EV Charger Costs and the OZEV Grant
A 7kW smart home EV charger — the standard domestic unit — adds approximately 30 miles of range per hour of charging, making it fast enough to fully charge most EVs overnight. The unit itself costs £500 to £900, with installation — including a dedicated circuit from the consumer unit, trunking, outdoor weatherproof housing, and commissioning — bringing the total to £800 to £1,500 for a straightforward installation. More complex installations involving longer cable runs, a new consumer unit, or a three-phase supply upgrade can reach £2,000 to £3,000.
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) administers the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant, which provides eligible homeowners with up to £350 off the cost of installing a smart charger. To qualify, you must own or have ordered a qualifying EV or plug-in hybrid, and the charger must be installed by an OZEV-approved installer. The grant is applied at the point of installation — you pay the net cost and the installer claims the grant directly. The OZEV grant means most homeowners can install a basic smart charger for under £1,000 after the grant discount.
If you live in a flat or rented property, separate grant schemes apply — the EV Chargepoint Grant for Renters and Flat Owners offers up to £350 for eligible installations. Landlords can access the Landlord EV Charging Scheme. These schemes change periodically; checking the current OZEV guidelines at the time of installation is recommended.
For most owner-occupiers, a 7kW smart charger after the OZEV grant will cost £450 to £1,150. At this level, a personal loan, 0% purchase credit card, or simply drawing from savings is almost always the more cost-effective route than a secured loan, which carries arrangement costs and a longer minimum term.
When Does an EV Charger Warrant a Secured Loan?
A secured loan for an EV charger makes sense when the charger is bundled with other home improvement or energy efficiency works that collectively justify secured borrowing. The most common scenario is a combined solar-plus-EV-charger installation, where the solar panels generate free electricity during the day and the charger is scheduled to run from stored battery energy or grid supply on a time-of-use tariff overnight. Adding a home battery storage system to this combination creates a complete home energy ecosystem that can dramatically reduce electricity bills and the cost of EV charging.
A typical combined project — 4kW solar panels (£6,500), a 9.5kWh battery (£8,000), and a 7kW smart charger (£1,200) — totals around £15,700. This is an amount where a secured loan at 8 to 10 per cent is competitive with or cheaper than a personal loan, and where the combined savings from solar generation, battery storage, and off-peak EV charging can significantly offset the monthly loan repayment.
Other scenarios where an EV charger may be included in a secured loan: a full rewiring of an older property that requires a new consumer unit and upgraded earthing (costs £3,000 to £6,000), after which the additional cost of an EV charger circuit is modest; a major renovation or extension where the project budget already warrants secured finance and the charger is a small additional line item; or a garage conversion that includes vehicle storage space and a charging installation.
In each of these cases, the decision to include the EV charger cost in the secured loan should be driven by the total project economics rather than the charger cost in isolation. Your broker can model the total cost of finance with and without the charger included to confirm it is worthwhile.
