Updated 29 August 2026
The 2026 numbers
| Item | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Wall-box smart charger, 7.4 kW single phase | $800–$2,500 |
| Installation on a dedicated circuit | $1,500–$3,000 + GST |
| Switchboard upgrade first, where the board needs it | $1,500–$4,000 |
| Long or trenched cable runs | Quoted from the drawing: the line that varies most |
Those ranges are wide because the houses are. A modern townhouse with a compliant board and a garage wall near the meter sits at the bottom of every line. A villa that parks on the street, runs a board from the 1960s and needs twenty metres of trench sits at the top of all of them. The house decides the number, which is why we quote from a site look and a drawing rather than a phone estimate. Our EV charger installation service prices the whole job fixed inside two working days.
The switchboard decides the price
A 7.4 kW charger draws 32 amps continuously, for hours: more than almost anything else in the house, and unlike an oven it does it every night. Boards from the 1960s and 70s, still common from Devonport to Birkenhead, were never sized for that: ceramic fuses, no RCD protection, no spare ways. The honest answer there is a board upgrade first, then the charger. Done together it is one visit, one set of testing and one certificate, which is cheaper than discovering the problem on install day. It is also why the first thing we do on any EV quote is check the board, not measure the wall.
What moves the number on the peninsula
- Distance from board to parking. Devonport and Cheltenham villas often park on the street, so the run may need trenching across a garden or drive. Cable and civil work scale with every metre.
- The board itself. Capacity, protection and spare ways. This is the difference between a half-day install and a two-stage job.
- Wall construction and access. Brick, weatherboard over original sarking, or a tidy modern garage lining all take different time.
- Apartments and shared parking. Takapuna basements need metering, load management and body corporate sign-off solved before anything is mounted: design time, not just install time.
- The charger you choose. Supplying your own or using a dealer-supplied unit takes the hardware line out of our invoice; the installation cost is the same either way.
3.6 kW or 7.4 kW: what each buys you
| 3.6 kW | 7.4 kW | |
|---|---|---|
| Range added per hour | about 18 km | about 40 km |
| Overnight, 8 hours | about 145 km | about 320 km |
| Continuous draw | 16 A | 32 A |
| Suits | Plug-in hybrids, short commutes | Most EVs, and the next car too |
The hardware price difference between the two is small; the board requirements are not. If the board can carry it, 7.4 kW is the answer that still fits the household in five years. Three-phase 22 kW charging is a commercial and fleet tool: almost no house needs it, and almost no car on a home charger can use it.
What it costs to run
EECA puts home charging at the equivalent of about $1.60 a litre, road user charges included, and that is at standard rates. Most NZ retailers now sell EV plans with cheap overnight windows, and a smart charger scheduled into those hours is where the running-cost advantage actually lives. We set the schedule up at commissioning; most people never touch it again. If you have solar on the roof, charging from your own midday generation is the cheapest kilometre you can buy.
Why our quote is fixed
Most EV charger quotes are a rate and a guess. Ours is a price and a drawing, inside two working days, covering the charger, the dedicated circuit, any board work and the certification. If the number needs to include a switchboard upgrade or a trench, it says so before we start, not on the invoice after.
Every installation is certified in-house by our own Registered Electrical Inspector and carries a 12 month workmanship guarantee. The person who signs the work off is the person responsible for it.
