Buying the car is usually the exciting part.
Then somebody asks:
“Where are you going to charge it?”
For homeowners with off-street parking, installing a dedicated home EV charger is usually far more convenient than relying on public chargers.
But there is more to the installation than mounting a box next to your driveway.
The charger becomes a significant electrical load on your home, so the existing supply, consumer unit, circuit protection, earthing and cable route all need to be considered first.
Start with the electrical installation, not the charger
There are plenty of EV chargers to choose from.
Before choosing one based on its app or appearance, however, the electrician needs to understand the property it will be connected to.
That means looking at your electrical supply, consumer unit and existing demand.
If you have an older consumer unit, it does not automatically need replacing simply because you are buying an EV.
It does need to be suitable for the new circuit.
If there is insufficient space, unsuitable protection or another issue with the existing installation, additional work may be recommended.
A dedicated charger is different from an ordinary socket
An EV can draw a substantial electrical load for hours at a time.
That makes vehicle charging very different from occasionally plugging in a vacuum cleaner.
Electrical Safety First warns that the extended load and duration associated with EV charging are likely to exceed what a standard socket and ordinary wiring were designed for.
A properly installed home wall charger therefore uses an appropriately designed charging arrangement and circuit.
Where should the charger go?
The best position is not always the closest wall to the consumer unit.
You also need to think about where the car parks, where its charging port sits and how the cable will reach the vehicle.
A cable stretched across a pathway every evening quickly becomes annoying — and potentially a trip hazard.
The electrician will also consider how the cable can be routed from the electrical supply to the charger.
Sometimes that route is straightforward.
In other homes it may involve running cable through a garage, beneath floors, around the exterior of the property or underground.
This is one reason two apparently identical charger installations can involve very different amounts of work.
Your household’s electrical demand matters
Imagine arriving home, plugging in the car and then running an electric shower, induction hob, oven and other heavy loads at the same time.
The installation has to be designed around the electrical demand that can realistically occur.
Where appropriate, a charger may use load-management functionality to adjust charging according to the electricity being used elsewhere in the property.
This can be particularly useful where simply increasing the available supply is unnecessary or impractical.
Government EV infrastructure guidance specifically recognises load balancing as one way of managing available electrical power across charging installations.
Home chargers are now smart devices
Home charging increasingly involves software as well as electrical hardware.
Private domestic and workplace charge points sold in Great Britain are covered by the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021.
Among other requirements, chargers within scope must have smart functionality and be able to retain that functionality if the owner changes electricity supplier.
Smart charging can allow charging to be scheduled for times when demand is lower or electricity tariffs are cheaper.
For many EV owners, that becomes one of the biggest advantages of having a home charger.
You arrive home, plug the car in and let the charging schedule take care of the rest.
What about your consumer unit?
EV charging usually requires a dedicated circuit.
The electrician therefore needs to determine whether the existing consumer unit has sufficient capacity and can provide the required protection.
Some homes are ready for the circuit with very little alteration.
Others may need changes to the consumer unit or related electrical equipment first.
This is why a site assessment before installation is valuable.
It avoids discovering halfway through the job that the existing electrical system cannot accommodate the charger as planned.
Earthing and electrical protection are important
EV charging creates electrical safety considerations that are not identical to adding another indoor socket.
Installation should therefore follow the current requirements of BS 7671 and the relevant IET guidance for EV charging installations.
Government specifications for qualifying residential EV chargepoint installations refer specifically to BS EN 61851, BS 7671, the IET Code of Practice for Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment Installations and relevant building regulations.
This is one reason EV charger installation is not a sensible DIY project.
The unit may look simple on the outside.
The important part is the electrical design behind it.
Does the installation need certification?
A typical home charger installation involves creating a new electrical circuit.
In England, installing a new circuit is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations. Where the installer is registered with an authorised Competent Person Scheme, they can self-certify compliant work and notify it through the appropriate process.
You should therefore receive the relevant electrical documentation after the installation rather than simply being handed the charger manual.
Keep those certificates with your property records.
Will your electricity network operator need to know?
Depending on the charger, supply and property, the installer may need to notify or liaise with the local Distribution Network Operator.
That is something the electrical survey should identify.
You should not have to work out the technical requirements yourself.
What should happen before you book the charger?
A good installation starts with a few practical questions.
Where will the vehicle normally park?
Where is the consumer unit?
What existing electrical loads does the property have?
Is there a sensible cable route?
Does the current board have sufficient capacity?
And which charger features do you genuinely need?
Answer those first and choosing the hardware becomes much easier.
EV charging in older Manchester homes
Installing a charger on a recently built detached house with a driveway can be relatively straightforward.
A Victorian terrace or older semi can present different challenges.
The consumer unit may be further from the parking position, the electrical installation may have been altered over the years and the cable route may require more planning.
None of those automatically prevent installation.
They simply make the initial survey more important.
Planning an EV charger in Greater Manchester?
Local Electrician 24-7 can assess the existing electrical installation, plan the dedicated circuit and charger position, complete the installation and provide the required electrical documentation.
That gives you an EV charging setup designed around your property, rather than trying to make the property fit a charger that was selected first.