Do you need a home charger?
You don't strictly need one — you can technically charge from a three-pin socket. But a dedicated 7 kW home charger charges most cars fully overnight and, critically, unlocks the cheap off-peak EV tariffs that make electric driving genuinely cheap. Without one, you lose the biggest financial advantage of owning an EV.
See do you need a home charger installed? for the full picture.
Installation: what it costs and what's involved
A typical 7 kW home charger installation costs between £800 and £1,200 fully fitted. The main variable is cable routing — a simple run from your consumer unit to a driveway wall is the cheapest. If the charger needs to go further or the supply needs upgrading, costs rise.
Most installations take half a day. You'll need off-street parking — a driveway, garage or allocated bay. The installer will check your electrical supply is adequate and register the charger with your distribution network operator.
The right tariff: where the savings actually come from
The cheapest EV miles come from a dedicated overnight tariff — sometimes called an “EV tariff” or an off-peak rate. These give you several hours of electricity at a significantly lower rate than the standard price cap, timed to charge the car while you sleep.
The difference is large. On a cheap EV tariff, charging a 60 kWh car from empty costs a few pounds. On the standard rate it costs several times more. And on public rapid chargers it costs more again. This is the single biggest variable in EV running cost — bigger than which car you buy — and it's why we built the tariff comparison into every car page.
7 kW vs 22 kW: which speed do you need?
Almost every UK home has a single-phase supply, which limits a home charger to 7 kW. That's plenty — it adds roughly 25–30 miles of range per hour, meaning a full charge overnight is easy for any car up to about 80 kWh.
Three-phase 22 kW chargers exist but require a three-phase supply (rare in UK homes) and a car that can accept three-phase AC (also uncommon in the used market). For the vast majority of buyers, 7 kW is the right choice.
What if you can't charge at home?
Without off-street parking, a home charger may not be an option. You can still run an EV — plenty of people do — but your running cost depends heavily on what charging you can access. Workplace AC charging, on-street lamppost chargers, and supermarket destination chargers are the next best options; relying solely on public rapid chargers changes the cost equation significantly.
We cover this honestly in can I charge without a driveway? and should I buy an EV if I can only charge in public?
Overnight charging and battery health
Charging slowly at 7 kW overnight is the gentlest thing you can do for an EV battery. It generates less heat than rapid charging and keeps the pack in the moderate state-of-charge range that maximises long-term health. Cars with active liquid cooling handle all charging well; air-cooled cars like the early Nissan Leaf benefit most from slow, overnight sessions.
For more on how charging affects battery life, see how much degradation is normal after 5 years.