The 6 Questions a Commercial Electrician Will Ask Before Quoting Your EV Charger Installation (And How to Prepare)

If you’ve started getting quotes for a commercial EV charger installation, you may have noticed that a thorough electrician asks a lot of questions before they give you a number. That’s not stalling, it’s due diligence. A commercial EV charging installation isn’t like replacing a light fitting; it involves your site’s electrical infrastructure, your building’s approval processes, and decisions that will affect your charging capacity for years to come. 

The better prepared you are when those questions come, the faster and more accurate your quote will be, and the less likely you are to encounter costly surprises once work begins. 

Here are the six questions a commercial electrician will almost always ask before quoting, and exactly how to prepare for each one. 

What’s the age, make, and capacity of your switchboard?

This is usually the first question, and it’s the most important one. 

Your switchboard (also called a distribution board or main switchboard) is the electrical hub of your building. Before installing EV chargers, an electrician needs to know whether it has enough spare capacity to handle the additional load and whether it meets current Australian standards. 

Older switchboards, particularly those installed before 2000 or those that use ceramic fuse technology rather than modern circuit breakers, frequently need upgrading before EV chargers can be added. This isn’t something an electrician can determine from a floor plan. It requires physical inspection. 

How to prepare: 

• Locate your building’s main switchboard, usually in a plant room, basement, or electrical room.  

• Note the manufacturer name and any model or rating information on the board.  

• If you have access to the building’s electrical drawings or certificates of compliance, have them ready.  

• Ask your building manager or facilities team whether any electrical upgrades have been done in the last five to ten years.  

• If you genuinely don’t know the state of your switchboard, tell the electrician upfront. A good installer will factor a switchboard inspection into their site assessment process.  

Where do you want the chargers located, and how will the cable get there?

The proposed charger location determines the complexity and cost of the cable run from your switchboard. This is where many commercial quotes go wrong: a client assumes the charger goes “near the car park” without considering what’s between the switchboard and that location. 

On commercial sites, cables must travel through walls, across ceilings, through fire-rated barriers, and sometimes between floors. Cable runs that look short on a floor plan can become significant in practice. A 15-metre straight-line distance might involve a 60-metre cable run once it follows the building structure. 

Cable run length also affects voltage drop, a technical issue that, if not accounted for in the cable sizing, can result in chargers that underperform or fault. 

How to prepare: 

• Mark your preferred charger locations on a floor plan or site map before the site visit.  

• Note what’s between your switchboard and those locations: floors, concrete walls, fire-rated barriers, or areas where cutting into the structure may not be permitted.  

• If your building has existing cable trays or conduit paths, note where they run.  

• For leased premises, check whether your lease permits structural penetrations or cable installations through common areas.  

The more you can tell the electrician about the physical path between the switchboard and the chargers, the more accurate their quote will be. 

How many chargers do you need now, and how many might you need in the next three to five years?

This question might feel like a sales question, but it’s actually a design question. The way an electrician designs a commercial EV charging installation changes significantly depending on whether you’re planning for two chargers or twenty. 

Running additional circuits during an initial installation while conduit is already being run and walls are already being opened costs a fraction of what it costs to return to site for a second stage. An electrician who understands this will ask about future growth upfront so they can right-size the infrastructure from day one. 

If you’re installing four or more chargers, this conversation will also include load management, the hardware and software that distributes available power intelligently across multiple active chargers to prevent overloading your site’s grid connection. 

How to prepare: 

• Think about your current EV fleet or the number of EV-driving staff or tenants who need charging today.  

• Then think about where that number realistically goes in three years.  

• If you’re installing for a strata car park or commercial tenancy, consider the broader adoption trend. EV uptake in Australia is accelerating, and demand for charger access tends to grow faster than expected.  

• Be honest about your budget constraints. A good installer will help you find the right balance between upfront infrastructure investment and staged rollout.  

Do you own or lease the premises, and have you got approval from the relevant parties?

This is the governance question, and it’s one that catches many commercial clients off guard. 

In Australia, commercial EV charging installations often require approvals beyond the standard electrical permit. On strata-titled properties, works affecting common property typically require owners corporation or body corporate approval. On leased premises, tenants usually need written landlord consent before making alterations to the electrical infrastructure. In some local government areas, additional planning permits may apply. 

These approvals take time, often four to twelve weeks depending on the complexity of the governance structure. An electrician can’t commence work without them, and discovering this requirement after you’ve already engaged an installer is frustrating for everyone. 

How to prepare: 

• Confirm whether your site is strata-titled, freehold, or leased.  

• If strata, contact the owners corporation or strata manager to understand the approval process. Ask whether EV charging has been considered before and whether there’s a policy in place.  

• If leased, review your lease for clauses about electrical alterations, and contact your landlord or property manager early.  

• If neither applies, check with your local council whether any planning permits are required for the charger type and mounting method you’re considering.  

Starting this process before you’ve finalised your installer selection is ideal. The approvals timeline runs in parallel with the quoting and design process, not after it. 

What charger type and power output do you need?

Not all commercial EV chargers are the same, and the right specification depends on how the chargers will be used. 

The key variables are: 

• Power output: Commercial AC chargers typically range from 7kW to 22kW. A 7kW charger will add roughly 40km of range per hour. A 22kW charger will add approximately 100km per hour, vehicle dependent. If your vehicles are parked for eight-plus hours, a 7kW charger may be entirely sufficient. If your fleet has high turnover, you may need higher output.  

• Connector type: Most modern EVs in Australia use a Type 2 connector. Older vehicles may use Type 1. Some fleet vehicles use specific connector types. Your installer should confirm what’s compatible before specifying chargers.  

• Smart charging capability: Commercial chargers with OCPP connectivity allow remote monitoring, usage reporting, access control, and load management. For most commercial applications, smart charging capability is strongly recommended.  

How to prepare: 

• List the EV makes and models that will use the chargers, and how long they’re typically parked on site.  

• Decide whether you need access control (RFID cards, app-based activation) or whether open access is appropriate.  

• Consider whether you want usage data for cost recovery or fleet management purposes.  

What’s your timeline and budget range?

This is the question that helps an electrician understand the scope of what they’re being asked to design and price, and it’s worth answering honestly. 

A commercial EV charging project can range from a straightforward two-charger installation completed in a day to a multi-stage, multi-bay rollout spanning several months. Timeline and budget shape the design, including what infrastructure gets installed upfront, what gets staged, and what compromises, if any, need to be made. 

How to prepare: 

• Be clear about any hard deadlines, such as a fleet commitment date, a lease commencement, or a sustainability reporting period.  

• Give an honest budget range rather than a firm ceiling. “We’re hoping to stay under $X but open to understanding full cost” is more useful than an artificially low number that forces the installer to cut corners to win the job.  

• Ask the installer to separate the quote into charger hardware, installation labour, switchboard works if needed, and any load management or network fees. Itemised quotes are much easier to compare and evaluate.  

Coming to the Quote Prepared Makes Everything Better 

The six questions above aren’t obstacles, they’re the foundation of a well-designed installation. Electricians who ask them are doing their job properly. When you arrive at a site assessment with clear answers, you’ll get a faster, more accurate quote, a smoother installation, and an EV charging system that’s genuinely fit for purpose. 

EVSE Australia’s commercial team conducts thorough site assessments across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. If you’d like to get the process started, contact us here and we’ll walk you through everything. 

EVSE Australia is a leading supplier and installer of commercial EV charging infrastructure. Our licensed electricians have completed hundreds of commercial installations across Australia.