I Installed an EV Charger at Home - Here's What I Wish I'd Known

When I switched to an electric car last autumn, I assumed getting a home charger installed would be the simple part. Order it, someone fits it, done. The reality was a bit more involved - not difficult, exactly, but full of decisions I hadn't anticipated.

Choosing the right charger

There are more options than you'd think. The main decisions are:

• 7kW or 22kW? Unless you have three-phase power (most UK homes don't), you're limited to 7kW. That gives you roughly 30 miles of range per hour of charging - more than enough for overnight top-ups.
• Tethered or untethered? Tethered means the cable is permanently attached. Untethered means you plug in your own. I went tethered because fumbling with cables in the rain gets old fast.


• Smart features? All new chargers must be "smart" by law, meaning they can schedule charging for off-peak hours. But some do it better than others.

For a full comparison of what's available, the best EV chargers guide on this site is genuinely useful.

The installation itself

My installer came out for a survey first, which took about 20 minutes. They checked consumer unit capacity, cable run distance, and earthing. My house needed an earth rod installing (common in older properties, adds about £150). The actual installation took half a day.

What caught me off guard

The OZEV grant ended for homeowners. I'd assumed the old £350 grant was still available for everyone. It's now only for renters and flat-dwellers. Landlords can still claim too. That said, the total cost was £850 including installation - still a fraction of what you'd spend on petrol.

My energy tariff mattered more than the charger. I switched to an EV-specific tariff with 7p/kWh electricity between midnight and 5am. That means a full charge costs about £3.50 for 200+ miles. On a standard tariff, the same charge costs closer to £14. If you haven't already, compare EV tariffs before you install.

DNO notification is required. Your installer should notify your local Distribution Network Operator. This is a legal requirement. Good installers handle it automatically.

The running costs

After six months:

• Monthly charging cost (EV tariff, ~800 miles/month): £22
• What I was paying in petrol: £140


• Monthly saving: £118

The charger pays for itself within 8 months. We built an EV charging cost calculator that lets you plug in your own figures.

Would I do anything differently?

I'd have got three quotes instead of two. The prices were £850 and £1,350 for essentially the same spec - a massive gap. Getting multiple quotes is the single most valuable piece of advice I can give.

I'd also have installed it closer to where I actually park. And if you have solar panels, ask about solar diversion so you can charge from your roof when the sun's out.