Can I Install My Own EV Charging Point

If you have decided to take the plunge and buy an EV.

You may be asking the question, can I install my own EV charging point?

It’s all well and good thinking about how much money you might save not having to pay for an electrician.

But is it allowed and is it safe?

Let’s find out…

Could I Install An EV Charging Point At Home?

We’ll tell you right off the bat, that no you can’t install an EV charging point yourself unless you’re a qualified electrician. If you try and install an EV charger yourself without prior knowledge and experience you could seriously hurt yourself and cause damage to your home and charge point.

An EV charging point needs a new dedicated circuit according to building regulations and this can only be achieved through a qualified electrician.

Who Is Allowed To Complete An EV Charging Installation?

As mentioned above, an electrician should be the only one carrying out an installation for charging points. You can do some remedial things yourself such as drill holes, fix the charging point in place and run the cable through.

But as soon as it comes to the electrics, you need to hire a professional. This is because all EV chargers need a specific circuit going from the consumer unit and new circuits also need to be approved under building regulations.

The electrician carrying out the work will self-certify so you don’t need to inform anyone about your EV charging installation.

What Is The Process Of Having Charging Points Installed?

Below were going to explain the simple process most EV owners go through in order to have charging installed at their home:

Step 1 – Buy an EV charger
Step 2 – Choose an electrician
Step 3 – Your electrician will come round and take measurements, check fuse box location, see the best place for the charger, and give you a quote within a few days.
Step 4 – If you’re happy with the quote, make payment and arrange an installation date.
Step 5 – The certified installer comes to your house and completes the electric vehicle charger installation.
Step 6 – They will also show you how to use the home charger and set up the app.
Step 7 – Once you have an EV charger installed correctly and your happy, your ready to start charging!

Where Can I Find A Company For Electric Car Charger Installation?

There are a number of ways you can find someone to install your electric car charging point. Certain companies allow you to buy the charger through them and they also provide EV charger installations all rolled into one package. This usually costs between £800-£1200 so some people do it a bit cheaper.

They buy the charging points separately and then find a local electrician whether that’s a friend or somebody you know and they ask them to install it, this usually brings the overall price down to about £600-£800 so saves a lot of money.

You can search on sites such as Checkatrade and Yell and put a job description up for a car charger home installation and see what sort of responses you get. You can then filter and choose the electrician you want.

Do I Need Permission?

Normally, you don’t need planning permission if you own the home. If you’re renting the property or it’s listed, then you would have to seek permission to have a home charging point installed.

If your home charger is quite large, more than 0.2 cubic meters in the UK or if it’s higher than 1.6 meters off the ground, you will also need planning permission. But these are far and few between and the chargers have been designed to be small and compact so don’t usually cause many serious safety issues.

If you are still unsure or could do with more advice about EV charging in general, contact your local authority and ask them any questions regarding having an electric car charger installed.

Charging From A Regular Power Outlet

When you purchase a new electric vehicle, you will normally receive this type of charger with it. Not many people use these chargers as they are ridiculously slow but it does mean no home EV charger installation process is required as the cables or chargers themselves can be connected to a regular power outlet in your house.

Normally it is a cable that you plug straight into electric vehicles at one end and the other end goes in the power outlet. It’s also worth noting that your electrical systems need to be up to code as an EV charger could cause serious damage such as starting electrical fires and melting wires.

Where To Put Your Charger?

This is often discussed with your experienced installer when they come round to inspect. You want a place that is easy to access your EV charging points when you pull up on your drive. Your electric vehicles should be quite close to the charge point so the cable won’t have to stretch too far to plug in.

You will find that you use your electric vehicle charging daily so you don’t want to make it difficult for yourself when plugging the charger into the electric car.

The other key point to remember is security and shelter. Both thieves and the weather can cause havoc with the socket and their electric vehicle so it’s important that you place the charger either in a garage or on a driveway but with shelter and hidden well.

Safety When Installing An EV Charging Socket

As we spoke about above, even if you were to put the slow chargers into your electrical outlets it’s worth having an electrician on hand to make sure the setup is correct.

For EV charging points that are more powerful you would certainly need a professional as most electric vehicle owners often don’t have a clue about electrics and one wrong move could be fatal, or you could get it working but it may be causing long-term damage behind the scenes such as melting wires because they’re not being maintained properly.

It’s not worth the risk, if you can afford to purchase an electric vehicle, I’m sure you can afford to hire a professional to come and install it safely.

Last Word

Considering the risks associated with electricity, we highly advise you get a professional to install an electric charging point. It’s simply not worth the risk if you don’t have the knowledge, experience or qualifications.

For the sake of a few hundred pounds, you can have the EV charging point installed by professionals correctly and safely with a sign-off declaring it safe to use. That way you can have peace of mind knowing it’s safely installed and all working accordingly and if anything was to go wrong you can get back in touch with the professional installer to come and fix it.

See all of our other guides for useful maintenance tips on electric cars and how to keep them in tip-top shape or find your ideal electric car charger for home installations.