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Smartlec Electrical SolutionsYou have the new EV but no driveway to charge it on, just a space in a shared basement or a permit park out front, and the real question is not which charger to buy but where it can legally go and who has to say yes first. That is what Smartlec sorts before it quotes, and it has been the answer Martin Turnbull gives St Kilda EV owners since 2017, working as one A-Grade licensed electrician rather than a charger fitter who subs the wiring out. Run a house with off-street parking and the job is simpler. Either way, tell us where the car sleeps and where the meters live, and a fixed price follows.
A lot of EV charging advice assumes a garage and a wall to mount a unit on. Plenty of St Kilda living does not work that way. You might have a single bay in a shared basement, a space on a common-property forecourt, or only on-street permit parking with no private spot at all. Each changes the install before any cable is run.
A dedicated bay can usually take a wall charger, fed from your own meter so you pay for the power you use, not the building. A space with no power nearby needs a cable route planned through common property, which the building has to approve. And if the only parking is on the street, a private wall charger is not the fix: the City of Port Phillip has put public kerbside chargers in around St Kilda, but those suit a top-up, not the overnight fill the car you drive every day really wants. We tell you straight which of these you are dealing with, rather than quote a garage install for a basement bay.
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Hardly anyone publishes a real charger price, and in a shared building a sight-unseen figure is even further from the truth, because the cable run, the metering and the building approval all move it. So we look first. A $99 inspection buys a proper assessment of your bay, your supply and the route the cable needs to take, and a fixed, itemised quote at the end of it. That $99 is waived in full the moment you proceed.
For a house or a straightforward bay, a few clear photos of the meter box and the parking spot are often enough to scope it without a visit. Either way the price is locked before work starts, with no hourly meter running and no surprise on the invoice.
This is the part of an apartment EV charger that catches people out, and it is worth getting right early. Mounting a charger in a shared basement or running a cable across common property is not yours to authorise alone. The owners corporation has to approve the work and the cable route, and most want to see a licensed contractor doing it without putting the building’s wiring at risk. A clear scope and a licence number they can check makes that conversation a short one.
The other half is metering. A charger wired off a shared or house-services supply bills the wrong people, and a continuous 7kW load is not a rounding error on a building’s account. The clean answer is a charger fed from your own unit’s meter, or sub-metered so the consumption lands on you and only you. We work out which is possible in your building, so the power you pull is the power you are billed for. Settle the sign-off and the metering, and the actual fitting is the easy part.
Before a price comes the question only St Kilda really forces: where the charger can go, and who has to approve it. Tell us your parking, your building and the car you drive, on 1300 870 531 or through the website, and we will sort that first, then quote the install as one fixed number. The $99 to assess it is credited the moment you book. Hours are Monday to Friday 7:00am to 5:30pm and Saturday 7:00am to 3:00pm. Smartlec covers St Kilda from the Prahran base, with chargers nearby in South Yarra and Brighton, and the same hands that get a home off gas.
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Here is the part worth sorting before you book anyone. Many EV charger installers are exactly that, charger fitters, and they bring in a separate electrician for the circuit and the switchboard. Smartlec runs the other way around. Martin is a licensed A-Grade electrician who fits chargers, so the dedicated circuit, the supply and the charger are one job, one quote and one person answerable for the lot.
In a shared building that single-trade approach earns its keep. The supply, the metering and the common-property cable run are all electrical questions the owners corporation will want answered by someone licensed, and handling them under one St Kilda electrician means no second contractor to coordinate. An EV job rarely travels alone, either, so if a split system is on the same list, or specifically a split system in St Kilda, the same licensed hands cover it.
A charger in a block draws on more than wiring skill. It runs near its rated load for hours, it crosses property someone else is responsible for, and the people signing off want proof the contractor is the real thing. That is why the cover and credentials behind the work carry real weight here. With Smartlec, this is what stands behind the install:
Complete electrical solutions for homes, businesses, and modern energy upgrades.
Most homes and units are best matched to a 7kW single-phase charger. It puts back plenty of range overnight and suits the single-phase supply most dwellings already have. A 22kW charger only reaches full speed on three-phase power, and most cars cap their home AC charging well below that anyway, so it often buys a speed neither the supply nor the car can use. A three phase earns its place for a workplace or a building genuinely set up for it.
Smart charging matters more here than in a standalone house. A networked unit schedules onto off-peak rates and, where several bays share one supply, balances the load so the building is never pulled past its limit. For a retail strip or a workplace adding staff charging, that is what keeps the rest of the power on while the cars fill. We will talk through 7kW against 22kW, and basic against smart, for your car and your supply.
Smartlec services 10 suburbs from the Prahran base. Each suburb below links to a dedicated page for that service in that location, with local detail on what the job involves, common issues for homes in that area and how the quote works.
Smartlec services across metropolitan Melbourne, including the inner south-east suburbs.
Smartlec services across metropolitan Melbourne, including the inner south-east suburbs.
Smartlec services across metropolitan Melbourne, including the inner south-east suburbs.
FAQ'sFind answers to some of the most common questions about our electrical services.
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Usually yes, but the owners corporation has to approve the work and the cable route across common property first, and the charger is best fed from your own meter so you pay for what you use. We scope the bay, the supply and the metering, give you a clear quote to put to the building, and install once it is approved.
A private wall charger needs a space you control, so on-street permit parking is the one case where a home install usually is not possible. The City of Port Phillip runs some public kerbside chargers around St Kilda for top-ups. If you have any private bay, shared or not, we can look at charging it properly.
Sometimes. A 7kW charger is a heavy continuous load, and an older board or a shared supply may not have the capacity or the right protection for it. We check that as part of the quote, and because we are A-Grade electricians we can do any board or mains work and the charger as one job.
Yes. We install single unit chargers and multi-bay commercial and workplace setups, including the shared supply and smart load management a row of chargers needs. Victorian VEU rebates can apply to some energy-efficiency upgrades, with eligibility depending on the work, so we will tell you upfront whether yours qualifies.
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