How Much Does EV Charger Installation Actually Cost in the UK?

The Short Answer

A commercial EV charger in the UK costs £800 to £2,500 per unit installed, depending on the charger speed and your site conditions. After the government's 75% Workplace Charging Scheme grant, you are looking at £200 to £625 per charger.

That is the headline. Below is everything that goes into that number, so you can estimate what your specific site will cost.

Full Cost Breakdown

These are real 2026 market rates from UK installers. The wide ranges exist because every site is different. The biggest variable is usually electrical work, not the charger itself.

What Affects the Price

Five factors determine where your installation falls in those ranges:

1. Distance from fuse board to car park

This is the single biggest cost variable. If your electrical panel is 10 metres from where the chargers go, cabling is cheap. If it is 50 metres away, on the other side of the building, costs go up significantly. Every additional metre of cable run adds to the price.

2. Electrical capacity

Some properties, especially older buildings, may need an electrical supply upgrade to handle the additional load. A single 7kW charger draws about the same as an electric shower. Four of them running simultaneously is 28kW. If your existing supply cannot handle this, upgrading it adds £500 to £3,000 to the project.

3. Number of chargers

This is where it gets cheaper per unit. Installing one charger means an electrician comes to site, runs cable, mounts the unit. Installing four chargers means the same site visit, the same cable trench, but four units instead of one. Economies of scale can reduce the per-unit cost by 20-30% on larger installations.

4. Ground type

Running cable under tarmac costs less than concrete. Grass is cheapest but may need protective ducting. If your car park has reinforced concrete, trenching is more expensive. Surface-mounted cable management (trunking) can sometimes avoid ground work altogether.

5. Smart charging features

Basic chargers that plug in and go are cheapest. Smart chargers with load balancing, user authentication, billing capability, and remote management cost more but are usually required if you want to charge guests or track usage. For most commercial installations, smart charging is the right choice.

After the Grant: Real Examples

The Workplace Charging Scheme covers 75% of costs, up to £350 per socket. Here is what three real-world installations look like after the grant:

7kW vs 22kW: Which Should You Choose?

The rule of thumb is simple: if guests stay overnight, 7kW is plenty. A 7kW charger adds roughly 30 miles of range per hour. Over an 8-hour overnight stay, that is 240 miles, more than enough for most EVs to go from near-empty to full.

If guests are only with you for 1-3 hours (a meal, a round of golf, a gym session), 22kW makes more sense because it delivers a useful amount of charge in a shorter window.

Hidden Costs to Watch For

The installation price is the main cost, but there are a few ongoing expenses to factor in:

Electricity

A full 7kW overnight charge uses about 50kWh, costing roughly £15 at current commercial electricity rates. Many venues pass this cost to guests (either directly or as a small nightly surcharge), or absorb it as a cost of attracting higher-spending customers. Either way, it is modest.

Maintenance

Modern commercial chargers are solid-state with no moving parts. Annual maintenance costs are typically £50-£100 per unit. Most installers include the first year of maintenance in the installation price.

Network fees

If you use a public charging network like Pod Point or Rolec, there may be a monthly software fee of £5-£15 per charger for the management platform. This gives you usage analytics, remote management, and the option to charge guests for electricity. Some venues prefer "dumb" chargers with no network fees, offering free charging as a guest perk.

Back-office software

If you want to bill guests per kWh, you will need a billing platform. Most charging networks include this. Standalone options cost £10-£30 per month. Many hospitality venues skip this entirely and offer charging as a complimentary amenity.