Commercial EV Charging Explained

Commercial EV charging installs charge points for staff, fleet, visitors or the public. Done well, it is a valuable asset; done badly, it creates safety risks and overloads. Every installation should be designed and installed to BS 7671, including Section 722 which covers electric vehicle charging specifically.

What a compliant installation needs

• Adequate supply capacity — confirmed by a capacity assessment so chargers do not overload the incoming supply.
• Correct earthing — including protection against an open-PEN fault on PME supplies (see earthing considerations).
• Appropriate RCD protection and dedicated circuits.
• Load management where several chargers share a supply (see load management).

Planning your installation

The starting point is a site survey and capacity assessment to understand what the existing supply and distribution board can support, and what upgrades (if any) are needed. From there, the number and speed of chargers, cabling routes and management strategy are designed.

Ongoing responsibilities

EV chargers are electrical equipment that needs maintenance and, for shared or paid facilities, back-office management via OCPP and payment-enabled charging. This pillar links to detailed guidance on each aspect for workplaces, landlords, apartment blocks and fleets.