What is everyone doing for EV surge suppression?

I

IveBeenRued

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I’m in the market for an EV and still somewhat traumatized by a series of lightning strikes that hit my utility about three months ago and cost me thousands in repairs. What is everyone using for surge protection for their EVs?

The reason why I ask is because during the lightning storms a surge on the neutral bus made its way past a whole home surge suppressor and through a dedicated HVAC level 2 surge protector and managed to fry my air conditioner control panel. We also visibly saw a 6 foot arc jump from our main service panel and over to a lolly pole. It was terrifying.

Interestingly, all circuits that had AFCI devices tripped and no electronics were damaged. Those unprotected by AFCI all had at least one item damaged. Is anyone’s EV charger on an AFCI protected circuit?
 
I'm pretty sure everyone is just using GFCI because that's what's required by code for EV home charging.
 
The Tesla gen 3 wall charger setup has some, (unpublished as far as I can find) built in surge protection.

I charge Tesla cars from time to time at my home, using the outdoor 50A outlet and the Tesla mobile cord. My outlet is mounted on the meter box. I set the car to 30A or less. While I do not have a surge protector between the 50A outlet and the car's charge cable, I do have a surge protector (Square D HEPD80 rated for 80kA per phase) mounted on the meter box, from an adjacent breaker, and run directly to the ground rod nearby.

I have no illusions this little surge protector can mitigate a direct lightning strike. But at least it is something.

I also have a breaker type surge protector in my 200A service indoor breaker box. This won't do a thing to protect a charging EV, but might save my TV if lightning strikes the wire a mile away.
 
nomas said:
A GFCI for lightning protection ? Mmmm.....no .
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I'm saying that's what required for the circuit. At what location in the chain is AFCI implemented? This is the first I've heard of it if that's what it's called in the power supply assembly, unless that's what the surge protection is. EVSEs will just dump power to ground if surged. It's why EVs won't charge without a stable ground.
 
Nothing will protect against a very near or direct hit from lightning. My whole house surge protector just smoked a month ago.

For the EV why not just unplug it during or before storms are expected?

I do it for my electronics even with a whole house and point of use surge protectors.
 
I'd think you'd want to do nothing, it'll just charge faster.

Or take you back to 1985, hard to say. Just watch out for the Libyans if that happens.
1751763525765.webp
 
Surge suppressors will not protect you from a very close or direct lightening strike, which I believe is what you experienced ("6 foot arc jump from our main service panel"). AFCI offers much better protection in this scenario, but is also not 100% in a direct strike. Your best protection in a case like this is dedicated lightning arrestors with fusible links on both lines from the meter connected to a separate dedicated ground rod.
Your homeowner's insurance should cover your loss (after the deductible).
 
ka9mnx said:
All external, or separate ground rods/systems, must be bonded to the service entrance ground. It's code world wide.
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Not in a separate dedicated lightning suppression system, it MUST be separate from the service entrance ground. The OP's experience demonstrates why it must be this way.
 
4.3
COMMON GROUNDING (EARTHING)
At a communications site, there shall be only one grounding (earthing) electrode system. For example,
the AC power system ground, communications tower ground, lightning protection system ground,
telephone system ground, exposed structural building steel, underground metallic piping that enters the
facility, and any other existing grounding electrode system shall be bonded together to form a single
grounding electrode system (ANSI T1.313-2003; ANSI T1.333-2001; ANSI T1.334-2002; IEC 61024-
1-2, section 2.4.4; IEEE STD 1100-1999; NFPA 70-2005, Articles 250.58, 250.104, 250.106, 800.100,
810.21, and 820.100; and NFPA 780-2004, Section 4.14).
All grounding media in or on a structure shall be interconnected to provide a common ground potential.
This shall include, but is not limited to, the AC power system ground, communications tower ground,
lightning protection system ground, telephone system ground, exposed structural building steel, and
underground metallic piping systems. Underground metallic piping systems typically include water
service, well castings located within 7.6 m (25 ft.) of the structure, gas piping, underground conduits,
underground liquefied petroleum gas piping systems, and so on. Interconnection to a gas line shall be
made on the customer's side of the meter (NFPA 780-2004, Section 4.14.1.3).
 
wag123 said:
Surge suppressors will not protect you from a very close or direct lightening strike, which I believe is what you experienced ("6 foot arc jump from our main service panel"). AFCI offers much better protection in this scenario, but is also not 100% in a direct strike. Your best protection in a case like this is dedicated lightning arrestors with fusible links on both lines from the meter connected to a separate dedicated ground rod.
Your homeowner's insurance should cover your loss (after the deductible).
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Why would you fuse a lightning arrestor ?
 
nomas said:
Why would you fuse a lightning arrestor ?
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So that a direct strike that is shunted to ground immediately disconnects the load.
ka9mnx said:
Nope, that's not what code says.
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Regardless of what the code says, according to the experts it is not the best way to protect yourself from a direct strike. When everything is tied together everything takes the hit. When I had a communication tower I installed a lightning arrestor and a dedicated ground rod, it took a direct lightening strike and everything survived.
 
wag123 said:
So that a direct strike that is shunted to ground immediately disconnects the load.

Regardless of what the code says, according to the experts it is not the best way to protect yourself from a direct strike. When everything is tied together everything takes the hit. When I had a communication tower I installed a lightning arrestor and a dedicated ground rod, it took a direct lightening strike and everything survived.
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For that matter my car charging solution has its own ground. That’s how the electrician did it.
 
LenZee said:
Lightning just jumped thousands of feet from a cloud to ground. A direct lightning strike is going right through whatever protection you have. These protections might work for an indirect hit.
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Great post/explanation and why you cannot “arrest” lightning.
30,000 amps and 100,000,000 Volts lightning will pass through melt and jump over any obstacles in its path.

You can seek to prevent strikes using lightning rod protection . You see these spheres above power substations which I believe is actually a proactive system, (possibly ESE) meaning early intervention in critical areas. Also grounding systems on some homes you will see pointed rods along the roof line of a house. Nothing is fail safe, but that’s the only way to reasonably expect some type of protection.

IMG_4465.webp

Source
https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Lightning-Facts,-Figures-and-Statistics

https://www.bricknbolt.com/blogs-and-articles/construction-guide/lightning-protection-system
 
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ka9mnx said:
Over 90% home lightning damage comes in through the power mains. I would ask the electric company to check their grounding system at your pole and the service entrance.
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I did talk to the utility, they said that an explosive fuse failed to disconnect the line for our circuit. Many of my neighbors have damage as well. The line that got struck is about .66 miles away. My primary plan would be to not have the car plugged in during storms but I was curious to see what else folks are doing.

I am really interested in the dedicated grounds that some folks are having installed. In this instance, because the surge came up the neutral my current defenses did close to nothing. Residential services are bonded ground to neutral and because my surge suppressors are designed to dump excessive voltage to ground, my devices just got the full hit. My detached garage has two dedicated ground rods, no AFCI, and had no ill effects from the lightning. A dedicated ground rod at my HVAC’s surge suppressor very well may have saved my control board.
 
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