The first question a good EV installer answers, before quoting. Phase, spare ways, main switch rating and RCD protection decide whether your board can carry a charger or needs an upgrade first, and why a missing load check leads to nuisance tripping or an unsafe install.
The first question a good installer answers is not which charger you want. It is whether your switchboard can carry one. An EV charger is a continuous high load, and the board has to be checked before a single product is quoted. This guide covers the four checks that decide the answer, and why skipping them causes tripping or an unsafe install.
Each of these is a yes-or-no the installer should confirm at your board before talking price. A quote that names a charger without naming your board has skipped the part that matters.
A charger draws its full current for hours at a time. That is different from a kettle or an oven, which spike and stop. If the board cannot carry that sustained load on top of everything else, you get nuisance tripping when the air conditioner and the charger run together, or worse, an install that sits over capacity without tripping at all. The load check is a short calculation: add the charger to your measured peak demand and confirm the supply and board can take it. It costs the installer a little time and saves you a service call and a fire risk. A quote that skips it is cheaper for exactly that reason.
We check the phase, the spare ways, the main switch and the RCDs before we quote a charger. The cheap quote names a charger and never looks at your board.
If the check finds no spare way, no RCD protection, or a main switch too small for the added load, the board needs attention before the charger goes in. That is not an upsell; it is the difference between a safe install and a hazard. The honest version prices it as a line in the same quote. The cheap version installs onto an unsuitable board and the upgrade becomes a mid-job surprise, or never happens at all. See what triggers a switchboard upgrade for the signs your board is due.
Before you book, the switchboard scorecard on our /pricing page walks you through the four checks so you arrive at quotes already knowing your board's state. Once the board is confirmed, the next decision is the charging rate. Read 7kW versus 22kW EV charging to choose between single and three phase.
Your switchboard, not the charger, decides what is possible and what is safe. Answer the four checks first and the rest of the EV decision becomes simple. Skip them and you are buying a problem you will pay to fix.