Switching to an electric vehicle is the easy part. Working out which home charger to install — from a market full of brands, features, and technical-sounding specifications — is where many new EV owners get stuck. This guide walks through the choices in plain English, so you can decide what actually matters for your home and your driving, and what is just marketing.
Why Install a Dedicated Home Charger?
It is possible to charge an electric car from a standard three-pin plug socket using the cable that comes with the vehicle. But it is slow, and a standard socket is not designed for the sustained high current that EV charging draws over many hours — which is why a dedicated home EV charger is the safe, faster, and recommended option.
A dedicated home EV charger gives you faster charging on its own protected circuit, the convenience of plugging in on your driveway whenever you are home, and access to cheaper overnight electricity rates. For most people, it pays for itself in convenience alone within a fairly short time.
EV Charging Speeds — Do You Need More Than 7kW?
The first specification you will encounter is charging speed. EV charging speeds are measured in kilowatts (kW) of power output, and the vast majority of home chargers are 7kW, which for most households is exactly the right choice.
A 7kW charger adds roughly 25–30 miles of range per hour. The exact time to fully charge depends on your car’s battery size, but 7kW will comfortably charge most modern electric cars from low to full overnight. Since the car sits on the driveway for many hours while you sleep, a higher power output is rarely necessary at home. It is worth knowing that home chargers deliver AC power, which the car converts on board — this is normal domestic charging, distinct from the DC rapid charging you find at public stations.
You may see 22kW chargers advertised. These offer a higher maximum charging rate, but there is a catch: 22kW charging requires a three-phase electricity supply, and the large majority of UK homes have a standard single-phase supply that cannot deliver it. On a single-phase supply, a 22kW charger will only ever charge at 7kW anyway. Arranging a three-phase upgrade from your network operator is possible but expensive and rarely worth it for home charging, so for almost everyone, 7kW is the sensible, cost-effective choice. An installer will confirm your supply type as part of the survey.
Home Charging vs Public Charging
It helps to understand where home charging fits alongside the public network. Most EV drivers do the large majority of their charging at home, topping up overnight and leaving with a full battery each morning — which is cheaper and more convenient than relying on public infrastructure.
Public charging fills the gaps. Rapid charging stations at motorway service stations and in some car parks use high-power DC charging to add range quickly on longer journeys, and public chargers of various speeds are increasingly common in town centres and supermarket car parks. These are useful for topping up away from home, but they charge at premium rates compared with charging on your own domestic supply.
For most people, the pattern is simple: a dedicated home EV charger for everyday charging, with public and rapid charging used occasionally for longer trips. This is exactly why getting your home setup right matters — it is where most of your charging, and most of your savings, will happen.
Tethered or Untethered?
This is one of the main decisions, and it comes down to how you prefer to charge.
A tethered charger has the charging cable permanently attached to the unit. You simply pull the cable out and plug it into the car. It is convenient and quick to use day to day, with nothing to fetch or connect. The trade-offs are that the cable is always on display and needs tidying away between uses, and the cable type and length are fixed — so if you change to a vehicle with a different connector in future, the cable does not change with it.
An untethered charger has just a socket on the unit; you use your own charging cable and store it in the car between charges. This keeps the unit a tidier, more compact fitting on the wall, works with different vehicles and cable types, and is more future-proof. The trade-off is that you get the cable out and connect it at both ends each time you charge.
Neither is better in the abstract. If you value grab-and-go convenience and expect to keep similar vehicles, tethered suits you. If you prefer a tidy wall unit, have more than one type of EV, or want maximum flexibility, untethered is the better fit.
Smart Features — Which Ones Are Worth Having?
Most modern home chargers are “smart,” meaning they connect to your home Wi-Fi and can be controlled and monitored through an app. Some smart functionality is now a legal requirement on new home chargers in the UK, but the useful features to look for include:
- Scheduled charging — set the charger to run during cheaper off-peak hours automatically. Paired with an EV electricity tariff from your energy provider, this is where the real savings on charging cost come from, and it is the single most valuable smart feature for most people.
- App control and monitoring — start, stop, and check charging from your phone, and see your energy usage and what it cost.
- Load balancing — the charger monitors your home’s overall electricity use and adjusts its charging rate to avoid overloading your supply. Genuinely useful in homes with high demand or an older supply.
- Solar integration — if you have solar panels, some chargers can be set to charge the car using surplus solar energy rather than drawing from the grid. A real benefit if you generate your own power, and worth prioritising if that applies to you.
The features to prioritise depend on your circumstances. If you have solar, solar integration matters. If you are on a time-of-use tariff, scheduling matters most. If neither applies, you need less than the top-of-range models offer.
Positioning — Where Will the Charger Go?
Where the charger is mounted affects both how convenient it is to use and how much the installation costs. A few things worth thinking about before you buy:
- Proximity to your parking space — the charger needs to reach your car’s charging port comfortably. Consider which side of the car the port is on and how you typically park.
- Distance from your consumer unit (fuse box) — the further the charger is from your fuse box, the longer the cable run, which affects the installation cost. A charger near the board is a simpler, cheaper job than one at the far end of the property.
- Weather exposure — home chargers are weatherproof and designed for outdoor mounting, but a sensible position out of the worst of the weather is still worth considering.
- Cable management — for a tethered unit especially, think about where the cable will sit when not in use.
A good installer will look at all of this during the survey and advise on the best position for both convenience and cost.
What About Installation Costs?
EV charger installation costs vary from home to home, because the price depends on more than just the unit. The charger itself is one part, but the total also reflects the cable run from your fuse box to the parking space, whether your consumer unit needs any upgrade to support the charger, and your property’s earthing arrangement. A charger close to the fuse box with a modern, ready consumer unit is a straightforward job; one that needs additional cabling or electrical work costs more.
Because of this, a responsible installer surveys your property before quoting rather than giving a flat figure over the phone. The survey means the price you are quoted is the price for your actual home, with no surprises once work begins.
What to Check About Your Own Home First
Here is the part many buyer’s guides skip, and it is the most important: not every home is ready for a charger straight away, and the charger you choose is only half the equation. The other half is your property’s existing electrics.
Before an EV charger can be installed safely, a qualified installer needs to check:
- Your consumer unit (fuse box) — whether it can support the additional load, or needs upgrading or additional protection first. This is one of the most common reasons an installation turns out to be more involved than expected.
- Your earthing arrangement — EV chargers have specific earthing and fault-protection requirements, and depending on your property’s setup, extra protection may be needed.
- Your electricity supply — whether your incoming supply has the capacity for a charger, which occasionally needs checking with the local network operator.
This is why a responsible installer surveys your property before quoting, rather than giving a flat price over the phone. The survey confirms whether a charger can be fitted, what type of installation is needed, and what it will genuinely cost. If your fuse box does need attention, it is worth knowing that a proper electrician can handle that as part of the same job — see our guide to fuse board replacement — rather than sending you off to arrange it separately.
In Short
For most homes, the right answer is a 7kW smart charger, tethered or untethered according to your preference, with scheduling to take advantage of off-peak rates — and solar integration if you generate your own power. Beyond that, the biggest variable is not the charger itself but your home’s existing electrics, which is why a proper survey matters more than chasing the flashiest unit.
If you are considering a home EV charger and want honest advice on what suits your property, ATO Solutions installs EV charging points across Wimbledon and South West London. We are City & Guilds qualified for EV charging equipment installation and NICEIC-registered, and as proper electricians we handle the whole job — including any fuse box or supply work your installation needs.
To find out more, see our EV Charger Installation service, or call us on 0800 050 2424 to arrange a survey.
