Installing an EV Charger at Home: A Guide for Blackpool and Fylde Drivers

Charging an electric vehicle at home is convenient, but it puts a heavy and long-lasting load on your electrics, so the installation needs proper planning. This guide explains what an electrician will look at, how earthing and load management work, what the smart charging rules mean for you, and what to expect on grants and paperwork. It applies to homes in England, including Blackpool, the Fylde, Preston and Wyre.

Grant schemes and some rules change over time, so treat this as a starting point and check GOV.UK for the current position before you order anything.

Why a home charger needs its own circuit

A three pin plug on a normal socket can charge an electric vehicle, but it is not designed to carry that sort of load for hours at a time, and it is not recommended as a regular way of charging. A dedicated charge point is connected on its own circuit directly from the consumer unit, with its own protection. That circuit is designed for continuous use, which a normal socket circuit is not.

Because it is a new circuit, installing a charge point is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations in England. Our Part P guide explains what that means for you.

What the electrician checks first

Before quoting, a competent installer will want to understand your property. Expect questions and checks about:

• Your supply. Is it single phase or three phase, and what is the capacity of the main fuse? Most homes have a single phase supply. The installer needs to know whether your supply can cope with the charger on top of the cooker, shower and other loads.
• Your consumer unit. Does it have space and modern protection for a new circuit? Sometimes the unit needs replacing as part of the job. See our consumer unit guide.
• The position of the charger. The distance from the consumer unit to where you park affects the cable route, and whether the cable can be clipped, buried or run through a duct. Wall mounting on the house is usually simplest. Detached garages or driveway posts need more work.
• Your parking arrangements. Whether you have off-street parking is the main practical requirement. A cable lying across a public footpath is a trip hazard and is not an acceptable solution.
• Your earthing arrangement. This is covered below and is one of the most important parts of the survey.

Earthing and PME

The earthing arrangement of your home depends on how the electricity company supplies it. A very common arrangement in the UK is protective multiple earthing, or PME, sometimes called TN-C-S. In a PME system, the supply neutral and the earth are combined in the network, and your home's earth connects back to that.

This matters for EV charging because a fault on the supply neutral could, in rare circumstances, put a dangerous voltage on the metalwork of a vehicle that is charging and on the earth of the charger, and a person standing on the ground could receive a shock. The wiring regulations, BS 7671, therefore set particular requirements for EV charging points on PME supplies. In practice, one of the following is normally used:

• a charger or add-on device that detects a problem with the supply and disconnects it, which is built into many modern chargers;
• a separate earth electrode, commonly known as an earth rod, installed outside to provide an independent connection to earth, with testing to confirm that it works;
• in some cases, a different arrangement where the situation allows.

Your installer should tell you which of these applies and why. The choice depends on your supply, the ground conditions and the charger. You should not accept a quotation that does not mention how earthing has been dealt with.

Load management and your network operator

Charging a car can draw a large current for several hours. If your home has a modest supply, it is possible to overload it if you charge while cooking and heating. Some charge points include load management, which monitors the current flowing into the property and reduces the charging rate when other demands are high, so that you do not trip the main fuse.

Your installer also has to tell the local electricity network operator about the installation. In the Blackpool, Fylde and wider Lancashire area, the distribution network operator is Electricity North West. In many cases, a notification after installation is enough, but for larger loads, or where a supply cannot cope, the installer may need to apply for approval beforehand. A good installer will handle this process for you.

Smart charge point rules

Since 30 June 2022, charge points sold and installed in Great Britain for home and workplace use have had to meet the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021. In summary, a compliant charge point must be able to send and receive information over a communications link, must offer a way for you to set charging times and must be able to adjust charging in response to signals. It also has to have security and metering features, and it must offer you options so that charging can be shifted to times when electricity is cheaper or less demanded. You do not have to use these features, but the charger has to have them.

Your installer should only fit a charger that meets these regulations, and should explain how you set it up, for example through an app.

Grants

Government grant support for charge points has changed several times. The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which gave a contribution towards installation in houses, closed to new applications for houses in 2022. A separate EV Chargepoint Grant has been available for people who rent or live in flats, and it requires that the installer is authorised under the scheme. The details, such as who is eligible and whether the scheme is open, are set by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.

Do not assume you qualify. Read the current GOV.UK guidance before you book, and ask your installer whether they are authorised for the grant. Whether a grant is available can change the way you plan the work.

Tethered or untethered, and other choices

A tethered charger has a cable permanently attached. An untethered charger has a socket, and you plug in your own cable. Tethered is convenient, but you must have the right connector for your vehicle, and you will have to change it if you change cars. Untethered chargers are flexible, and let you carry the cable in the car.

Other points to consider include the power rating, whether your car can use all of it on your charger, and whether you want solar integration if you have solar panels. A 7 kW home charger is typical, but a higher rating is only useful if your supply and your car can use it.

Weather, safety and maintenance

Chargers installed outdoors need to be suitable for the weather and for the way you park. They should be fixed securely at a sensible height and protected from knocks. Use only the cables supplied for the purpose, and never use a damaged cable or connector. Keep it clean and dry. Have it checked whenever you have an inspection carried out on the rest of your electrics. If you have a rented home, your landlord's permission is needed first.

After installation

Your installer should provide:

• an Electrical Installation Certificate and the test results, including how the earthing was checked;
• notification to building control, usually through their registration scheme;
• confirmation that the network operator has been notified;
• instructions on how to use and set up the charger.

If you would like to discuss a home charger, see our pages on EV charger installation in Blackpool and the Fylde and our EV charger installer page, then call 01253 364101 or send an enquiry.