Smart EV charger installation: questions and answers

The “smart” bit means the charger is internet-connected, so it can communicate with your car and with the grid. This brings all sorts of benefits for the customer, like charging when the grid is greenest, and energy is cheapest. Smart EV charging generally happens at home.

You don’t have to be an OVO customer for us to install one of our smart EV chargers.

Not all homes can have an EV charger fitted at the moment. To have one installed, you need to:

• Own the property
• Have your own off-street parking
• Have a WiFi connection at home 

Our survey is designed to check if your home is suitable.

• Tethered charger: includes a permanently attached cable, so you can simply park up and plug in. 
• Untethered charger: no cable included. Some EVs come ready with a cable, or you might have to buy your own. Either way, you can keep it in your car, and attach it when you’re ready to charge.

Our chargers are 7kW, which means it takes between 4 and 8 hours to fully charge your EV, depending on the battery size. And it takes about an hour to get enough charge to drive around 30 miles.

A 3-pin plug will charge your car at around 2.3 kW. This means it would take about 17 hours to fully charge a car with a 40kWh battery.

We don’t recommend you try installing an EV charger yourself unless you’re a professional engineer or electrician. Our engineers are specially trained to install EV chargers.

If you’re installing a charger in a property you own, you don’t need permission.

If the cable needs to be routed across property which isn’t yours, then we might not be able to install a charger. We also can’t install in:

• A communal area
• An underground parking garage

Our chargers are very competitively priced, from:

• From £999 for an Indra Smart PRO, including installation
• From £999 for a Hypervolt Home 3 Pro, including installation

Prices given include a standard installation. Your survey might show that you need more work than a standard installation. In this case, your quote would include this additional cost.

Find out more about our different installation types here.

All our install prices include a Surge Protection Device (SPD) as standard. This device protects your EV charger and vehicle in the event of any electrical power surges.

Our standard charger installations take around 3 hours to complete and include: 

• Our expert engineers fitting the EV charger to a brick/rendered wall.
• Up to 10 meters of 6mm power cable – this is neatly clipped to the wall between the electricity supply meter and the charger.
• Setting up the charger and pairing with your smartphone via WiFi or 4G – with full support from our engineer.
• A full demonstration of how your new charger works.

For a standard installation to go ahead:

• The existing electrical connections and protections within your home must be in good condition.
• All required main protective bonding at the property must be installed and adequately sized before the installation of the Charge point.
• No groundworks/civil works, electrical remedial works or any other trades need to be carried out.

If any of these requirements aren’t met, our surveyors will let you know. But please note that any work that needs to be done would need to be arranged by the customer. Our engineers can carry out Earth bonding upgrades for an additional cost. Main isolation switches can also be fitted for OVO customers on the day of install for an additional cost.

For a full quote, please choose your preferred charger and complete our online survey.

If your survey shows that you need additional work done prior to installation, then that won’t be included.

We offer two solar-compatible chargers: the Indra Smart PRO and Hypervolt Home 3 Pro.

Charge Anytime is OVO’s super-low rate for charging at home. Our Charge Anytime compatible smart chargers work out the cheapest, most energy-efficient times to charge your car. So they not only save you money at a rate of 7p per kWh, but help save the planet, too.

You need to be an OVO customer to sign up to Charge Anytime – you can use our form to find out if you’re eligible.

Here are the 6 basic steps to a standard installation. Your engineer will:

• Fix the charger to the wall where you want it
• Run the cable from the charger to your electricity meter and clip it neatly to the wall
• Tidy up any mess they’ve made
• Test and commission your charger
• Show you how the charger works and pair it with your mobile device
• Answer any questions you might have

See our step-by-step guide to EV charger installations for a behind-the-scenes look at when our engineers fitted an EV charger at a customer's house.

• Make space in the area where our engineer will be working
• Make sure your fuse box is easily accessible
• Have your wifi password to hand
• Our engineer will have to switch off your power for a short time. So if you have medical equipment that needs constant power, please let us know.

Your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) looks after your local electricity supply, the cables coming to your home, and your home’s main fuse. But don’t worry, it’s our job to get in touch with them. 90% of installations go ahead with no problem, but if you need any extra work, we’ll let you know.

Our dedicated, friendly team will be happy to help you by phone or by email.

Trunking is a form of protection to keep any indoor cabling safe from accidental damage. It also helps keep any cabling neat and hidden. It’s available in different sizes, and the amount used will depend on your home. The most common sizes used are 25mm(W) x 16mm(H) and 38mm(W) x 25mm(H).

Most installations don't require internal trunking. Where we can, we’ll neatly clip the power cable onto an external wall that can withstand impact. If you do require trunking, we’ll let you know when we survey your home.

Trunking is only needed when external cabling isn’t possible. So cabling will need to be run indoors, usually along the surface of walls or ceilings in your home. If it is needed, we’ll use white, rectangular trunking to keep the cabling safe from any accidental damage.

There are other cable routes available, and we can talk through these when we survey your home. These other options may cost more if they fall outside our installation specifications. If you’d prefer to go for one of the other cabling options, any work will need to be carried out before installation – such as having carpet and floorboards lifted.