EV Charger Installation in Downton

How the job went

1. 1

   The brief

   The customer wanted a home EV charger installation at the property. The assessment is the same whatever we expect to find. We check the consumer unit, the capacity of the incoming supply and whether a usable way is available before quoting.

2. 2

   What we found

   The property already had an up to date consumer unit with a spare usable way, and the supply had the capacity for a charge point. That left room to add the dedicated circuit and protection a charge point requires without replacing the board.

   Not every installation needs a new supply or a new consumer unit. Where the existing electrics are modern and suitable, a charge point can usually be added to what is already there, and this property was a good example of it.

3. 3

   What we did

   The charge point went onto its own correctly protected circuit using the spare way. There was also space for surge protection covering both the whole installation and the charge point itself. Fitting that while the board was open saves coming back to it later, and it protects the charger’s electronics along with the rest of the house.

   The supply cable is one we specify by choice: Doncaster Cables EV Ultra. The data core for CT monitoring of the house supply runs inside the same cable. The monitoring the charger needs is covered without a second cable tracking around the property. It makes for a noticeably neater finish.

4. 4

   The result

   The customer has a 7kW tethered Zappi on a dedicated circuit, with surge protection across the installation and load monitoring in place. None of it meant altering the existing consumer unit beyond using the spare way it already had.

   One cable run does the work of two, so there is no separate data cable visible along the wall. If you are weighing up what an installation at your own property would involve, our guide on what to consider before installing a home EV charger covers the same checks.