Most home EV charger installations take between two and four hours. That figure surprises people who expect a full-day job, and it also surprises people who book half an hour before their car arrives. The honest answer sits in the detail of your property, not on a spec sheet. Cable run length, the age of your consumer unit, and whether your garage already has a power supply all shift that number more than the charger brand ever will.
On this page
- The Typical Timeline for a Standard Home Install
- What Slows the Job Down
- Long cable runs
- Older consumer units
- Garages without an existing supply
- Listed or older properties
- Does the Charger Brand or Model Change Anything?
- What the Electrician Checks Before the Install Starts
- Commercial EV Charger Installs Take Considerably Longer
- Preparing Before the Installer Arrives
The Typical Timeline for a Standard Home Install
A straightforward domestic install runs two to four hours from first tool out to final test. “Straightforward” means the consumer unit is inside the house near where the charger will go, the cable run is short (ten metres or under), and no groundworks are needed to get the cable from board to wall.
In practice, that describes a modern semi or detached house where the driveway sits directly beside the garage or front wall, and the consumer unit is in a hallway or utility room close by. The electrician fixes the charger, runs the cable, connects at the board, tests the circuit, and that’s the job done before lunch.
What Slows the Job Down
A handful of variables can push a job well past the four-hour mark. None of them are unusual. They just need to be planned for.
Long cable runs
If your parking is at the back of the property and the consumer unit is at the front, the cable has to travel the full length of the building. That adds time for routing, clipping or conduit work, and any penetrations through walls or floors. A thirty-metre run can easily add an hour to the job, more if the route involves multiple floor levels.
Older consumer units
A charger draws up to 7.4 kW on a single-phase supply. If your consumer unit is full, uses rewireable fuses rather than MCBs, or shows signs of wear, it needs attention before the charger goes in. That might mean a consumer unit upgrade on the same day or a separate visit first. A charger on an undersized board is a genuine hazard, so skipping that step is not an option.
Garages without an existing supply
A detached garage with no current power supply needs a dedicated sub-circuit running from the house. Depending on the distance and ground conditions, that could mean surface cable, buried armoured cable, or overhead cable on a catenary wire. Each option adds time and should be scoped properly before the install day.
Listed or older properties
Solid stone walls take longer to drill. Cornicing, timber floors, and restricted roof voids all slow the cable route down. On a listed building, you may also need to agree the routing with a planning officer before anything starts, so factor that in early.
Does the Charger Brand or Model Change Anything?
Mostly, no. Fixing a charger to a wall and wiring it in takes roughly the same time regardless of brand. The difference shows up at commissioning. Smart chargers, units that connect to your home Wi-Fi or a charging network, need app setup, network pairing, and sometimes a firmware update before they’ll operate properly. That can add twenty to thirty minutes on top of the physical install.
Whether the unit is tethered (cable permanently attached) or untethered (socket only) makes no real difference to install time. That choice is about day-to-day convenience.
What the Electrician Checks Before the Install Starts
A proper pre-installation assessment covers more than picking a spot on the wall. The incoming supply capacity needs checking. A standard domestic supply is 100A, but some older properties run on 60A or even 40A, which changes what’s possible without a DNO upgrade. Earthing arrangements matter too, particularly on older properties that may be on a TT earthing system rather than the TNC-S setup most modern homes have.
The consumer unit gets inspected for available ways, condition, and whether it can handle the additional load without tripping other circuits under peak demand. This is the part of the job where experience counts. A fast install that skips these checks is not a bargain. If you want to understand what a full home EV charger installation involves from assessment through to certification, that page sets out how we approach it.
Commercial EV Charger Installs Take Considerably Longer
The residential timeline falls apart the moment you move to a commercial setting. Multi-point commercial installs typically involve groundworks to bury supply cables across a car park, a dedicated incoming supply run that may require DNO notification, and load management configuration so the site doesn’t trip its own supply under simultaneous charging demand.
A four-charger car park installation could easily take two full days for groundworks and cabling alone, with commissioning on top. Larger sites with eight or more points are a multi-day project as a matter of course. The planning conversation needs to happen weeks before anyone arrives on site, not the day before.
Preparing Before the Installer Arrives
A little preparation on your end stops the job dragging. Before the electrician arrives, make sure of the following.
- The consumer unit is accessible, with space to work around it.
- You’ve decided where the charger will be mounted and roughly how the cable will run to get there.
- The parking area is clear and the wall surface is accessible.
- You know whether your garage has an existing power supply, so nothing catches the installer off guard.
If you’re still working out whether your current setup needs any preparatory electrical work, the guide on who can legally carry out EV charger installs covers the qualification and certification requirements you need to understand before you book anyone.
All work is carried out by qualified, registered tradespeople in line with current regulations. Quotes are subject to survey.