Want a car charging solution for your home? We explain what's involved and how to get a car charger installed at your home.
If you have an electric car or you intend to get one, then you are likely thinking about where to charge it. If you have off-street parking then a home car charger installation will mean you can easily and conveniently charge your EV.
In this guide, we’ll answer some key questions including:
- What is a home electric car charger?
- Can you have a car charger installed at home?
- What does a home car charge point installation involve?
- How much does an electric car charger installation cost?
- What do you look for in an electric car charger and how do you choose one?
- How do you start the process of getting an EV charger installed at home?
What is a home electric car charger?
Put simply, a modern home car charger is a dedicated method of charging an electric car.
Home car chargers go by many names including EV chargers, car charge points or EV wallbox, but they all have the same purpose of allowing you to safely use the full power available from your home electricity supply to power your car.
Most home EV charge points will charge your car at 7kW (kilowatts), which is the maximum amount of power that most typical UK homes are able to provide.
Some homes and car chargers can charge at a faster rate up to 22kW, but most UK homes do not have an adequate supply to achieve this and many electric vehicles cannot accept this rate of charge at home anyway.
You can buy electric car chargers from a variety of sources, including installers such as Smart Home Charge of course. You will need a qualified professional to carry out the installation, such as one of our own Smart Home Charge engineers, but even if you choose to go elsewhere you will still need an expert to complete the work.
Can I have a car charger installed at home?
If you have off-street parking and you are the homeowner then the answer is yes. In fact, around 60% of UK residential properties have off-street parking and therefore ideally suited for home electric car charging.
If you do not have off-street parking or you live in rented accomodation, or a flat, for example, then you can still get a charger installed but it will depend on your individual circumstances.
Those in rented accomodation will require permission from the landlord, as would those living in flats/apartments even if you own the property.
Other factors to consider include the length and complexity of the cable run, how the installer (such as Smart Home Charge) will connect the charger to a power source, to name a few.
What does a home car charge point installation involve?
An EV charger installation requires a qualified professional to carry out the work. As a nationwide installer, Smart Home Charge has experienced in-house installers based across the UK.
Once you’ve paid for your quote, we will order and dispatch your charger right away and get on with the job of arranging your installation date.
On the day of installation you will receive a text message with a link to track your engineer. While we can’t give you an exact time as to when your engineer will arrive at your property, we will give you an installation window in advance, but the tracking link allows you to see exactly how far away the engineer is so you can decide if you’ve got time to pick up a pint of milk or not! Our engineers will also require clear access to all work areas, so we ask that you ensure that all work areas are clear before our engineers arrives at your property.
Our engineers will already have details and photos of the planned installation. However, they will do their own checks and discuss the proposed installation with you – sometimes our engineers will come up with an even better cable route, but they will confirm this with you before getting started.
Then it’s a case of getting on with the job of fitting the car charge point to the wall and connecting it to the power source. Once this is complete, the engineer will complete the initial setup and commissioning of the EV charger which usually involves “pairing” it with your smartphone, though different products have different setup processes.
Before leaving, our engineer will check you’re happy with the installation and run through a few final checks with you. They will likely be taking photos throughout the process too. This is so our office team can check the installation has been carried out properly.
How much does an electric car charger installation cost?
The cost of an EV charge point installation depends on the charger you choose and the complexity of the installation. Our website shows the minimum cost of an installation inclusive of the charger.
If you’d like a quick idea of costs, we’d recommend using our Easy Estimate tool to get an electric car charger installation price – it only takes two minutes.
As a guide, prices start from around £970 although you can spread out the cost with our pay monthly finance options. This means that an EV charger installation can cost as little as £20 per month.
How do you choose an electric car charger?
At Smart Home Charge we are quite picky when it comes to selecting which EV chargers we sell and install, so we are confident you’ll be happy with any of the chargers on our website.
However, there are a few different things to consider when choosing a home car charger including price, looks, features and more.
We have an excellent guide to choosing an electric car charger right here to help you get started or you can use our compare EV chargers tool.
How do you get started with an EV charger installation?
Put simply, choose an EV charger and choose an installer. Of course, we highly recommend ourselves! Here at Smart Home Charge we have tried to simplify the experience of owning an electric car and getting a car charger installed at home.
Our experience team and engineers will guide you throughout the whole process. Don’t take our word for it – check out our incredible reviews on Trustpilot!
If you want to get an installation with Smart Home Charge, then the following should help:
1. Choose a charger and “Request a Quote”
Use our electric car charger comparison page to find the ideal device for you, your vehicle and your budget. Or you can find a compatible charger for your vehicle by browsing our car guides. Simply find your vehicle and the page will display compatible chargers for your EV or plug-in hybrid.
Don’t worry if you’re not 100% sure of the charger you want – that’s easy to change later. The important thing is to get the ball rolling…
2. Get your quote
Our in-house technicians will assess the requirements for your charger installation and we will email and text you the quote for the charger and the installation work.
3. You pay. We order your charger
Once you’ve paid, we order your charger and get it sent to you. At the same time we will email you when your charger is on its way.
We have also created a handy support page for you to help you get to know your new charge point. You can find the support page for your chosen charge point here. Our engineers will also direct you to your charger’s support page at the end of your installation.
4. Your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) notification
Before any installation, we need to notify your DNO (Distribution Network Operator). This is a requirement and is in place to ensure chargers are installed safely, appropriately and will not unduly affect the property’s supply or local grid. We will do this on your behalf, but please remember that approval from the DNO is out of our control and response times can vary.
5. Installation
Once you have your charger and your DNO has been notified, we will get to the exciting stuff and book an installation date for you.