Home Charging Station: Everything in a Complete EV Home Charger Setup
The charger, the circuit behind it, the protection at the board, the app and the power plan. Get all five right and charging at home costs a few dollars a night.
The $499 Online Station That Was a Cable With a Bracket
A Wigram owner bought what was sold as a home charging station on a marketplace site for $499 and asked us to install it. When it arrived it was a portable charging cable, the kind with a control box halfway along, plus a wall bracket to hang it on. It still needed a socket, still charged at socket speed and still had no app.
There is nothing wrong with a portable cable. It just is not a charging station. A proper station is a wall-mounted unit on its own circuit, with protection at the board, a way to schedule it and usually a way to share power with the rest of the house. That is what this page covers.
What a Complete Home Charging Station Includes
| Part | What you get | In our price? |
|---|---|---|
| Wall charger | A 7kW smart unit, tethered or socket | Yes, on supplied-and-installed jobs from $1,422 |
| Dedicated circuit | A 32A breaker or RCBO and correctly sized cable | Yes, with up to 10m of cable |
| Protection | RCD and DC leakage protection, plus an isolator at the charger | Yes |
| Load management | A CT clamp so the station shares your supply safely | Yes, where the charger supports it |
| App and schedule | Wi-Fi set-up and a night-rate charging schedule | Yes, done with you on the day |
Anything outside a standard station, like trenching or a switchboard upgrade, is itemised on your written quote.
What the App Should Let You Do
- Start charging when your night rate begins
- See how many kWh went into the car this week
- Lock the charger so nobody else can use it
- Take software updates without a service visit
When a Station Is Not Really a Station
- It plugs into a standard socket instead of being wired in
- It has no CT clamp option, and your board is already busy
- It is not certified for use in New Zealand
Pair the Station With the Right Power Plan
The station gets the power into the car. The power plan decides what you pay for it. Christchurch retailers offer EV plans with cheap overnight rates, and some include free hours. Set the station to charge inside that window and a week of commuting can cost less than a takeaway lunch.
The running cost guide works through the numbers per 100km and per full charge.
Price Up Your Home Charging Station
Four photos are all we need: your switchboard with the door open, the spot where the charger will go, the path between them and your meter board. One written number comes back, usually the same day.
Before You Buy a Charging Station
Check Before You Pay
When you buy EV charging station hardware online, check it is a hardwired unit and certified for New Zealand before you pay. Many listings are portable cables rather than wall chargers, and a cable is not a charging station.
The Smart Part
Smart home charge features are what make a station worth having: the schedule that waits for the night rate, the load management that keeps the mains happy and the history that shows what each charge cost.
A Feature When You Sell
An electric vehicle home charging station adds to a house as well as to your routine. Buyers with EVs look for one, and a properly installed unit with a CoC is easy to list as a feature.
Everything in the Box, and Behind It
An electric home charger from us comes with everything needed to run it: the circuit, the protection, the isolator, the app set-up and the paperwork. Prices start at $1,422 supplied and installed.