A new commercial EV charging installation, or adding more chargers to an existing site, affects how much power your site needs and how much the project costs. During planning, you should check your site’s power limits early to avoid buying chargers you cannot use at full power or paying for a grid upgrade you may not end up needing.
In this article, we explain how to choose the right commercial EV chargers, check whether your site can power them and what your options are if it can’t.
What should you work out before choosing EV chargers?
Before choosing EV chargers, estimate:
- How many vehicles will need to charge at the same time
- How long they will usually stay
- How much electricity each vehicle will need before leaving
For charging points for your staff, ask them how often they expect to charge at work and roughly how far they travel each day. For customers or visitors, use parking or booking records to see how many vehicles are usually on site and how long they stay
Businesses with very different parking patterns need different setups. Hotel EV charging, for example, may need to serve overnight guests as well as shorter-stay visitors..
When you have the data, give it to your installer as it will help them work out how many chargers you need and how powerful they need to be.
Which commercial EV chargers does your site need?
The chargers on your site need to be able to provide enough electricity for each vehicle so that it can leave with enough charge for its next journey.
How much charging power you need will vary. A car parked for eight hours may only need a 7kW charger, while a driver staying for an hour or two may need much faster charging.
The electricity going into the car is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). Charger power is measured in kilowatts (kW). The higher the kW figure, the more electricity the charger can supply in the same amount of time.
For example, a 7kW charger can supply about 28kWh over four hours before allowing for charging losses and the vehicle's own limits. If the driver only needs 20kWh before leaving, a more powerful charger may not give them any useful extra charge.
AC chargers generally suit vehicles parked for longer, while DC chargers can supply much more power where drivers need to leave sooner.
| Charger option | Best use case | Potential downsides |
|---|---|---|
| 7–7.4kW AC | Cars parked for several hours, including a working day. | A short stay may not give the charger enough time to supply the electricity the driver needs. |
| 11kW or 22kW AC | Cars parked for a few hours that need a quicker charge. | Your site needs a three-phase supply and the car must accept the higher AC charging rate. |
| 50kW and above DC | Shorter stays where drivers need a substantial amount of electricity quickly. | It uses much more site power and the vehicle may charge below the charger's maximum rate. |
Of course, the vehicle's own charging limit still applies. A car that can only take 11kW from an AC charger will not take 22kW just because you install a 22kW unit.
For workplace EV charging, lower-power chargers may be more useful than a few powerful ones if staff leave their cars parked for most of the day. But for courier and delivery companies whose vehicles are parked overnight, higher-power chargers may make more sense if the vans return with low batteries and need to be ready to leave again in the morning
When planning EV fleet charging solutions, you also need to account for vehicle routes, return times and how much charge each vehicle needs before its next shift..
When comparing chargers, also check how many vehicles can charge at once and how much power each vehicle receives when every connector is being used.
How much power can your site supply?
Every site has a limit on how much power it can take from the grid at one time. Before deciding how many chargers your site can support, your installer needs to establish:
- How much power your site is allowed to take from the grid: They can check your connection records and confirm the limit with your local electricity network operator if needed.
- How much power your business already uses at its busiest times: The difference between this and your grid limit shows how much may be available for EV charging.
You can usually get a year’s half-hourly electricity data from your electricity supplier or meter data provider. Your installer can use it for half-hourly data analysis to see when demand is highest during the day and across the seasons.
Half-hourly readings will not show every short spike in demand, so your installer still needs to:
- Carry out an electrical survey: Inspect the incoming supply, distribution boards, cables and protection equipment to make sure they can safely support the proposed chargers. Inspect the incoming supply, distribution boards, cables and protection equipment to make sure they can safely support the proposed chargers. Even if your site has a three-phase supply (a type commonly used for larger commercial equipment), it may not have enough spare capacity for several high-power EV chargers.
- Check the limits of the circuits supplying the chargers: Confirm how much power each circuit can safely carry without overloading the cables or electrical equipment.
Your installer should also check whether the local electricity network operator needs to approve the installation or be told about it. If the project includes solar or battery storage, they should also check whether a G99 application is required.
If you need more grid capacity, the network operator will assess what extra power it can provide and what work is required. Make sure your installer gets the network operator’s written response to confirm the network requirements before you commit to an installation date.
What if there isn't enough power for every charger?
There are three main options open to you if your site cannot supply all the charging power you need at busy times. Ask your installer which option best suits how much extra power you need and how long you need it for.
Share the available power through load management
Load management stops the chargers using more power than your site can spare. If several vehicles are charging, it shares the available power between them.
Dynamic load management changes how much power the chargers can use as the rest of your site uses more or less electricity.
For example, six 7kW chargers could need 42kW in total. If your site only has 30kW available for charging, that 30kW is shared between them. If it is split equally, each charger gets 5kW.
That may be fine for vehicles parked for several hours, but too slow for drivers who need a lot of charge quickly
If you need to set charger limits and priorities, control access or report on charging use, an EV charging management system can manage those functions across the site..
Increase your grid connection
If sharing the available power would mean that it took too long to charge vehicles, you may need more grid capacity.
Ask your installer to show you the full cost and lead time, including both the network operator's work and any changes needed to the electrical equipment on your own site.
Use battery buffering for short periods of high demand
Battery buffered EV charging (BBEV) can help if your chargers only need more power than your site can supply for short periods.
It uses a large battery installed at the site to store electricity when there is spare power. The battery then supplies some of the extra power needed when several vehicles need to charge at the same time. Using a battery this way is a form of peak shaving, where the battery supplies some of the power your site needs during short peaks so you take less from the grid.
Battery buffering may be less suitable if your site needs more power than the grid can provide for long periods. The battery may run out of stored electricity before it has time to recharge. Ask your installer to compare battery buffering with the cost and timing of increasing your grid connection.
Who can use your chargers, and will they pay?
Before you choose the chargers for your site, decide whether you want them for staff, customers and visitors, or the general public. Your choice affects who will be able to use them and how they pay you, if applicable.
For staff charging, access cards are one way to limit the chargers to approved users. You also need to decide whether charging will be free, subsidised or paid for by employees.
If customers or the public will pay, decide whether your business or a charge point operator will manage the service. That includes setting prices, taking payments, handling refunds and dealing with faults.
Rules on public charging differ between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Public charging in the UK
An EV charger can count as a public charger even when it is on private business property. If customers or other members of the public can use it, the public charging rules may apply. Chargers that only employees can use are not classed as public chargers.
Under the UK Public Charge Point Regulations, new public chargers rated at 8kW or above generally need a contactless payment option. The charging price must also be shown before the driver starts charging.
If charging is free, you do not need to offer contactless payment. Other public charging rules may still apply, so ask the company managing payments and customer support for the chargers to explain what your site needs before you sign the installation contract.
Public charging in the Republic of Ireland
Public chargers in the Republic of Ireland follow the EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, usually called AFIR.
For public chargers installed from 13 April 2024, drivers must be able to pay without signing up for a subscription or ongoing contract.
At chargers rated at 50kW or above, this usually means paying by card or contactless. Below 50kW, the business can also offer a secure online payment method, like a QR-code payment page.
Ask the company managing payments and customer support for the chargers to confirm the payment and price-display rules that apply to your installation.
How much does commercial EV charging cost to install and run?
There is no single price for commercial EV charging installation, but these estimates for the UK can give you a rough idea:
- We Power Your Car estimates about £2,000 for a 22kW AC charger, plus £1,500 to £4,500 for installation. That gives a total of £3,500 to £6,500 for one installed 22kW charger.
- EvoEnergy gives £15,000 to £30,000 for a 50kW DC charger, plus £5,000 to £20,000 or more for installation, equalling £20,000 to £50,000 or more for one installed 50kW DC charger.
Be careful only to use these figures for early budgeting. Commercial EV charging installations can cost a lot more if you need substantial cabling, groundworks, changes to your electrical equipment or a larger grid connection.
The quotes you receive should include the following information:
| Your quote should show | What to check |
|---|---|
| Chargers | The models, number of chargers, power ratings and how many vehicles can charge at the same time. |
| Groundworks and cabling | Trenches, ducts, foundations, cables and repairing the car park or other surfaces afterwards. |
| Electrical and grid work | Changes needed to your distribution boards or electricity supply, with any network charges shown separately. |
| Setup and testing | Load management, payment equipment, communications, testing and staff training. |
| Ongoing costs | Software, connectivity, payment fees, maintenance, repairs and call-out charges. |