EV Charger Installation Eastwood: Home Charging for Heritage Houses

A home charger job has four parts. The electrician looks at your switchboard and incoming supply. They choose a charger position close to where the car parks. They run a dedicated cable from the board to that spot. Then they test the circuit and finish with an electronic Certificate of Compliance, which South Australian law requires.

The charger you end up with is a Level 2 charger, meaning a wall unit that charges far faster than the plug-in cord that comes with the car. That cord, often called the granny charger, is fine for a top-up. If your daily kilometres use more energy than that cord can replace overnight, a wall charger closes the gap.

From 1 July 2024, in-scope AC wall chargers installed in SA are set up to the Office of the Technical Regulator guideline. The charger brand and model must also be registered with the Technical Regulator before it can be installed in SA.

Almost always, yes, though older houses ask for more thought. Original wiring, a small or crowded switchboard and thick masonry walls are the usual things an electrician works around. Solid stone or brick walls are slow to drill and chase, so the cable often runs along the outside in conduit instead.

A charger draws a steady load for hours, which is different from a kettle or an oven. The electrician checks whether your supply can handle charging alongside the other appliances running in the house, and whether the board has room for the circuit protection the new circuit needs.

If the board is full or dated, an upgrade may be part of the quote. You see that cost written down before work starts.

Where the board sits decides how long the cable run is, and the run is what shapes the quote. In many older houses the board is on the far side of a garage or inside a hallway, and a longer run means more labour and more care. A good electrician plans a tidy route, using conduit (a protective tube) along walls or under eaves so the cable looks deliberate, not draped.

If you have solar panels, the charger can be set up to work alongside them so the car fills on daytime generation where that suits your routine. A home battery adds another thing to coordinate, so the electrician considers it when choosing the charger and its settings.

A charger you have already bought can often be installed. The electrician checks that it suits your car, your board and current SA rules before agreeing to fit it.

Eastwood is a small triangular suburb in the City of Burnside, and Victorian architecture characterises much of its historic housing.

The charger position follows where the car parks. A cottage of this age may have no garage, so the car might sit in a narrow side drive, at the street frontage or under a carport added long after the house was built. A wall unit on the side wall nearest the car, with a short tethered cable, keeps the lead off the path.

Eastwood sits inside three main roads, so the streets within are quiet. That suits a charger at the frontage, where the cable stays on your own side of the boundary.

From the edge of the Adelaide Parklands to the streets near Eastwood Community Centre and Matilda Street Reserve, the charger goes on your own property.

Older Eastwood home, no garage, crowded switchboard? Request an Install Quote and type in where the car parks and where the board is.