EV charging · installing since 2016
Choosing a home charger.
We fitted our first EV chargers in 2016. When we started, there were three devices inside the charger; there are dozens now, and most of the questions people ask us aren't really about electrics at all — they're about which unit, where it goes, and whether the house can carry it. This is what we'd talk through with you on a site visit, written down. The visit and the estimate are free.
Six things that decide the job
In the order we'd actually ask them.
None of this is a sales process. It's the conversation that happens standing on your drive, written down so you can have most of it before we get there.
01
Start with the car and the drive, not the charger
Which side of the car is the socket on, and which way do you park? It sounds trivial until the cable has to be dragged across a gravel drive every night for eight years. We walk the drive, look at where you actually stop, and work backwards from there to where the unit should go.
02
Tethered or untethered
Tethered means the cable is attached — quicker day to day, tidier if you have somewhere to hang it, and locked to one connector type. Untethered means a socket on the wall and your own cable: neater on the wall, more flexible if the car changes, one more thing to carry. There isn't a right answer, there's a right answer for you.
03
Can the supply actually take it?
A 7kW charger is roughly a shower's worth of load running for hours at a time. We check the incoming supply, the main fuse, the earthing arrangement and what else is on the board before we promise anything. Where the headroom is tight, load management lets the charger back off while the oven and the shower are on rather than requiring a supply upgrade.
04
Earthing — the bit nobody mentions
Charging outdoors brings its own earthing requirements, and how they're satisfied depends on your incoming supply. Some installations need an earth rod, some use a device built into the charger. It's the least visible part of the job and the part most worth having done by someone who does it weekly.
05
Smart charging, tariffs and solar
Nearly every unit now talks to an app and can be scheduled to charge on a cheap overnight tariff. Some will divert surplus solar into the car instead of exporting it. Worth setting up properly on day one — we'll configure it with you rather than handing over a box and a QR code.
06
Grants and the paperwork
We're fully registered to recoup all grants available at the time of installation, so any support you're eligible for is handled as part of the job rather than left to you afterwards. The installation is notified and certified in the normal way, and you get the paperwork.
Repairs, not replacements
We own the diagnostic kit.
A charger that has stopped working is a computer bolted to a wall, and a lot of the trade will simply quote you for a new one. We carry EV-charger-specific diagnostic tools so the unit can be interrogated properly first — including units we didn't install. Send us the make, the model and a photo of the display and we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth repairing.
Send us the model & a photoFaults we see most
- Charger won't start a session, or drops out partway through
- Unit trips its own protective device, or trips the board
- App has lost the charger and won't reconnect
- Charging has slowed to a trickle for no obvious reason
- Error codes on the display that the manual doesn't explain
- A unit fitted by an installer who has since gone out of business
What we won't tell you
A price for a charger we haven't seen the drive for.
Every national installer will quote you a flat figure over the phone and then adjust it on the day, once they've seen how far the cable has to run and what the earthing arrangement is. We'd rather come and look first — the visit and the estimate are free — and give you a number that holds.
One customer put it better than we would: “I needed an EV charger and David suggested one, outlined all the features and installed it. Installation is very neat and tidy and I love my EV charger!!!”
We're also fully registered to recoup all grants available at the time of installation, so whatever support you qualify for is dealt with as part of the job.