Charging your car at home is one of the great perks of electric vehicle ownership. A Level 2 (240-volt) home charger allows you to plug in a nearly depleted EV in the evening and wake up to a full battery the next day. Once you’ve lived with this luxury, you’ll never look at gas stations the same way. But getting to that easy electric living requires some hard and potentially very expensive work up front. Installing a home charging station can be fraught with unexpected costs, ambiguous information, and flaky contractors.
It doesn’t have to be that way, though. With our expert guidance, you’ll have the knowledge you need to ensure you end up with the right charger for your home and a competent installer—all at a fair price.
Installation Costs
Most American homeowners will spend around $1,150 to $2,750 to purchase and install a 240-volt charging station at home. A good charger costs $350 to $750 or so, while the typical installation runs between $800 and $2,000 according to Qmerit, a nationwide specialist in installing EV charging equipment. The price an electrician charges for this work varies based on four factors: cost of labor where you live, power of the charger, distance between the electrical panel and the charging station, and overall job complexity. This installation estimate also includes the price of permits.
You may be shocked to get a quote exceeding $5,000 or in extreme cases $10,000. There are a couple common reasons for these big estimates. An older home may have an outdated electrical panel, or the panel simply might not have room for a new 240-volt circuit. Upgrading to a larger breaker panel typically adds a couple thousand dollars. Things get really expensive if the service wires feeding electricity to the house can’t deliver enough amperage to accommodate a charger on top of your existing electrical load—especially if the lines are buried underground. Replacing these wires means getting your local utility involved, which also may stretch the project timeline by several months.
Qmerit CEO Tracy Price estimates that 20–30 percent of home EV charger installations today require a panel upgrade or a load management system. If you find yourself in one of these pricey predicaments, you have a few money-saving options.
What to Look for in a Home EV Charger
This gives you flexibility. In a two-car garage, you can often charge vehicles in either parking spot with a
