Are All EV Charger Installations Equal?

After all, the charger goes on the wall, a cable gets connected to it and your car charges. Job done… right?

Well, not quite.

The truth is, the same EV charger can look very different depending on how it has been installed, and there’s a lot more to a good installation than simply getting power to the charger.

The charger is only half the job

When comparing quotes, it’s natural to look at the make and model of charger.

But something that’s often overlooked is who is actually installing it and how much care they’re going to take with your home.

I’ve seen EV chargers where the equipment itself is absolutely fine, but the installation around it leaves a lot to be desired.

Cables taking an unnecessarily awkward route. Conduit that looks like it was fitted in a hurry. Equipment positioned somewhere convenient for the installer rather than somewhere that looks best for the homeowner.

Technically, the car might still charge - but if you’ve spent years making your home look nice, you probably don’t want to walk up your driveway every evening and think:

“Why on earth did they put it there?”

The neatest cable is sometimes the one you barely notice

One of the things I spend quite a bit of time thinking about on an EV installation is how the finished job is going to look.

Where should the charger sit?

What route should the cable take?

Can we hide some of the cabling?

Can we follow existing lines on the building?

Is there a better route that takes slightly longer but gives a much nicer finish?

Sometimes those little decisions make a huge difference.

I’d much rather spend a bit more time planning an installation than save half an hour and leave a customer looking at an ugly cable for the next ten years.

Your home isn’t a building site

This might sound obvious, but EV charger installations involve drilling, cabling and working around your home.

A good installation shouldn’t mean leaving you with a driveway full of dust, packaging and bits of cable afterwards.

I always try to work on the principle that your home should look as good when I leave as it did when I arrived - just with a shiny new EV charger attached to it.

That means working carefully, protecting areas where necessary and cleaning up properly afterwards.

It’s not particularly exciting and nobody has ever called me to say:

“Charlie, that was the finest sweeping-up I’ve ever seen.”

But it matters.

Then there’s the bit you can’t see

Of course, appearance isn’t everything.

Behind the neat cables and tidy charger there is an electrical installation that needs to be properly designed, installed, protected and tested.

An EV charger is a substantial electrical load that could be operating for hours at a time, so this isn’t somewhere I’d recommend cutting corners.

Before handing an installation over, I want to know that everything is operating as it should and that the relevant electrical tests have been completed.

A tidy installation is great.

A tidy and properly installed and tested installation is considerably better.

“Right, there’s your charger. Bye!”

The final part of an installation is one that I think can sometimes be forgotten.

The handover.

Most homeowners don’t spend their evenings reading EV charger instruction manuals for fun.

You shouldn’t need an electrical engineering degree to charge your car.

Once I’ve finished, I want the customer to understand the basics of their new charger: how it works, what they need to do and where they can find the controls they’ll actually use.

And, most importantly, I want them to feel comfortable asking questions.

There are no silly questions when it’s a piece of equipment you’ve never owned before.

So, are all EV charger installations equal?

Definitely not.

Two homes could have exactly the same charger fitted, but the overall experience and the finished result could be completely different.

When you’re comparing EV charger installation quotes, don’t just ask:

“Which charger am I getting?”

It’s also worth asking:

Who is installing it? How will the cables be routed? Where will the charger be positioned? What will the finished installation look like? Will everything be tested properly? And will somebody actually show me how to use it afterwards?

The cheapest or quickest installation isn’t necessarily the one you’ll be happiest looking at every day for the next decade.

For me, a good EV charger installation should do three things:

Work properly. Look good. And leave the customer completely happy with the finished job.

That’s the standard I aim for on every EV charger installation I carry out.

Thinking about an EV charger?

If you’re considering an EV charger installation in Norwich or the surrounding areas, I’m always happy to have a chat about the options available and, importantly, how we can install it so that it looks right on your home. Get in touch with us via our contact form

If you’ve found this useful, feel free to share it with someone who’s thinking about making the switch to an electric vehicle.