We’ve been installing EV chargers properly since about 2021 — before that it was the odd job here and there, but now we’re doing several a week across Prestons, Casula, Moorebank, Cecil Hills, Hoxton Park, anywhere people have a garage and a new EV. We’ve done well over 150 installs across south-west Sydney at this point, and every single one has been different.
What I want to do here is give you the honest version of what’s involved — the costs people don’t budget for, the mistakes that cause headaches, the brands I actually trust, and two real jobs from our area that show you what this process looks like from start to finish.
What it actually costs — the honest breakdown
Get Your EV Charger Installed by a Licensed Liverpool Electrician
The range is genuinely wide, and it comes down to your specific home and how far the cable needs to run.
At the budget end — $1,200 to $1,800 — you’re looking at a single-phase home, a modern switchboard with a spare breaker position, and a garage within 8 to 10 metres of the board. Straightforward cable run, job done in half a day.
In the middle — $2,000 to $3,000 — you’re dealing with a longer cable run of 15 to 25 metres, possibly adding an RCD, or the install requires going through brick or concrete. Still very manageable, just takes longer.
At the top end — $3,500 to $5,000 and up — you’re looking at a switchboard upgrade, a long run, underground trenching across a driveway, Level 2 supply work through Endeavour Energy or Ausgrid, or a dual-charger setup. These are the jobs that tend to catch people off guard if no one has prepared them.
The costs people most often forget to budget for: a switchboard upgrade if the board is old or undersized, trenching if cable needs to cross a driveway underground, conduit through brick or concrete, and sometimes a metering upgrade if you want a time-of-use tariff to charge at off-peak rates overnight. I walk through all of this at the site visit before you commit to anything — I’d rather have that conversation in the driveway than hand you a surprise invoice.
About 1 in 3 homes needs switchboard work first
More often than people expect. In older homes it’s closer to half.
The moment I walk into a property, I’m looking at a few things: Are there RCDs on every circuit? Is there a spare breaker position for the new EV circuit? What’s the main fuse rated at — 63 amps or 100 amps? Is the board modern enough to handle the extra continuous load? If switchboard work is needed, budget an extra $800 to $1,500 on top of the charger install.
The job I keep thinking about is a family in Casula — 1970s fibro home. The husband had already bought a 7.2kW charger online before calling us. When I arrived, I could see straight away the board wasn’t going to handle it. The main supply fuse was a 40-amp rewireable — undersized for a modern home, let alone an EV charger drawing continuous load overnight. We had to do a full switchboard replacement, upgrade the main supply through Endeavour Energy, and run about 22 metres of cable from the new board through the roof cavity and down the garage wall.
All in, the job came to about $3,800 — nearly double what he’d expected. He was frustrated at first. When I showed him exactly why, he got it. His car now charges overnight, and his power bill has actually dropped because he’s on an off-peak EV tariff.
Single-phase vs three-phase — the reality in south-west Sydney
About 80% of the homes I visit out here are single-phase, especially anything built before the late 2000s. That’s fine for a single EV. On single-phase you can run a 7.2kW charger, which will fully charge most EVs overnight. For the average daily driver, that’s more than enough.
Where three-phase becomes worth the conversation: you’re planning a second EV in the next year or two, you have a large battery pack and want to charge faster, or you’re already on three-phase and the upgrade is clean. Going from single to three-phase supply in south-west Sydney typically costs $2,500 to $4,500 depending on what the street infrastructure looks like and whether network work is required. Because we hold Level 2 ASP accreditation, we coordinate that with Endeavour Energy or Ausgrid directly — you don’t need a second contractor.
For a good example: a couple in Prestons with two EVs — a Tesla Model 3 and a new Kia EV6. They wanted two chargers in their garage. Three-phase was already at the property, which made the whole job much cleaner. We installed two 11kW chargers on separate circuits with load balancing so both cars could charge simultaneously without tripping each other or overloading the system. Full day’s work, $4,200 all in. They now have a setup that’ll handle whatever they buy next.
Solar and EV integration — worth doing properly
It’s probably half our EV customers now. People have had solar on the roof for years and when they get an EV the penny drops — hang on, I can charge my car for free from my own roof. Mostly they’re right.
For solar integration I usually recommend the Fronius Wattpilot or a Catch Power relay. Both can be set to only draw from solar generation, so the car charges when there’s surplus power you’d otherwise export to the grid for five or six cents a kilowatt-hour.
A customer in Hoxton Park — 10kW solar system, Tesla Model Y, works from home. We set the Wattpilot to charge from solar surplus between 9am and 3pm. He tracked it for three months and was spending less than $3 a week on charging. Before the setup he was paying peak rates at night.
The compliance side — what you actually get
Installing an EV charger is licensed electrical work. When we complete the job, we issue a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work (CCEW) — your legal record that the work was done to Australian Standards. You need it for home insurance and for any future property sale. We also notify the network on your behalf for Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid areas, which covers most of south-west Sydney.
If you’re in strata, this is a separate conversation. You need written body corporate approval before we start. I always advise sorting that first — I’ve had customers book the job, we’ve shown up on the day, and the body corporate has said no. That’s a wasted call-out and sometimes months of delay while the approval process runs.
The three mistakes I see most often
Buying the charger before calling an electrician. I understand the excitement — you’ve just got a new EV and you want it sorted. But I’ve turned up to jobs where someone has bought a three-phase charger for a single-phase home, or a unit that requires load management their solar inverter doesn’t support. Sometimes it’s fixable. Sometimes they’re returning the charger.
Not thinking about where the charger goes long-term. Most people just say put it near the door. But is that where you’ll park in five years? Will the cable reach the car comfortably if you upgrade to a longer vehicle? Is a second EV coming? Spend five minutes thinking about it before we start drilling.
And for strata: sort the approval first, then call us.
What I ask you when you ring
When someone calls about an EV install, five questions tell me about 80% of what I need to know before I’ve visited. What EV do you have, and have you bought a charger yet? How old is the home and when was the switchboard last upgraded? Where’s the garage or parking in relation to the board? Do you have solar, and if so what inverter brand? Are you in strata or on your own property?
If you can answer those when you call, I can usually give you a rough ballpark on the phone — and confirm everything properly at the site visit.
We service Prestons, Liverpool, Moorebank, Casula, Mount Pritchard, Hoxton Park, Edmondson Park and surrounding south-west Sydney suburbs. Call us on 1300 342 919 or get a quote at ausservices.com.au.
