What are the differences on home charge points between self-install DIY and professional EV installers?
Having an EV charger installed at your home
So we’re going to talk today about having an EV charger installed at your home, and the benefits or differences between self purchasing and having an electrician install or going through an organisation, like ourselves, ChargeEVUK.
Rules first
Let’s look at some of the rules first. An installation of new dedicated circuits is regulated under the Part P of building regulations as notifiable work. Notifiable to local building control.
In order to notify the installation, the best practice would be to use a registered qualified electrician that’s registered with one of the UKs accreditation schemes, like NAPIT or NICEIC. There are a few others, but obviously NAPIT and NICEIC are the largest two.
Can I fit them legally?
Charge EV points require specialist training by the electrician in order to install and test correctly. There is a course that’s governed by City and Guilds and other training bodies that a qualified electrician would have to attend and pass, and then obviously be able to fit them legally.
What you should get out on completion is an Electrical Installation Certificate, a building control notification certificate of compliance, and obviously a tidy neat job.
You’ll get that if you were to self purchase all of the equipment and use an electrician, a registered electrician to install.
What equipment do you need to buy?
Now, the question is, do you know all the equipment you need to buy? So I suppose the thing to do would be to contact or try to get the list of what you would need from your chosen electrician who remember should be registered and qualified to install your EV Charger.
The list can be long! Cleats, glands, armour cable, earth rods cable and the correct charging charge point best suited for your requirements.
Considering your installation and calculating the maximum demand for your property, and some safety checks and balances to ensure that when you have the EV charger installed it’s not going to overload your main supply.
Notifications to DVLA
Other applications and notifications are to DVLA, the distribution network operators (DNO).
Remember, if you were to self-purchase everything, and if you were to use a registered electrician who was not on the Government OLEV scheme, you wouldn’t be able to benefit from a 75% or up to £350 discount off the price.
Let’s look at some of the cost breakdowns
If you consider an EV point, say let’s talk about a tethered type-two 32 amp charge point, that many domestic properties should be able to have.
Shopping around online, you’ll pay anything from around about £550 to £650 including VAT for Smart Chargers. You could consider going non-smart if not claiming an OLEV grant you will have a cost save because those charge points themselves are slightly cheaper.
They are only, I would say around £100 to £150 cheaper. So you may get a non-smart charge point for around £450 for 32 amp tethered. Then you’d obviously have to pay for the material costs plus the labor costs and not be able to claim any money back.
If you buy a smart charge point, which is what we’ll be talking about, you may be eligible for the grant scheme if you use a registered OLEV installer.
Non-registered OLEV installer cost
So let’s say Smart Charge points are £600, ballpark figure.
Materials, cable, etc you’re probably looking at around £120, for up to 12 meters from your supply, as in your consumer units or your electric meter to the actual charge point location. That will include an earth rod and the installation of that, if that’s required, depending on the earthing of your property.
So you’re looking at about £720 including VAT for your materials. Then labor costs. On average, the charge point should take between 3 and 6 hours to install.
It all depends on the type of installation, the location required, the access, the distance from supply to the final position of the charge point. The installation time could be reduced or increased. Obviously as things increase, labor time increases.
For an up to 12 meter cable run, smart charge point, 32 amp tethered, NON-OLEV registered installer a ballpark figure would be around £1000.
Now let’s look at a registered OLEV installer
For charge points, up to 12 meters with 32 amp smart tethered we would install charging no labor costs and you would get a cost saving on materials also due to using a registered OLEV installer who’s going to claim that grant funds if you are eligible.. You can make sure you are eligible on our site first.
OLEV Grant price reduction
We work with the customer to provide OLEV with documentation. It includes the VIN or VRM number of your vehicle, some details about the vehicle is owned if leased, owned or a company vehicle. The rest of the information is about you and your property.
It is administration that needs to be completed to make a claim. We can then pass the cost saving on to you through the government grant scheme.
How much should I expect to pay for an EV home charge point?
Charge points, which would be a 32 amp, tethered up to 12 meter run, including materials and installation would be around £650.
So essentially what’s happening is you are pretty much only paying for materials and nothing else.
Depending on the type of install, that may well be reduced even more because some grant money may pay off some more of your material bill. Depending on the install and depending on the time scales, of course.
A certified installer gives you peace of mind.
Installation by a registered qualified electrician who’s registered with one of the UKAS schemes, who’s qualified to City & Guilds standard and has experience installing EV points correctly.
In summary, you would be able to;
- Claim that grant money back to get it off your bill
- Know the OLEV install is registered with the government.
- Know the installers are registered, qualified and competent.
- Know the building control notification would be done by them.
- Receive a certificate of compliance and test.
- Have a properly tested EV charger with the correct test equipment.
- Know the distribution network operator (DNO) applications are completed.
- You have met the necessary requirements for the DVLA.
- Know the legal rules around EV point installation are met.
About ChargeEVUK
Our Moonshot is to help transition every car into electric. This will reduce harmful emissions, save money on expensive recurring fuel charges and create a better environment for our kids.
It also puts you at the cutting edge of technology!
Phil
Head of Team ChargeEVUK