Unit 6 Cobham Business Centre, Cobham Road, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 7BX
Mon–Fri 08:00 AM – 05:00 PM
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The short answer to the question everyone asks: no, you don’t automatically need a new consumer unit to have an EV charger fitted — but a lot of Dorset homes do end up needing one, and it’s worth understanding why before you get quotes. This guide covers what a home charger installation actually involves, the three things that decide whether your house is ready, and the questions worth asking whoever you get in.
We’re Dorset Electrical Solutions, NAPIT-approved and based on the Ferndown Industrial Estate. We fit home chargers across Bournemouth, Poole, Ferndown, Wimborne, Christchurch and East Dorset, so this is written from what we actually find when we turn up to survey.
Not necessarily. A charger doesn’t require a new board by rule. What it requires is a board that can safely accommodate it — and that’s where older installations fall down. You’ll likely need an upgrade if:
If your board is a reasonably modern metal unit with RCD protection, sound earthing and a spare way, a charger usually goes in alongside it with no upgrade at all. A good installer will tell you honestly which camp you’re in. If someone quotes a new board without having looked at your earthing or your main fuse, be suspicious. More on consumer unit upgrades here.
This is the technical bit that matters most, and the one most homeowners never hear about. Most UK homes have what’s called PME earthing, where the earth is combined with the supply neutral. In a rare fault condition, that can make metalwork outside — including a car on charge — dangerous.
Historically the fix was driving an earth rod into the ground. These days, most quality chargers have built-in open-PEN protection that detects the condition and disconnects, which removes the need for a rod in most cases. Either approach can be correct; what matters is that your installer has actually established your earthing arrangement rather than assuming.
A typical home charger is 7kW, which draws around 32A. Your house has a main fuse — often 60A, 80A or 100A. Add a shower, an oven and a charger all going at once and you can exceed it. The proper approach is a load calculation, and where capacity is tight we fit load management (a sensor on the incoming supply that automatically throttles the charger when the rest of the house is busy) rather than telling you that you can’t have one.
Where’s the board, where’s the parking, and what’s in between? A charger 5 metres from the board on the same wall is a very different job to one that needs a run round the house, under a drive, or out to a detached garage. This is usually the biggest single variable in the price — and it’s why an honest quote needs eyes on the property, or at least decent photos.
New home chargers sold in Great Britain have had to be “smart” since 2022 — meaning they can connect to a network, and come with default off-peak charging schedules built in. That’s not a sales upsell; it’s the regulations. In practice it’s a good thing: paired with an EV tariff, charging overnight is dramatically cheaper than charging at peak.
Your installation must also be notified to your local network operator, and the work certified. Ask any installer to confirm they’ll handle the notification and give you a certificate — a properly done job comes with paperwork.
A tethered charger has the cable permanently attached — grab and plug, no faff, but you’re tied to that connector type and the cable lives on the wall. Untethered is a socket you bring your own cable to — tidier, more future-proof if you change cars, marginally more hassle each time. There’s no right answer; it’s genuinely personal preference. We’ll tell you what we think, but it’s your driveway.
Government support has changed repeatedly over the years. Broadly, help has remained available for people in flats and rented accommodation, and for workplaces, while the grant for owner-occupied houses was withdrawn some time ago. Because the schemes shift, check what’s currently open rather than trusting an old blog post (including this one) — or ask us and we’ll tell you what applies to your situation today.
Honestly? The cable run, whether the board needs upgrading, whether earthing or bonding needs work, whether load management is needed, and which charger you choose. That’s why “how much is an EV charger fitted?” has no useful single answer — and why we survey properly rather than quoting a headline price and adding extras later.
You’ll get a fixed price up front covering the lot. Send us a few photos — your fuse board, your meter, and where you park — and we can usually get very close before we visit.
Not safely or legally trailing a cable across a public pavement. Some councils are trialling solutions like cable gullies — worth asking your local authority. But a standard home install needs somewhere off-street to park.
A straightforward one is typically half a day to a day. Add a consumer unit upgrade or a long cable run and it’s longer.
Almost certainly not. Nearly all UK homes are single phase, and a 7kW charger is designed for exactly that. 3-phase (giving 22kW) is a commercial or rare domestic scenario.
It can, which is why the load calculation matters. Where it’s tight, load management solves it — the charger simply eases off when the shower’s on.
Often. The differences are in build quality, the app, warranty and open-PEN protection. We’ll fit what you ask us to, but we’ll give you our honest view first.
Yes — Ferndown, Bournemouth, Poole, Wimborne, Christchurch, Verwood, Ringwood, West Moors and across East Dorset.
The most useful thing we can do is look at your actual setup and tell you plainly what’s needed — including telling you that your existing board is fine, if it is.
See our home EV charger installation service, or get in touch for a fixed quote.
Leave your details and we’ll call you back — usually the same day.
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