Last Updated: 13th Dec By Finn Peacock, Chartered Electrical Engineer
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Choosing the right charger is important.
This guide covers selecting and installing home EV chargers, plus integrating them with solar. I&#;ll also explain how your charger can work with home batteries and variable electricity tariffs when you can&#;t charge directly from solar.
But if you&#;re in a hurry and just want to know the best EV home chargers to buy in Australia, here are the details.
Compare EV charger prices and specifications side-by-side. This comparison tool lists standard and smart electric vehicle charging solutions currently available in Australia.
A good EV charger does more than fill your car battery as fast as possible; it optimises your charging to automatically charge from solar and/or cheap overnight electricity, dodging peak electricity rates, which can be up to ten times more expensive.
Pro-Tip: If you have a home battery, a well-integrated EV charger charges your car without draining your home battery&#;s energy. An EV charger that&#;s not properly integrated will simply drain your home battery into the car&#;s battery, leaving your home dependent on the grid overnight.
If you simply buy a cheap charger online and then ask your local sparky to install it &#; it won&#;t be configured to play nice with your electricity tariff, solar or home battery. This guide will show you how to choose the right EV charger and find an electrician who knows how to install it properly.
In this guide, I&#;ll regularly use two key terms: power (kW) and energy (kWh). The little &#;h&#; at the end changes the meaning completely.
In the realm of EV charging:
The terms &#;Power&#; and &#;Energy&#; are not interchangeable when talking about EV charging.
An example: if your EV charger charges at a power (AKA speed) of:
&#;you will get 14 kWh of energy into your car&#;s battery.
EV chargers use either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) to charge your car&#;s battery.
Almost all home EV chargers use AC. They convert AC power from the grid to DC power, which is compatible with the EV battery.
That sets home EV chargers apart from the fastest public chargers, which operate on DC electricity and can charge up to 50 times faster than a typical home charger.
An AC home charger with a Type 2 plug vs. a DC fast charger with a CCS2 plugNerd Fact: Can you install a DC fast charger at home? Yes! As a part of Sigenergy&#;s Sigenstor all-in-1 battery, you get a 25 kW bi-directional DC charger, which is the fastest home EV charger currently available in Australia. Find out more in the video below:
Although the device on your wall is commonly referred to as an EV charger, the actual charging system&#;responsible for converting your home&#;s AC electricity into DC electricity and safely feeding it into the battery is built into your car:
The onboard charger looks something like this:
An onboard charger converts 230V AC from your home charger to a higher DC voltage for the EV battery. Image: Delta ElectronicsOnboard EV charger power ranges from 2 kW to 22 kW, depending on the car model.
The charging station on your wall is technically called an EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). It works like this:
Trickle chargers come for free with most cars, except Teslas. They start at $350 when bought separately (Tesla&#;s &#;Mobile Connector&#; costs $550). Because they plug into a standard power point, they don&#;t require installation (unless you need to install a new power point where you park the car).
Charging from a regular 10 Amp socket with a &#;Mini&#; portable charger.Pro-Tip: Extension Cords. Be careful using an extension cord to power your EV. Consider investing in a dedicated power point close to the car for regular charging. If you must use an extension cord &#; please read our in-house electrician&#;s advice on the safer way to charge with an extension cord.
A standard power point is limited to providing 10A of current.
10A x 230V = 2.3 kW.
That means trickle chargers charge at about 2 kW.
If your car has a small 60 kWh battery (e.g. Tesla Model 3 RWD), that&#;s 30 hours to fully charge.
Divide energy capacity by charging power to calculate how long a full charge will take (the kilowatts cancel out, leaving just the hours).Trickle chargers are painfully slow unless you have a small battery or don&#;t drive much. The charge rate is equivalent to adding 10 km of range every hour.
If you&#;re using a trickle charger for your car, you might keep it plugged in at home all the time to get as much charge as possible. But, there are downsides:
I recommend investing in a proper hard-wired charger at home and leaving your mobile charger in the boot for emergencies. If you&#;ve invested thousands in an EV, invest a little more in proper charging for your home.
Pro-Tip:You don&#;t need a hard-wired charger to charge at Level 2 speeds at home. You can install an industrial style 32A socket, and buy a portable charger that plugs into that. This will charge at up to 7kW on single-phase and up to 22kW on 3-phase.
Want to know more? We&#;ve got a whole page on EV charging with a 32-amp socket!
Tesla Tip: Tesla&#;s mobile charger has interchangeable plugs, and can charge at 7 kW, with a third-party 32A plug. I don&#;t know of any other car-manufacturer-supplied mobile connectors with this feature.
Pro-Tip: Compare hard-wired home EV Chargers with my constantly updated EV Charger Comparison Table
A hard-wired EV charger designed for household use can charge at 7 kW to 22 kW. That&#;s between 3 and 10 times faster than a regular mobile connector. To achieve these charging speeds, a dedicated cable is installed back to your switchboard.
The speed of your home EV charger depends on two things:
A Dumb home charger charges as fast as possible every time you plug in. The car tells the charger the maximum power it will accept (via one of the wires in the EV charging cable), and a dumb charger simply matches that power.
However, with a smart charger, you gain control. In essence, it can decide whether to charge or not and may adjust the charging speed based on:
Since the internal electronics of an EV charger are relatively simple, many cheap options exist. However, the cheapest single-phase EV charger I would comfortably recommend is the Tesla Wall Connector. This one goes for $800 for single or 3-phase supplies. You can buy it directly from Tesla, but I&#;d recommend buying from the installation company. Then, they are responsible for both the hardware and installation warranty.
While the Tesla Wall Connector is compatible with most modern EVs, it is considered a &#;dumb&#; charger with no native smart solar charging capabilities unless you own the entire Tesla ecosystem, i.e., a Powerwall home battery and Tesla car.
Nerd Fact: Tesla&#;s &#;Gen 3 Wall Connector&#; will not be dumb for long. We expect an Over The Air update soon, that will make it OCPP compatible. Hooray!
The most expensive home charger I know of in Australia is the Keba KeContact P30 x-series, which costs an eye-watering $3,300.
Most home EV chargers with a good feature set cost about $1,500.
The cheapest OCPP-compatible charger I know of is the ZJ Beny at around $750, but I wouldn&#;t recommend it. A friend bought one and had so much trouble with it that he swapped it for a Tesla Wall Connector.
EV Charger installation can cost as little as $300 for a single-phase charger right next to your switchboard, and up to many thousands if you need to run a long power cable, dig trenches, or even upgrade your supply and/or switchboard to handle the extra power requirements.
But most people will pay $ &#; $1,500 for the installation on top of the hardware cost.
If you are buying a Home EV Charger, what connector/plug should it have to be compatible with your car?
This one is easy. Unless you drive an EV more than 5 years old (pre-) or have a special import, you need a &#;Type 2&#; plug (also known as a Mennekes or CCS2), which looks like this:
You can confirm by looking at the charging socket on your car it should look like this.
CCS2 socket. Top for AC, bottom for DC.You may have noticed that the socket is a different shape from the plug! Don&#;t worry. The bottom part of the socket is for fast DC chargers to use. I&#;ll explain why later.
If you have an older EV you may need an adaptor to go from a modern EV charger&#;s Type 2 plug to fit your car&#;s vintage socket.
All modern EVs can charge at 7 kW (~ 40 km added per hour) with a single-phase hard-wired EV charger.
If your home has a 3-phase supply, and you buy a 3-phase EV charger, each phase is capable of a maximum 7.3 kW. This way, your charger can charge at 22 kW (~ 125 km added per hour).
Pro-Tip: If you have a 3-phase supply, buy a 3-phase charger. The hardware costs either the same or about a hundred bucks more for 3-phase, and the installation costs a couple hundred bucks more. But, you&#;ll enjoy the faster charging when you are in a hurry, and even if your current car can&#;t charge at 3-phase speeds, you&#;ve future-proofed your EV charging setup.
Some EVs can charge faster on 3-phase, while others can&#;t. For example, BYDs cannot charge quicker than 7 kW on single or three-phase AC.
Tesla&#;s Model 3 and Y can charge at 7 kW on single-phase and 11 kW on 3-phase.
Onboard charging at a full 22 kW on 3-phase AC is currently only available in Australia for the Polestar 4, Audi e-Tron GT and the Porsche Taycan, if you pay for the upgrade. The Renault Zoe can charge at 22 kW too, but it has been discontinued in Australia.
To help you, we made a table showing the maximum AC charging rate for popular EVs in Australia. Use this to match your EV with the right charger.
EV
Maximum AC charging rate
BYD Dolphin 7 kW BYD Seal 7 kW BYD Atto 3 7 kW BYD Sealion 6 7 kW Renault Megane E-Tech 7 kW Fiat 500e 11 kW Mini Cooper EV 11 kW MG4 11 kW Tesla Model 3 11 kW Polestar 2 11 kW Hyundai Ioniq 6 11 kW Tesla Model Y 11 kW Kia EV6 11 kW Hyundai Ioniq 5 11 kW Volvo XC40 Recharge 11 kW Mercedes-Benz EQB 11 kW BMW iX3 11 kW Audi Q4 e-tron 11 kW Polestar 4 11 kW Kia EV5 11 kW Porsche Taycan 11 kW Audi e-tron GT 11 kW Mercedes-Benz EQS 11 kW BMW i7 11 kW MG Cyberster 11 kW LDV eT60 11 kW Ford E-Transit 11 kW Mercedes-Benz eVito 11 kW Jeep Avenger 11 kW Hyundai Ioniq 5 N 11 kW Polestar 4 + Upgrade 22 kW Porsche Taycan + Upgrade 22 kW Audi e-Tron GT + Upgrade 22 kWMost people only use their hard-wired EV chargers for a couple of hours a day and their electronics are relatively simple. The longest EV charger warranties I&#;m aware of are only 5 years and most are only 2 or 3.
The main reason warranties are so short is EV chargers are still new technology. Once manufacturers are confident they can go the distance, they&#;ll hopefully lengthen the warranties. Those that can&#;t go the distance will either be improved or disappear from the market.
Are you interested in learning more about EV Charging Cable Suppliers? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
But the warranties don&#;t just have a problem with length. The protection they provide can be very limited. Ideally, you&#;ll want a warranty that&#;
Few EV charger warranties meet all the points above. But the good news is Australian Consumer Guarantees will still protect you. These apply no matter what a written warranty says and can still provide protection even after the warranty period. However, having a warranty that doesn&#;t force you to rely on Consumer Guarantees is always better. If something goes wrong, you&#;re less likely to need a fight to get the service you&#;re entitled to.
To ensure the best possible consumer protection, I recommend paying an installer to both provide and install your EV charger. This way, if there&#;s a problem, the installer is responsible for ensuring your system functions as it should. If your installer is no longer around you can contact the manufacturer directly.
But if you purchase an EV charger online and then pay an installer to put it in, the installer is not responsible for the hardware warranty. You might get caught in the middle between manufacturer and installer, one blaming the other for problems.
If you have a large enough solar array, then one of the best features to look for in a home EV charger is smart solar charging.
This feature, when enabled, will monitor how much excess solar is available and divert that solar electricity into your car battery. That way, you are filling your car with the cheapest electricity in the world: behind-the-meter Australian solar.
This feature can be achieved in 3 ways:
If you have a Tesla car, then there is a fourth way to achieve this. An external app like ChargeHQ talks to your solar inverter and car (not the EV charger) and commands the car to only charge on surplus solar (even if you have a dumb EV charger). Tesla owners in the USA can also do this using the Tesla app if they have a Powerwall to measure the solar. I expect this feature to be available to Tesla owners in Australia soon.
Note: if you have a small solar array &#; this feature will likely just frustrate you as your car can charge very slowly or not at all depending on how sunny it is. It is one reason new EV owners often upgrade their solar array to 10-20 kW.
If you have a home battery, it&#;s usually best to save the energy in the battery for your home, not to empty it into your car. Do you want to prevent this from happening? The foolproof way to do it is with this simple wiring change.
If your EV charger is the same brand as your home battery or hybrid inverter, then you should be able to achieve the same outcome with software. As they can all talk to each other, this gives you more flexibility.
Smart EV chargers can include several smart charging features. But I&#;d say the most important feature is a weird acronym: OCPP.
The most forward-thinking feature of an EV charger is its compatibility with the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). This facilitates communication with other OCPP devices and integration with third-party services for optimised charging strategies, including cost-saving tariffs linked to energy market prices.
If you have OCPP, most of the following features can be added with software:
This feature allows for coordinating multiple chargers to distribute electrical load evenly. This ensures the household&#;s main circuit breaker isn&#;t overwhelmed.
For homes with high power demands (e.g., electric floor heating), enhanced load balancing adjusts the power distribution to prevent circuit overload while charging EVs.
Ensure your cable is long enough to work any way you park. Pick an untethered charger and grab a lengthy &#;Type 2 to Type 2&#; cable. This way, you can easily charge two cars, no matter how they&#;re parked, without the hassle of moving them around.
Using a timer to benefit from time-of-use tariffs for cheaper off-peak charging makes sense, especially when solar production is insufficient. Every EV I&#;ve ever sat in can also be configured to charge on a timer &#; but I find it easier to rely on the charger than the car, especially if you have multiple EVs.
Implementing a PIN code restricts charger access and ensures that only authorised users can initiate charging, providing peace of mind.
Can the charger identify each user or vehicle and log their electricity consumption? This helps manage expenses among multiple drivers. This can be done through automatic detection or unique identifiers like codes or RFID cards.
I asked over 500 Aussie electricians what home EV charger they would put on their own homes if money were no object. The clear winner was the Fronius Wattpilot. The Wattpilot is expensive at $, and very well made. It integrates natively with Fronius inverters. If you have a Fronius inverter, it&#;s the best choice.
Fronius WattpilotI also asked what home charger they would put on their own homes if they were on a tight budget and the winner was Tesla&#;s Wall Connector. It is a high-quality charger compatible with any modern EV, but lacks many smart functions. Its low price makes it the best &#;dumb charger&#; in Australia.
The Tesla Wall Connector can be smart &#; but only when paired with a Tesla Powerwall battery and Tesla car.
Tesla Wall ConnectorThe Delta AC Max Smart which I own, only got two votes from our installers! The Delta brand is not well-known amongst Aussie residential electricians, but I know it well from my days working on Nuclear Power Stations. I know Delta gear to be well made and well supported, and can recommend their car chargers.
Delta AC Max SmartPro-Tip: Stay in the inverter ecosystem. If you already have solar, then buying your electric car charger from the brand that makes your solar inverter or battery is a smart move to avoid compatibility issues when trying to coordinate your solar and battery with your charging. Fronius, Goodwe, SolarEdge and Sungrow all make EV chargers that should work seamlessly with their inverter/batteries.
According to EV FireSafe, an EV has a 1 in 83,000 chance of catching fire .
Even with those odds, I prefer to charge on a shaded driveway. My logic is that, although extremely unlikely, if my EV does catch fire, it&#;s less likely to burn the house down. So, my EV charger is installed outside.
But that&#;s just me. If you are happy to store a petrol car in your garage, charging an EV in there should be acceptable to you, too, as an EV is about 80 times less likely to catch fire than a petrol or diesel car.
EV chargers in the driveway can be mounted on a wall or a post. Charging cable length will determine whether you need to park a certain way around to reach the charge point &#; especially if you have more than one car.
Cable length matters if you have 2 or more cars.Sidebar: Don&#;t have a driveway for an EV Charger? Solutions to EV charging on the street are explored here.
Some EVs can power household appliances (V2L), feed energy back to the grid (V2G), or supply electricity to homes (V2H), acting as mobile batteries.
V2L allows EVs to directly power devices during outages. This is useful in emergencies but is limited compared to dedicated home batteries.
V2G offers potential earnings for EV owners by selling power back to the grid during peak demand.
However, it doesn&#;t supply home power during blackouts. V2H stands out by enabling EVs to function as home battery systems, potentially replacing the need for separate batteries, especially for homes with solar panels. This technology can keep operating during grid failures, with solar panels charging the EV.
Bi-directional chargers, necessary for V2H and V2G, are expensive and scarce in Australia, with regulatory and standardisation efforts ongoing. At the recent Sydney International EV Show , Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen announced that Standards Australia has set a new standard that will allow V2G, &#;as early as Christmas this year.&#;
V2H has promise and investing in solar panels to prepare for its wider adoption is a wise choice. For more information, look at our in-depth article about V2L, V2H and V2G.
* requires &#;Wallbox Qasar 2&#; bi-directional inverter, which hasn&#;t been released yet &#; so we can&#;t confirm that Cupra&#;s claimed V2G/V2H works
Currently, the Nissan Leaf is the only fully electric car with V2G and V2H capabilities. However, you can convert your V2L vehicle to run parts of your house.
For example, Home Open Energy Manager (HOEM) has a V2L controller you can install in your home. It enables V2H-like functionality from EVs with only V2L capabilities. When your V2L car is connected to the HOEM system, it can power select house circuits during grid outages or peak times.
&#;Tesla Powershare&#; is Tesla&#;s answer to Vehicle to Home (V2H) and is only available in the USA at time of writing. Americans can use Tesla Powershare if they have a Powerwall 3, a Tesla Wall Connector and a Cybertruck.
Check our blog post on Tesla&#;s Powerwall 3 for more information on how it works.
Which cable do I need for my EV charger? How long of a cable do I need? Is an adaptor necessary? How much will a cable cost me? Find out the answers in my EV Charging Cables guide.
When you can&#;t charge at home, you&#;ll need to charge at public EV chargers. I break down everything you need to know about charging on the road in my Public EV Charging guide.
How are everyday Australians finding their EV chargers? Read about their experiences and insights on our EV Charger Reviews page.
This depends on what type of charger you use. A modern 500-km-range EV will use about 16 kWh of electricity to go 100 km (it will use more when it&#;s cold or if you drive like a nutter).
The charger you use, and the power it uses, will also determine the cost from &#;free!&#; to &#;Hang on, that&#;s almost as much as petrol!&#;
You can plug a trickle charger into a suitably rated socket. However, installing your own wiring to the main switchboard is illegal.
In many cases, EV chargers over 4.6kW or 20amps AC require network permission to connect. Meanwhile, installing the correct cable and circuit protection is electrical work that requires a 4-year qualification.
Yes, it&#;s safe to sit in your EV while it&#;s charging. Modern EVs come with several safety features that keep the high-voltage battery system separate from the cabin, so you&#;re not at risk from the charging current. However, keep in mind that running the air-conditioning might slow the charging rate down a little bit.
Charging an EV fast creates heat, which may be detrimental to long-term battery health. However, modern EVs have liquid cooling and refrigeration systems to control battery temperature. Meanwhile, the Battery Management System will limit charging speed if temperatures are too high or too low.
The real concern about charging speed should be etiquette.
Charging above 80% is a slow process, so you shouldn&#;t use a fast charger to completely fill your battery when someone is waiting. AC chargers are better for topping off, but 100% state of charge isn&#;t necessary unless you&#;re planning a maximum range trip.
Driving fast doesn&#;t deplete your EV battery in the same way an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car depletes its petrol at higher speeds. An IC engine is most efficient at wide-open throttle. However, few people ever get to use a &#;full acceleration, then coast to the next stop&#; driving technique.
EVs are fundamentally more efficient. This is in part due to the energy recovery available through regenerative braking. Full acceleration will create more waste heat in the electrical system and tyres. But fast driving won&#;t halve your fuel mileage around town.
Highway speeds are heavy on EV energy consumption, though. Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of speed, so anecdotally speaking, you&#;ll get twice as far at 90 km/h as you would at 120 km/h.
EVs don&#;t lose a great deal of charge while parked.
However, any modern EV or petrol car with keyless entry may suffer from a flat 12-volt battery. If the key fob is stored within a few metres of the parked vehicle, the car security system may be kept active, sweeping for a signal (with the expectation that you&#;re approaching and want the door open).
Keeping keys away from the vehicle &#; and maybe even in a Faraday cage &#; is also a good anti-theft measure.
Some EVs have a &#;sentry mode&#; where the mobile internet connection is kept active while the cameras on the front, rear and sides are all recording just in case there&#;s an incident. This can use some hundreds of watts of load, which might deplete the EV traction battery in a week.
If you are buying an EV and looking to invest in a home charger, I recommend the following:
If you&#;re ready to buy an EV charger, I can help you get quotes for quality home charging systems from pre-vetted installers quickly and easily:
Get Up To 3 Quotes >>
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