Home Installation

A UK Residents' Guide to Car Charger Home Installation

Most people now understand that one of the biggest benefits of having an electric car is being able to charge it at home and no longer having to rely on any public charging station for their daily driving. When it comes to your morning commute, school runs, daily errands and general driving around your hometown and surrounding areas, you’ll always be able to return home, plug-in and be ready to go again the next day.

The fact remains, however, that many people still do not fully understand the rules, regulations and procedures involved in electric car charger home installation. They know where they’ve seen chargers for sale, typically in a wallbox format mounted to a wall, or sometimes installed outside perhaps within a protective structure to deter would-be thieves. Below we will explain in more detail the important points surrounding electric car charger home installation.

Our Experience

We have been in the electric vehicle industry for over 10 years. Since the very beginning we have always prioritised our customers needs and offer only the very best EV charging products. The experience in the EV industry for over a decade has made us the EV charging experts you can trust.

Working closely with our partners and customers we have successfully installed 1,000s of charge points across the UK. We feel that our company is helping set a milestone and implement the EV charging infrastructure of the future TODAY.

Where Can Chargers Be Installed?

The first question is where can you have electric car charging points installation done? Can you just find a space that works for you and install the charger? As it happens, no you cannot. First of all, any charging point bought and installed privately must be entirely installed within the property of the buyer and user, and not in any public space or infringing on the space of your neighbours.

Next, the EV home charger has to be installed at least 2.5m away from what professional installers call “sim touches.” These refer to metal objects in your garage or home that are connected up to your main electricity supply. This includes outdoor objects, and that also means public street lamps. If one street lamp happens to be too close to where you’re hoping to install your EV home charger, then it means you’ll have to rethink.

Finally, you can only install EV chargers either on a property that you own, or with your landlord’s permission if you rent. Furthermore, you have to have a working Wi-Fi connection in your house since a growing number of EV charger models come with remote connection and smartphone-based controls.

When you see electric car charging points installed in the streets, these are only ever installed at the behest of local authorities. They will contract providers to install street charging points to help those who don’t have their own off-street parking and therefore have no ability to install their own charger. These public charging points are also very useful for those who live in rented accommodation where landlords are reluctant or flat-out refuse to install EV charging stations.

Regulations - What You Need To Know

Above we’ve already touched on the basic requirements for charging point locations, but you need to be aware of all the requirements and rules that are in place before you go with your installation.

Installation Location

As we said above, the first step is to determine the intended location of your electric car charger home installation. You can do this by first contacting your energy supplier or a specialist supplier of electric car charging points bundled with installation services. Their engineering team will want to see the proposed locations and inspect them for suitability. You might have selected 2 indoor locations in your garage, and 2 outdoor locations on your driveway or in your yard, depending on the size and scale of your property.

The more space you have, the better the likelihood of you meeting the regulations. Some engineers can conduct that inspection purely from photographs, but many others may schedule an initial home visit/inspection where they can see the proposed sites for electric car charging. After inspecting the site for above-mentioned “sim touches” and determining a suitable location, they can set to work.

Power Ratings

In the UK, the regulations on electric car charger home installation don’t offer much of a limit on what kind of power rating you can install. That doesn’t mean you can just buy and install a Tesla supercharger for your home, though. Most people select chargers of 3-7 kW in power, because they are affordable and are supported by the power supply in most homes.

There are options to install faster units of 22 kW, which can charge overnight even high-capacity batteries like those in Teslas and big electric SUVs. Only certain households can handle this capacity, however, as it requires a three-phase (AC) supply, which is not as common in the UK as it is in other countries such as Germany.

Type 1 or Type 2?​

Type 1 is an older connection type that fits the 3-7 kW chargers we mentioned further above. You find it less and less in the very latest electric cars, which are switching over to Type 2, which can accept up to 43 kW AC, adding as much as 75 miles in just 30 minutes of charging. In Europe, this is already starting to become the standard.

Electric Car Charger Home Installation UK

Having your very own charger installed at home is a great way to ensure that you never rely on others for your “fuel” on a day-to-day basis. Electric car home charging also means you can enjoy the benefits of an electric car without waiting for councils and government institutions to finally roll out enough charging infrastructure to support the growing popularity of electric vehicles.