Home chargers
Most EV drivers who charge at home do so with a dedicated home charger or wallbox, generally installed on the front of their house for easy connection to a car on their driveway. The alternative is to run a cable to a standard domestic plug socket, which will charge your car slower, entail much higher electrical risk, and make you ineligible for the best home charging tariffs.
Home charging is difficult for those who don't have driveways or garages. This situation is called the driveway divide and is a key issue in the transition to EVs.
Contents
Installing a charger
Planning permission
Planning permission is a devolved matter. The following applies in England. Please see the pages for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for any differences.
If you have a driveway, then installing a home charger will not require planning permission in general. There are exceptions if you live in a listed building or scheduled monument, or you want to install a giant home charger.
If you do not have a driveway, then you will require planning permission, and are only likely to get this if your highway authority permits pavement channels. Most home charger installers will advise you that they will not install chargers where there are no driveways, although in the past rogue installers have been happy to go ahead, in breach of planning law.
Landowner permission
If you are a tenant or a leaseholder, then you will need landlord or freeholder permission to install a home charger at the property. This could include a property management company or housing association.Communal parking
If you can run a cable to your car from your home without crossing any land outside your ownership, tenancy or lease, then you can charge at home. However, if you are a group of houses or flats which share parking spaces, then you might need to persuade your management company or housing association to install public chargers near you. It is unfortunately not possible to get home charging tariffs on these chargepoints, as they won't be directly connected to your electricity supply.
Some local authorities have specific policies in place to ensure some of their funding goes towards chargepoints near social housing. For example, Hackney Council say, "All housing estates in the borough will have at least one EV charge point, with a minimum of 10% of all new EV charge points placed on estates." South Lanarkshire Council give specific guidance to residents of council properties.
Other authorities may overlook social housing, particularly if legal complications arise between the authority providing funding and the housing association. You may wish to contact your local authority to ask them to put chargepoints near you.
Installers
The government has a list of approved chargepoint installers. Home charger manufacturers such as Pod and Ohme can install their own chargers directly, or you might choose a more local installer who will buy the charger from the manufacturer. Your car manufacturer or dealership may have a partnership or recommendation of chargepoint manufacturer and installer. Installation is often included in the advertised cost of the home charger whether you are looking at a manufacturer installing their own chargepoint or a local tradesperson.Deals
Chargepoint installation, new cars, and energy for home charging often come bundled with one another. For example, Ford and Audi offer free chargers with new electric cars. See the tariffs page for deals involving energy tariffs.Grant-eligible chargers
The government has a list of chargepoint models which are eligible for grants. The below drop-down lists all the manufacturers in this gov.uk directory, to give a sense of the wide world of home chargers, and how many options you've got. The following section looks at differences between some home chargers and others.
Attributes of a home charger
Cost
Unless you suppose your charger to be an adornment to the front of your house, remember that your home charger is in essence a plug with extra safety features and possibly the capacity for smart charging.
The previous section shows that there is considerable competition amongst suppliers of home chargers, so you can get significant variation in price.
Power rating
For homes on a single phase, 7kW will be the limit of chargepoint power. However, homes on three phases can upgrade to 11kW or even 22kW - at a premium.
Smart charging
Smart chargers communicate with the grid, your car, and the internet. This allows you to charge at the cheapest times when the grid is greenest, and to access the best EV tariffs. You and/or your energy supplier can set charging preferences remotely through an app on your phone, and the charger follows your instructions. Your instructions will typically vary depending on the time, your car's state of charge, and grid information which might be coming through to your energy supplier.
Tethered or untethered
Tethered chargers include the cable which connects to your car, permanently attached at the charger. Untethered chargers do not include this cable, so a detachable cable must be used.
As Pod cover here, tethered chargers have the advantage of convenience and deterrence of cable theft, while untethered chargers look tidier and cost less.