Article 625 and GFCI's

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bliquez

New User
Location
Oregon
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Continuing Ed Instructor
Article 625.54 requires a Type "A" GFCI from the service to the electric vehicle and Article 625.60 (D) requires a Type "A" GFCI from the electric vehicle back to the service. I believe that puts the two GFCI's in series with one of them being "back fed" from the vehicle on the load side of the GFCI and returning current through the line side. I don't believe that will work. What am I missing?
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
625.54 is regarding the premesis EVSE circuit that charges the vehicle.
625.60 is regarding Electric Vehicle Power Equipment (EVPE) which is basically a 120 or 240V receptacle in the vehicle powered by an on board inverter.

These are two distinctly different things. There is no interconnection.
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
625.54 is regarding the premesis EVSE circuit that charges the vehicle.
625.60 is regarding Electric Vehicle Power Equipment (EVPE) which is basically a 120 or 240V receptacle in the vehicle powered by an on board inverter.

These are two distinctly different things. There is no interconnection.
I agree to a point-if you have, say, a ford truck with a standard charger that is cord and plug on the supply and you are just using the receps on the truck. If this is, say, a Ford bidirectional charging system the same cable is used both for charging and reverse power to the building. A bidirectional charger will be hard wired and as such does not require GFCI as there is no receptacle. The bidirectional equipment will have the GFCI required as part of the equipment.
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
I agree to a point-if you have, say, a ford truck with a standard charger that is cord and plug on the supply and you are just using the receps on the truck. If this is, say, a Ford bidirectional charging system the same cable is used both for charging and reverse power to the building. A bidirectional charger will be hard wired and as such does not require GFCI as there is no receptacle. The bidirectional equipment will have the GFCI required as part of the equipment.

This is how “bidirectional” charging works. When the truck powers the building, DC from the battery is fed to an inverter housed in the home integration system. The inverter in the truck is not used for this. The charge cable has 2 additional conductors for the DC, the AC charging conductors are not used to backfeed the building. The conductors are in the same cable, but they are different conductors. No (external) GFCI is needed for either direction.

The Ford EVSE incorporates GFCI protection for the AC charging conductors. As far as I know, there is no GFCI protection for the DC circuit (it would need to be incorporated in the truck). 625.60 only applies to receptacle outlets in the vehicle.
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
This is how “bidirectional” charging works. When the truck powers the building, DC from the battery is fed to an inverter housed in the home integration system. The inverter in the truck is not used for this. The charge cable has 2 additional conductors for the DC, the AC charging conductors are not used to backfeed the building. The conductors are in the same cable, but they are different conductors. No (external) GFCI is needed for either direction.

The Ford EVSE incorporates GFCI protection for the AC charging conductors. As far as I know, there is no GFCI protection for the DC circuit (it would need to be incorporated in the truck). 625.60 only applies to receptacle outlets in the vehicle.
I think we are on the same page. Just a misunderstanding of how to state things. I think we can agree that this is still a relatively rare thing at this point. There is not much of this available yet.
 

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
I think we are on the same page. Just a misunderstanding of how to state things. I think we can agree that this is still a relatively rare thing at this point. There is not much of this available yet.

Correct. I am in communication with a group of people who own a new Ford Lightning EV and so far none have installed the backup power system.
 
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