Hornsby EV Charger Installation Specialists

The key factor is your vehicle's onboard AC charging capacity. Every EV has an onboard charger, electronics inside the car that convert AC power from the wall into DC for the battery. That onboard charger has a maximum AC input it can accept. Most single-phase EVs are rated at 7.2kW. Three-phase capable vehicles may accept 11kW or 22kW. Installing a wall unit with a higher output than the car can accept doesn't speed up charging - the vehicle accepts only what its onboard hardware can process regardless of what the wall offers.

Check your vehicle's specifications for the figure labelled "onboard AC charger capacity" or "maximum AC charging rate." If it's 7.2kW, a 7.2kW single-phase home charger is the right match. If it's 11kW and your property has three-phase supply, an 11kW three-phase unit will use that capacity in full. If your property doesn't have three-phase supply, a single-phase 7.2kW charger is the right choice regardless of the vehicle's capability.

The circuit requirements also differ. A 7.2kW charger runs on a dedicated 32A single-phase circuit. An 11kW three-phase unit needs a three-phase connection and matching protection at the board. Not all Hornsby residential properties have three-phase supply. We confirm supply type and board capacity during the site assessment and advise on the correct charger specification for your situation.

A ballpark range is possible over the phone based on a few key questions. A firm, accurate quote requires a site visit, because the main cost variable is the installation itself: cable route length, the switchboard's current state, whether conduit can be concealed, and whether any board work is needed. These factors aren't visible remotely.

The questions that help narrow the range before we visit: Is the parking area within 10 metres of the switchboard or further away? Is it a detached house, townhouse, or apartment? Does the board have spare circuit capacity or was it recently upgraded? Do you have a charger model in mind? For most standard Hornsby residential installs, a detached home with parking near the garage and a reasonably modern board, the installation falls within a predictable range and the site visit confirms rather than surprises.

We offer free site assessments. The visit costs nothing, and the quote we provide afterwards is firm. We don't adjust the price after the job starts unless something is found that was genuinely not visible during the assessment. We would rather spend 30 minutes on site giving you an accurate figure than provide a rough number that shifts on the day.

Under NSW electrical safety legislation, notifiable electrical work is work that the licensed electrician must notify to the electricity network operator after completion. In most of Hornsby, that is Ausgrid. This notification is handled by the electrician as part of issuing the Certificate of Compliance. You don't need to contact Ausgrid yourself.

EV charger installation is notifiable electrical work. So is installing a new circuit, upgrading a switchboard, or adding any significant new load to the network. The purpose is to ensure the network operator has accurate records of new or modified connections, particularly for sustained high-current loads like EV chargers that change the demand profile of a connection point.

The practical implication for a property owner is that your licensed electrician must provide a Certificate of Compliance when the work is complete. This document confirms the notification was made and that the installation meets Australian Standards. If an electrician completes an EV charger installation and doesn't provide a CoC, that is a compliance failure, not a minor administrative gap. The CoC is also what your home insurer will request if a claim ever involves the electrical installation, so keeping it on file is worth doing.

A standard circuit breaker (MCB) protects against overload and short circuit. It trips when current through it exceeds its rating for long enough to indicate an overload or fault condition. What it doesn't detect is earth leakage - small amounts of current escaping through damaged insulation or through a person rather than returning through the neutral conductor.

An RCBO combines that MCB overload and short circuit protection with residual current detection. It monitors the current difference between the active and neutral conductors continuously. In a healthy circuit this difference is zero. Any difference, even as small as 30 milliamps, indicates current is going somewhere other than the return path. The RCBO trips within milliseconds, well before that leakage current reaches a level that is dangerous to a person in contact with the fault.

For EV charger circuits, an RCBO is the required protection device under AS/NZS 3000. An MCB alone does not meet the requirement. The type of RCBO also matters: EV charger electronics can produce pulsating DC fault currents that standard Type AC residual current devices aren't rated to detect. The installation must use a Type A device, which detects both AC and pulsating DC residual currents. We specify and install the correct device type for every charger installation and confirm correct operation during the commissioning test before sign-off.