Home EV Charger Installation: Costs and What Is Involved

October 15, 2026

Getting a home EV charger installed in Melbourne typically costs $1,500 to $3,500 all up: roughly $800 to $2,000 for a quality 7kW wall charger, and $700 to $1,500 for the installation, covering a dedicated circuit, protection devices and commissioning. The number climbs when the switchboard needs upgrading to carry the load, when the cable run from board to garage is long or awkward, or when you go to a 22kW three-phase unit on a home with three-phase supply.

The charger is the simple part of this purchase. The installation questions, single or three phase, switchboard capacity, cable route, are where the real decisions live, and they’re worth settling before you buy hardware, not after it’s sitting in the garage.

How home EV charging actually works

Three levels matter for a household. Level 1 is the portable cord into a normal power point: roughly 10 to 15 kilometres of range per hour, fine as a backstop, slow as a daily plan. Level 2 is the hardwired wall charger this page is about: about 7kW on single phase, adding roughly 30 to 50 kilometres of range per hour, which refills most EVs overnight with room to spare. On three-phase supply the same wall-box format can deliver up to 22kW, though many EVs only accept 7 to 11kW AC anyway, so the car’s onboard charger sets the true ceiling. DC fast charging is public infrastructure, not a home job.

The honest takeaway for most households: 7kW single phase is enough. A car parked ten hours overnight on 7kW recovers 300-plus kilometres, which covers almost any commuting pattern going. Three phase earns its keep when the car genuinely accepts 22kW, when two EVs share a driveway, or when other big loads are already pushing the house toward a supply upgrade; our guide to single phase versus three phase power walks through that call properly.

Does my switchboard need upgrading for an EV charger?

Often, and it’s the cost variable that catches people out. A 7kW charger draws around 32 amps continuously, one of the largest single loads a house ever takes on, and the board needs the physical space, the capacity and the protection, a dedicated breaker and safety switch, to host it. Older boards, and anything still running ceramic fuses, generally don’t. In those cases the charger project includes a switchboard upgrade, typically $800 to $2,000, and occasionally a power upgrade where total household demand justifies it. There’s a middle path worth knowing about too: load management, which throttles the charger when the rest of the house is drawing hard, and a good installer prices that option rather than defaulting to the biggest job on the menu.

However it lands, a compliant installation ends the same way: dedicated circuit, correct protection, weatherproofing suited to the location, commissioning against the manufacturer’s settings, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety. EV charger installation is licensed electrical work in Victoria, no exceptions.

The set-fee retail option, honestly assessed

Retailers sell chargers with installation arranged through third-party licensed electricians at a set fee, and the hardware itself is fine. The limitation is that set-fee pricing is built for the simple case, and EV installations are where simple cases are rarest: the switchboard question, the cable route, load management and future-proofing all reward an electrician who has looked at your actual board and your actual garage before naming a number. Whoever you use, insist on three things: a fixed written price after a real assessment, a licence you’ve verified (ours is REC 36928 with Energy Safe Victoria), and the certificate at the end.

One forward-looking tip that costs almost nothing on the day: size the cable for tomorrow. Heavier cable on the new circuit adds little while the run is open; a second EV or a bigger charger in five years turns undersized cable into a whole new job. With Victoria’s new homes going all-electric from 2027 and EV numbers climbing, the driveway is only heading one direction.

Thinking about a charger, or already got one boxed in the garage? Call O’Shea Electrical on (03) 9900 1010 or request a free quote. We assess the board, the run and the car, then give you one fixed price for the lot.