Installing a home EV charger in the UK isn’t as straightforward as plugging in a new appliance. It involves navigating important requirements and permissions to ensure the setup is safe, efficient, and compliant with regulations. This blog post aims to clarify the process by detailing what is required to install an electric car charger.
To install an EV charge point at home, you must either own your property or gain permission from your landlord if you are renting. Landlord permission must be obtained before the installation commences.
Getting an electric car charger installed at home is easy if you have off-street parking, as you don’t require council permissions.
On the other hand, while getting an EV home charger without off-street parking is possible, the process is much more difficult. First, local planning and highway authorities must deem your on-street parking adequate. You must also install a cross-pavement charging solution before installation and ensure you have permission from your local planning and highway authorities to do so.
A cross-pavement charging solution can raise the cost of installing a home EV charger. But, the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant for Households with On-Street Parking is now available. With the grant, you can get 75% off the cost to buy and install a home charger, up to a maximum of £350. If you cannot get approval from your council, you may have to rely on public charging points.
You must have an adequate Wi-Fi or mobile connection at the location where the charger is installed. A Wi-Fi or mobile connection ensures that your charger can access smart features and complies with The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021.
Smart features keep a chargepoint safe from cyber-attacks. They also let electric vehicles charge when demand on the grid is low. Or when clean electricity is available.
Learn more about why EV chargers require a Wi-Fi or 4G connection.
When getting an EV charger installed at home, you should ensure you use a trusted and fully qualified electrician. Choosing an OZEV-approved installer is a safe choice. This ensures they follow all the required safety regulations, and they will also be able to claim the grant on your behalf if you are eligible for one. You should also make sure your installer is registered with a competent person’s scheme like NAPIT.
One thing is for certain – do not attempt to install an EV charger yourself.
A typical home EV charger is rated at 7kW, and you must have a power supply that is large enough for the EV to operate at its rated capacity.
As part of the installation process, your local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) must grant you approval to install a charger. As part of the approval process, the DNO will assess whether your power supply is sufficient for an EV charger. If it is insufficient, they may need to come to your property and upgrade your supply before the installation.
The DNO will also check whether your electricity supply is looped before they approve. A looped supply is when your electricity supply comes in via your neighbour’s home. Although this is safe, a looped supply may struggle to handle the demands of fast electric charging. As such, the DNO may need to unloop the supply before the installation can commence.
Upgrading or unlooping your supply may, unfortunately, add delays to your charger installation, as this usually has to be done before the installation can commence.
If you want an 11kW or 22kW charger installed at your home, you must upgrade your electricity supply from single phase to three-phase. Your DNO would undertake this upgrade, which can cost thousands and take many months.
Carefully consider where you want your home charger installed. This will ensure that it is as cheap as possible and that you have no accessibility issues after installation.
First, your charger should be installed as close to your electric meter as possible. The charger needs to be connected to your main electrical fuse, which is located in your meter box. Ensuring your charger is installed near your electric meter ensures the cable run is short, making the installation more cost-effective and efficient.
Although we include up to 15m of cabling in our standard installation, keeping the cable run as short as possible is best. This can also make the installation look more aesthetically pleasing, as you won’t have lots of visible cabling clipped to your property.
You should also ensure you position your charger in an area with good WIFI or mobile connectivity.
You should also consider where you park your vehicle and ensure the charger is as close to that location as possible. This makes it easy to plug in without needing a long charging cable, which could lead to a tripping hazard.
You should also decide whether to mount your charger on a wall or a post. Installation of a post will come at an extra cost but may be required if there is no suitable wall near where you park your vehicle. You shouldn’t mount your charger on a fence or temporary structure, as this can be dangerous.
There are also some legal requirements regarding the positioning of your home charger:
You must ensure the home charger you are getting installed complies with The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021. The electric car charging port must also have an RCD built into the unit and meet the applicable minimum IP ratings set out in BS EN 61851-1:2019 and BS 7671:2018.
The exterior casing of the charger cannot be larger than 0.2 cubic metres.
Our market-leading chargers comply with all regulations, giving you complete peace of mind.
Several safety standards are set out by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), which your installer must comply with.
Here are the requirements for installing EV charging points at home:
Installing a home EV charging point requires careful thought. You must consider several key requirements and ensure the setup is safe, efficient, and follows regulations. Here’s a succinct overview of the crucial electric car charger installation requirements:
Following these guidelines will help make the installation process smooth, safe, and efficient.
Choosing an OZEV-approved installer such as We Power Your Car is essential to ensure you have peace of mind that your installation meets all requirements and is as safe as possible.
If you want an EV charger installed, call us on 03333 44 96 99 or fill in the contact form below, and one of our industry experts will contact you to discuss your enquiry.
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This type of electric charger has it's own cable to charge your car.
This type of electric charger requires a seperate cable to charge your car.
Spread over a 60 month period.
Tenants and homeowners are eligible for finance.
You decide the amount of months.
Minimum of £1000.
We will contact you to process the credit application. Approval is subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. 13.9% APR representative. T&Cs apply.
Your order is not confirmed until your application has been approved.
We lay SWA cable laid at 600mm deep, with a protective cable warning tape laid 150mm above the cable. These are laid on a sand or sifted sand soil bed then backfilled.
We position overhead cables at a minimum height of 3.5m and are run along a catenary wire. The cable run should not be accessible to vehicles.
Standard Installation
Our instant price is fixed if it falls within our standard installation package plus any additions that you have selected (extra cabling for example). This package covers the majority of homes in the UK. Before we undertake your installation we will carry out a digital survey to check that nothing has been missed. After reviewing the survey results some additional work may be required in order to complete your installation safely and to the required standards. If this is the case, we will contact you well before the installation date and advise the cost of any required work. You can then continue with your installation, or alternatively we will refund you in full if you do not want to proceed.
Included in our standard installation is :
• Fitting of a single phase charge point to a brick or plaster wall or other suitable permanent structure
• Up to 10 metres of cable, run and neatly clipped to the wall between the electricity supply meter / distribution board and the charge point.
• Routing of the cable through a drilled hole in a wall up to 500mm (20 inches) thick if this is needed.
• The fitting and testing of electrical connections and protections required for the charge point.
• An additional three way consumer unit, if required
• Installation of a Type A RCBO in an RCBO enclosure
• Up to 3 metres of plastic trunking to conceal interior wiring.
• An O-pen earth protection device if the charge point requires it. (This is NOT an earth rod)
• Up to 4 hours of labour from your installer to complete the work.
• Electrical testing of the whole installation.
• Handover and setup of the charge point and any app that may be needed.
Not included in our standard installation (additional work) :
• Where the installation requires additional cabling over and above the amount you have told us about.
• Upgrade/replacement of the main incoming supply fuse where the local DNO (eg Northern Powergrid) would need to attend site.
• If the charge point is to be mounted on a post/pedestal rather than an existing wall and where you have not selected a post as an extra cost option in your order.
• Installation of a charge point to a three phase supply.
• Where gas and water mains bonding (earthing) is not in place at your property. If this is not in place, additional work would be required before installation of the charge point.
• Any groundwork that has not been selected during the order process.
A Surge Protection Device is not included in our standard installation.
What else you need to know :
• On the day of installation, please ensure that the area around your consumer unit (fuse box), incoming electricity supply meter and proposed charge point location (including where the cable is expected to be run) is clear and free of obstructions.
• We will need your WiFi password as part of the installation process in order to connect your charge point to the internet. Please have this available for the installer. Details will not be kept.
• The charge point must be on your own designated off road parking.
• The charger will be fixed in line with current guidelines at a height where it cannot be hit by a vehicle.
• Our installers are not able to enter loft spaces; lift floorboards or flooring; take apart any furniture of work above a height of 2m. If you anticipate that any of this may be required, then please contact us and we can discuss in more detail and provide you with a quotation.
• Should there be extreme weather conditions our installers may not be able to continue with you installation if it is not safe to do so (for example flooding). They will always do their best to complete the work where they can.
If you have any questions then please contact our customer service team who will be happy to help. Please also read our terms and conditions.
