How to charge an electric car at home

The three ways to charge at home

You charge an electric car by connecting a cable from a power source to the car’s charge port. At home you have two real choices and a third, the public network, for when home is not possible.

To see what that means in practice, the average battery-electric car in England covers about 9,400 miles a year, or 26 miles a day by our arithmetic. A 7.4kW charger replaces that in about 1.1 hours. A 3-pin socket takes about 3.4 hours, every day, through a socket and wiring that Electrical Safety First says are not designed for that load and duration. That is why the 3-pin route belongs in the boot as a backup. Our 3-pin charging guide and portable charger guide cover the limits and the safe way to use one. For times by battery size, see how long it takes to charge an electric car.

Your car’s charge port decides the cable. Most UK cars use a Type 2 port for AC charging at home, with CCS for rapid DC charging, according to Zapmap, while a few older cars use Type 1. Our guide to charger and connector types explains the rest, and Type 2 charging cables covers the lead if you buy an untethered charger.

What you need before you start

Somewhere to park off the road. A driveway or garage is the straightforward case. Without one, read our guides to charging without a driveway and cross-pavement charging.

Permission. Renters and flat owners need written consent from the landlord or freeholder, because the law gives no right to charge. See our guide for flats and renters.

A supply that can cope. Most installers check your meter, consumer unit and fuse from photos. Every installation must be reported to the network operator, which the installer does at no charge to you. For a normal home they connect first and notify within 28 days. A looped supply or an older, smaller main fuse needs the operator’s approval first, which adds weeks but is usually free.

A smart meter, if you want a cheap tariff. EV tariffs need half-hourly readings.

Choosing a charger

Almost every home charger is single-phase at 7.4kW, because most UK homes cannot supply more without a costly upgrade. Every one sold new in Great Britain is smart by law, so it can follow a schedule (the rules explained). The real choices are tethered or untethered, whether you have solar, and which tariff you want. Our tethered versus untethered guide deals with the first, and the best home chargers page ranks the market. Four popular models, side by side:

If you plan to use Intelligent Octopus Go, check that the charger is on Octopus’s list. Ohme, Hypervolt, myenergi zappi, Andersen A3, Wallbox Pulsar Max and Indra Smart PRO are generally available in Octopus’s live data. For solar, the zappi’s surplus-only mode is the usual starting point: see charging with solar panels.

How to get a charger installed

1. 1

   Check you can fit one1 day

   Confirm you have parking you control and, if you rent or live in a flat, written permission. Check whether you qualify for the grant: 75% up to £500 for renters, flat owners with private parking and on-street households. Homeowners with a driveway do not.

2. 2

   Get two or three quotes1 week

   Most installers survey from photos of your meter, consumer unit and the charger location. Ask what cable length is included, whether VAT is in the price and what is excluded, such as trenching or a new consumer unit.

3. 3

   Choose an installer you can check

   Pick a registered electrician on a competent person scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT, and OZEV-authorised if you want the grant. Members of the EV Consumer Code give at least a three-year workmanship guarantee and should not ask for a deposit above 15%.

4. 4

   Install day2-4 hours

   A standard job takes two to four hours. The installer fits a dedicated circuit, mounts the charger, tests it and tells the network operator.

5. 5

   Collect the paperwork

   You should receive an Electrical Installation Certificate and a Building Regulations compliance certificate. Tell your home insurer. The ABI says hard-wired chargers and tethered cables are generally covered by buildings insurance.

6. 6

   Set up the app and your tariff

   Connect the charger to Wi-Fi or 4G, enter your car, and link your tariff. Switch before the first charge, not after.

Enquiry to installation usually takes one to six weeks, and most national providers quote three to six. The standard job covers the charger, a dedicated circuit and a cable run of 5m to 15m, depending on the provider. Extras are the usual surprises: extra cable at £10 to £20 a metre, trenching at £200 to £500, and a new consumer unit at £350 to £1,000. Our installation cost guide itemises them.

Switch to an EV tariff

The charger is only half the saving. The standard variable rate is 26.32p per kWh under the Ofgem cap, while EV tariffs give a cheap rate for several hours overnight.

Four things to know before you switch:

• You need a smart meter. New customers usually start on a standard tariff and move to the EV tariff once the meter reports.
• The day rate is high. Intelligent Octopus Go’s day rate runs from 34.96p to 38.82p, and standing charges are 42p to 67p a day. A low-mileage, daytime-heavy home can lose out: with 2,500kWh of house use all at day rates, it beats the cap only above about 4,570 miles a year.
• Exit fees vary. Octopus charges £50, EDF £75 and E.ON Next nothing.
• Smart tariffs can be withdrawn. E.ON says it can remove you if you do not use smart charging consistently.

Where it fits, the saving is real. On a house using 2,500kWh and an EV doing 9,400 miles, Intelligent Octopus Go saves about £272 a year against the capped rate, or £490 if you shift 30% of house use into the cheap window. See Intelligent Octopus Go and the full EV tariff comparison.

What home charging costs

The capped standard rate costs about 3.5 times as much per mile as Intelligent Octopus Go, and a public rapid charger about 10 times as much. Rapid charging costs about 20% more per mile than petrol at 40mpg at today’s pump price. The figures assume the EV Database average of 0.301 kWh a mile, and the source does not say whether that includes charging losses, so treat the home figures as slightly optimistic. They also exclude the charger itself. Our home charging cost guide and charging cost calculator let you run your own mileage.

Your everyday routine

Plug in when you park. The charger and tariff do the rest, and you tell the app when you need the car ready. Ohme advises checking that the charger is online before you plug in, and that the session reads “Scheduled” or “Smart charging”. If you ever see a charger that does not start, our troubleshooting guide walks through the checks.

Never use an extension lead. The Renewable Energy Consumer Code says not to, and the RAC says rain does not stop charging, but a storm is a time to wait. Your car’s handbook sets the maker’s advice on day-to-day charge limits. The RAC notes that rapid chargers slow down once the battery is more than 80% full, so on journeys stopping at 80% saves time.

If you cannot charge at home at all, the cost picture changes: public rapid charging at 79p per kWh is dearer per mile than petrol. Our no-driveway guide lists the alternatives.