sun.
The van charges at a rate of about 1 mile of range per hour of charge when plugged into 120 volt outlet. The van does not take a constant and consistent amperage. The dashboard of the truck will tell you when charging will be complete. So in this video we were sharing what the dash will show you. It's not like another electrical appliance where it's a fairly regulated amperage. The charger is actually built into the truck. The wall connector is simply like a glorified extension cord. The truck determines the power available from the wall connector and then charges accordingly. If you've ever connected your vehicle to a high speed fast charger then you will get to watch on the charger the rapidly and wildly changing energy input.
Look up the Weber Auto video. "There is no such thing as level 3 charging". AC level One is up to 1.92 kw 120 volt requires a 20 amp breaker using 16 amps. Thus 120 x 16 = 1.92 kw AC level Two is up to 19.2 kw 240 volt requires a 100 amp breaker, using 80 amps Thus 240 x 80 =19.2 kw DC FAST CHARGING level One Is up to 48 kw DC FAST CHARGING LEVEL TWO IS UP TO 400 kw Nothing above 400 kw has a standard set yet, even though Tesla and others have Mega Chargers above 400 kw. DC Chargers are at the stations, direct current the battery. EVSE: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment for AC charging of level One 120 volt and level two 240 volt. AC chargers 1 & 2 are in the vehicle. 33.7 kilowatt hours is equal to one gallon of gasoline.
After much consideration, I won't be buying this van due to Ford being Ford. For the price, they could have easily added more horsepower. The reason they aren't is so they can slowly refresh the model by artificially increasing specs for future sales even though higher specs could have been added in at the start for not much more money. Ford is notorious for slowly rolling out updated features so they can get more sales through trade-ins. They also could have added all-wheel drive or 4x4 for not much more. They could have allowed you to run devices while it's charging. This van just seems scummy when you see what features and specs other EV manufactures have had for years. I can only hope that Ford will grow up and stop playing the games.
Sounds like you didn't understand their target market for this first version. Strictly in town delivery and service vehicles. It has every feature it needs for the largest market sector of Transits.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Right, or how many $1000's for a transmission? The new Ford electronic transmissions are not cheap or easy to rebuild... and that was before all the latest inflation and parts shortages. YMMV as they say! I'm willing to bet an EcoBoost V6 is a lot more than a battery as well... those motors aren't cheap.
@@flyby2300 Correct, that was my point to the Daniel about the cost of replacing a battery compared to replacing or rebuilding an automatic transmission in a gas powered vehicle. Not cheap either, especially not these days with so many trans parts on national backorder.
That is actually a PROFESSIONAL review 👏👏👏
Thanks!
Amazing video, answered every question I had and learned some more stuff as well. Much appreciated.
Glad it was helpful!
I'm really appreciative of you sharing your experience running a commercial EV in the real world, this is the area in which I think they're going to make the most impact. I'm based up in Michigan, everybody around here is thinking about how the auto industry is going to weather the future and it's a lot of sleepless nights even for those of us not working for the big three directly. Above and beyond the climate problem it's not physically or fiscally possible for us to maintain unlimited access to cheap fossil fuels, and while replacing a lot of private vehicle trips with walkable neighborhoods and good public transit is the smart thing to do you can't exactly replace a tradesman's van with a bus pass.
Those chargers, properly called EVSE, electric vehicle service equipment, are built in a pretty clever way for how simple they are. There's a resistor in there that provides a very specific resistance value that lets the vehicle know what size circuit it's connected to, it reads that resistance through one of the little control wires that's built into the standard EV charging plug on the vehicle end. The real charger, as in the electronics that convert the AC wall voltage to battery pack voltage, that's built into the van. So it's very important that the EVSE is set up to know what size circuit it's connected to so it can report that information accurately to the van and it will never pull more current than it's allowed, that resistor is like a speed limit sign.
Yeah the chargers aren't really chargers at all. They are more like plugs with voltage/amperage indicators to tell the onboard charger how much power it has to work with. Pretty cool tech for sure.
Excellent review with great details!
Glad you liked it!
Hey Mitch the supplied charger is level one and two. As soon as you step up to 240 V, it is considered level 2 no matter what the amperage. And then there’s level three which is your DC chargers.…
Good to know. I'm new at this stuff. Lol
@@SmedleyPlumbing No worries, I've learned way more from you...
The rule is to use 80% max of the breaker. So, a 40 amp breaker can supply 32 amps to the EVSE.
Gotcha!
Thanks for the video Mitch. Considering all EV's are basically appliances, these come with a 8 year 100k warranty on the EV system/battery, and most people will only keep them for a few years until a better version comes along, im not going to worry about 'maximizing battery life' for the next guy when the range is already this limited, I will continue charging mine to full as often as possible as my days are also random and lots of times im driving more than 200 miles in a day with it
That's our philosophy for now as well. Thanks for watching!
Great stuff. Thanks for the comparison.
Thanks for watching!
Can you kindly give advice on what adapter a ETransit can use to utilize the Tesla Charging Stations? This topic is not touched upon as much as vice versa Tesla charging to non Tesla Charging stations which is tad annoying.
Currently, Tesla stations are not open to charge non-Tesla vehicles.
With every video I want to get one of these as my next camper van even more.
Might not have the range needed for a camper van.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Yeah I'm still working out the numbers vs moving to a normal transit or a Promaster as my next van home to live in. Winnebago has built their own based on the transit prior to the E-Transit being completed but its also still in testing. It should still work out for me because I just do small city driving and we have plenty of charging in the area, but I'm still planning this decision out.
I leverage the ChargePoint network for FREE level 2 and level 3 charging here in Utah!
We do too!
Great info from a fellow tradesman. How about a video covering how to calculate the cost to charge.
Here you go!
th-cam.com/video/Xs2o5lZbezs/w-d-xo.html
Great video. That charger looks like a coffin lol
It does!
Hi , Thanks for sharing information, you said you’re charging 100% all the time because you’re concerned about the short 120 mile range, do you thing this EV Van will be recommended over the Gas, when you have to run probably heavy loads affecting more the poor range ?? and the long time to recharge and find a Charging Station on the Road ???
It works for us very well. We are running with 1,800-2,000 pounds at all times in the back. And still getting 140-150 miles of range consistently.
Is thos on the 68 kwh battery or 89?@@SmedleyPlumbing
@@ArtOfHealth these are for the 68 kWh battery.
Good afternoon Sir, my name is Carlos and I live in Baltimore, my trade is basement waterproofing and I I am in the process of purchasing a E transit or a Sprinter van,I have a lots of qs and I want to make sure I am making the right decision, I’ve been watching your videos and they are very helpful, my question to you is what happened with the battery die after five years or 100,000 miles? How much do they cost? It’s so hard for me because I wanna make the correct decision I love Ford products but I also know a diesel engine will give you 3 to 400,000 miles easy. Do you a any suggestions? Thank you so much and I do enjoy your videos
Same thing that happens if your engine dies out of warranty. You have to pay to replace it. What's an engine cost? I have no clue. I don't buy vans based off the cost of the absolute worst case scenario because that never happens. I buy them to use them for 5 years and then sell them to buy another. This way my customers always see a van less than 5 years old in front of their home and I never have to worry about major component repairs.
@@SmedleyPlumbing thank you so much for your feedback, very appreciative
@@carloshernando7837 if you don't get the E-Transit, at least get the gas transit. The sprinter vans are inferior in many ways.
@@SmedleyPlumbing na you give me one example on why the Sprinters they are inferior? I need to make the correct decision so again any feedback is welcome
Can you
Cool, now now why this won’t work in my case. Sadly some cities here in Netherlands won’t allow gas/diesel in a year or two. Hope the technology improves. Otherwise my business can’t live anymore.
Just hold out for the longer range models to come.
Can solar panels be added on the roof for extended range?
They could but you can't charge the battery while the van is on. So they would only be able to charge when parked and off.
You could hook the panels up to an external battery back to power stuff while the van is charging.
I just bought a brand new Ford e-transit electric when I plug in the supplied charger from Ford to 110 volts the charger has a blue light and then I hear a click and it goes to an orange light do you know what's going on?
I'm not exactly sure. Make sure to plug it into the wall first, then the vehicle. You might also reset the breaker just to be sure.
Question; Did you get the Pro package with the generator? Can you charge the van with it and if so how long to get a functional charge ?
We did get the pro power pack. However, it's only use is to put power out of the outlets. The van has to be on for it to be in use. And you can't charge the van while it's on. This also means that you can't use the pro power pack while the van is charging.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Thank you for the answer ... I wonder why they did it that way, seems a no brainer that you might want to use it as an emergency charger when away from other sources .. funny thought, you could actually use it to charge another vehicle .. but not your own.
@@arakheno4051 it couldn't charge itself anyway. The power pack pulls power from the same battery that would need charging.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Ok maybe I am misunderstanding something, I thought a portable gen to provide extra power (gasoline gen) was included in the Pro power pack?
@@arakheno4051 no. It's simply a few outlets that pull power from the 68 kwh battery.
Anybody know where the 12v battery is on this van and how big that battery tray is? I'm wondering if any way to send solar (roof mounted single 700w 50v panel) into the system and gain range from it without voiding warranty. Likely nobody but back end Ford engineers are going to know for sure, but wonder if excess current sent to the 12v would be sent to the EV batteries.. maybe? hopefully?
So the van can't charge while turned on. So the best way to utilize solar is to simply plug the factory supplied 120v charger into van and into the solar system while parked.
@@SmedleyPlumbing Hi . Thank You. Sorry did not get that. I think fine that can't charge while "On".. Do you mean make some kind of mod to allow for charging from Solar DC? in the 120v charging system. Also wonder, if you can run the AC while charging? While parked with lights and dash off? wonder if the OEM AC would be able to keep the back cool in Florida?
@@12vLife no mods needed really. If your solar system has an AC outlet, just plug the supplied charger into that outlet and then into the charge port. Yes ac can run while charging.
700 watts after some loss in the charge controller and charger will get you about 1 mile for every hour of full sun....you are not going to gain any advantage worth the trouble with solar panels on the van. You would need an array of panels with about 3kw to add 5 miles for every hour of full sun.
the 12v battery is under the driver seat and is charged by the HV pack. There is no way to charge the 12v battery and add power to the HV pack.
How close does the van have to be from the outlet with level 1 charger?
Probably about 20'
57 hrs at 120V x 10A = 68kWh. Not 96 hrs.
The van charges at a rate of about 1 mile of range per hour of charge when plugged into 120 volt outlet. The van does not take a constant and consistent amperage. The dashboard of the truck will tell you when charging will be complete. So in this video we were sharing what the dash will show you. It's not like another electrical appliance where it's a fairly regulated amperage. The charger is actually built into the truck. The wall connector is simply like a glorified extension cord. The truck determines the power available from the wall connector and then charges accordingly. If you've ever connected your vehicle to a high speed fast charger then you will get to watch on the charger the rapidly and wildly changing energy input.
Look up the Weber Auto video. "There is no such thing as level 3 charging".
AC level One is up to 1.92 kw 120 volt requires a 20 amp breaker using 16 amps.
Thus 120 x 16 = 1.92 kw
AC level Two is up to 19.2 kw
240 volt requires a 100 amp breaker, using 80 amps
Thus 240 x 80 =19.2 kw
DC FAST CHARGING level One
Is up to 48 kw
DC FAST CHARGING LEVEL TWO IS UP TO 400 kw
Nothing above 400 kw has a standard set yet, even though Tesla and others have Mega Chargers above 400 kw.
DC Chargers are at the stations, direct current the battery.
EVSE: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment for AC charging of level One 120 volt and level two 240 volt.
AC chargers 1 & 2 are in the vehicle.
33.7 kilowatt hours is equal to one gallon of gasoline.
See! I'm a newbie at all things EV. Thanks for the info!
This is ridiculous a normal person can't rely on electric for a small business
We are very normal and it's working perfectly for us. Just depends on daily mileage.
After much consideration, I won't be buying this van due to Ford being Ford. For the price, they could have easily added more horsepower. The reason they aren't is so they can slowly refresh the model by artificially increasing specs for future sales even though higher specs could have been added in at the start for not much more money. Ford is notorious for slowly rolling out updated features so they can get more sales through trade-ins.
They also could have added all-wheel drive or 4x4 for not much more. They could have allowed you to run devices while it's charging.
This van just seems scummy when you see what features and specs other EV manufactures have had for years. I can only hope that Ford will grow up and stop playing the games.
Sounds like you didn't understand their target market for this first version. Strictly in town delivery and service vehicles. It has every feature it needs for the largest market sector of Transits.
Batteries only have a certain amount of charge and discharge weight do you have to have those batteries replaced better open your wallet
They are warrantied for 8 years and 100,000 miles. Won't be my problem. Besides, how much do you have to open your wallet to replace an engine?
@@SmedleyPlumbing Right, or how many $1000's for a transmission? The new Ford electronic transmissions are not cheap or easy to rebuild... and that was before all the latest inflation and parts shortages. YMMV as they say! I'm willing to bet an EcoBoost V6 is a lot more than a battery as well... those motors aren't cheap.
It has a one gear transmission & is obviously very simple.
Watch a review of the E-Transit van for more info.
@@flyby2300 Correct, that was my point to the Daniel about the cost of replacing a battery compared to replacing or rebuilding an automatic transmission in a gas powered vehicle. Not cheap either, especially not these days with so many trans parts on national backorder.