What an EV charger installation actually involves

The five things that decide whether your job is simple

• Your main fuse rating. 60A, 80A or 100A, and it decides whether load management is needed.
• Whether your supply is looped. One service cable shared with a neighbour limits the headroom available to you.
• The cable run. Distance from the consumer unit to the mounting position, and what it has to cross to get there.
• Consumer unit capacity. Whether there is a spare way and whether the board is suitable for a new dedicated circuit.
• What else is on the supply. An electric shower, a heat pump or a second charger all eat the same headroom.

None of these are exotic. All of them are why a competent installation team wants photographs of your meter box and consumer unit before quoting, rather than giving a price over the phone.

The main fuse is the number that matters

A 7kW charger draws 32A continuously. Your incoming main fuse is rated at 60A, 80A or 100A, and that rating determines whether the charger can simply be added or whether it has to be managed. On a 100A supply, approval for a standard 7.4kW charger is typically automatic and free, and comes back within one to five working days.

Older 60A supplies are not a dead end. In most cases the charger can still be fitted safely using load management rather than a full supply upgrade, which is a far cheaper outcome than it sounds when someone first tells you your fuse is too small. It is worth asking for that option explicitly before agreeing to any upgrade work.

Load balancing, and why it is the cheapest fix in the job

Load balancing works the same way solar surplus tracking does, through a CT clamp. The clamp goes around the incoming mains and measures total household current in real time. The charger then throttles its own output to keep the total demand inside the supply limit, so when the oven, the kettle and the shower are all running the car charges more slowly, and when the house goes quiet it returns to full speed.

Dynamic load management responds within about 1.5 seconds, which is fast enough that you never notice it happening. Adding CT-based load balancing typically costs £40 to £100. Set against a supply upgrade, that is the best value line item in the whole quote. On the Zappi, dynamic load balancing is a built-in optional setting to limit the current drawn from the supply or the grid, and the unit is supplied with the clip-on grid sensor to do it.

What your DNO needs, and when

Your Distribution Network Operator owns the cables in your street. Most domestic single phase chargers follow a connect-and-notify route: the installer fits the charger and notifies the DNO afterwards, typically within 28 days. There is usually no direct DNO fee for a standard notification. Larger or constrained installations follow an apply-first route instead, which means permission before connection rather than notification after it.

This is the same family of process that governs solar and battery connections, and if you are fitting more than one technology it is worth putting them through together rather than making three separate approaches. County pages on this site name the relevant network operator for your area, and you can reach yours from the coverage map.

The day itself, step by step

Earthing, and the earth rod question

Older installations sometimes needed a separate earth rod driven into the ground to protect against a PEN fault on a PME supply. Modern units have made that largely historic. myenergi states the Zappi includes PEN fault technology as standard with no earth rod required, and its datasheet cites compliance with the relevant clause of BS 7671:2018 Amendment 1 for EV installations. If an installation team proposes an earth rod, it is fair to ask why the charger's own protection is not sufficient.

The paperwork you should end up holding

1. An electrical installation certificate for the new circuit.
2. Confirmation that the work was notified to building control, either through a registered competent person scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, or directly to your local authority.
3. Confirmation that the DNO notification was submitted, and any reference it generated.
4. The manufacturer warranty registration for the unit itself.
5. If a grant applied, the grant reference and the deduction shown on your invoice.

Charger installation is notifiable electrical work. That is not a formality: it is the difference between a compliant installation and a problem at the point of sale or insurance claim. Use a registered competent person or make sure local building control has been notified.

What it costs

A typical 7kW smart charger installation lands at £800 to £1,200, made up of roughly £400 to £700 for the unit and £400 to £500 for labour. London and the South East commonly run £900 to £1,500. Complex jobs, meaning long cable runs, groundworks or a consumer unit upgrade, reach £1,200 to £1,500 or more.

The grant position is narrower than most people expect. The chargepoint grant covers renters, flat owners and landlords, plus households with only on-street parking using an approved cross-pavement solution, and the cap rose from £350 to £500 per socket on 1 April 2026. Owner-occupied houses with driveways get nothing, because the scheme that covered them closed in April 2022. You need off-street parking, or an approved cross-pavement solution, and an approved installer.

Where jobs actually get delayed

Two things, almost every time. The first is a looped supply discovered at survey, which puts network work in front of the installation. The second is a consumer unit that cannot take another circuit safely, which turns a charger job into a board replacement. Both are found by a proper survey and neither is found by a phone call, which is the argument for getting eyes on the meter box early.

Clearline gives independent guidance and does not install. All installation work, certification and DNO notification are carried out by an MCS-certified installation team for your area.