Short answer
A licensed electrician, and for most charger brands one with the manufacturer's installer accreditation as well, because the warranty usually depends on it. Get the supply and switchboard assessed before you buy the unit — the charger is often the smaller half of the cost.
When it is someone else
Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Electrician.
your electricity distributor
the charger is single-phase above a certain rating, or three-phase. Several distributors require notification or approval and may require a load-management device.
you want the charger to use surplus solar. That is a configuration question involving the inverter and the charger together, not just a circuit.
What to do before anyone arrives
- Photograph the switchboard and the meter, and find out whether the supply is single or three phase.
- Decide where the car actually parks and where the cable will reach from — including whether you ever park the other way around.
- Check strata or body corporate rules if you are in an apartment or townhouse. This is the single most common reason an EV charger install stalls.
- Check whether your distributor requires approval, and whether your retailer has an EV tariff worth being on.
What to ask when you book
- Do you hold the manufacturer's accreditation for this charger, and does the warranty require it?
- Does the switchboard have capacity, or is an upgrade in the quote?
- Is a load-management or load-limiting device required by my distributor?
- Is the cable run surface-mounted or concealed, and where exactly does it go?
What changes the price
No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.
- Distance from the switchboard to the parking space, and whether the run is through a wall, under a ceiling, or across a garage.
- Whether the switchboard has a spare way and adequate main supply.
- Single-phase versus three-phase charging.
- Distributor requirements such as load management.
- Any trenching if the parking space is detached from the house.
Is this licensed work?
Licensed electrical work on a dedicated circuit, generally requiring a certificate of electrical safety. Some distributors also require notification or approval for the connection of a charger above a certain rating, and load control conditions may apply.
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.
Common questions
- Who should I hire for an EV charger to install
- A licensed electrician, and for most charger brands one with the manufacturer's installer accreditation as well, because the warranty usually depends on it. Get the supply and switchboard assessed before you buy the unit — the charger is often the smaller half of the cost.
- Can I just charge from a normal power point?
- Most electric vehicles come with a portable cable that will, slowly, and it is a reasonable stopgap. The reason people install a dedicated circuit is that a standard outlet and its circuit were never designed for a continuous high load over many hours, and that is exactly the duty cycle that finds a marginal connection. If you are using a wall outlet regularly, have an electrician check the outlet and circuit at minimum.
- Do I need three-phase power for an EV charger?
- No. Single-phase chargers are the common domestic case and will fully charge most cars overnight. Three-phase buys speed you generally do not need at home, and converting a single-phase supply is a significant piece of work involving the distributor.
Find a Electrician near you
3,996 electricians in this directory, ranked on published evidence rather than on advertising.
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General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.