On a Richmond terrace, the EV is the simple part. Where the cable runs, and whether the old supply can carry it, decides the job long before the charger does. Martin Turnbull, the A-Grade electrician who has run Smartlec since 2017, works both out before quoting an EV charger installation, because on inner-city property they are usually what the price turns on. The frontage is narrow, the meter is often at the front, and the car parks out the back or nose to tail at the kerb. Tell us the car, where it parks and roughly where your switchboard sits, and a firm number comes back before anything is fixed to the wall.
EV charging for a Richmond: where the cable actually runs
The advice you will have read pictures a garage with a clear wall to mount a unit on. A single-fronted terrace rarely offers that. There is no side return to carry a cable down, and your car might sit in a rear lane, on a hardstand behind the house, or tandem along the street. Each spot puts the charger somewhere different and changes the run between the board and the car.
That run is worth thinking through early. A unit on the front facade has to sit so the lead reaches the bay without crossing the footpath or a doorway. A rear or laneway bay means routing the cable cleanly through to the back instead. Where the only spot is on-street with no private bay, a fixed home charger is not the answer, and we will say so rather than quote a job that cannot go in. We look at the path the cable actually has to take, then price it.
Single-Phase or Three-Phase: What to Expect
Behind the routing sits the bigger question on Richmond stock: can the supply carry a charger at all. A 7kW unit is a heavy continuous load, drawing hard for hours at a time, and a board built for a few lights and one power point per room was never sized for it. Plenty of these homes still run a single-phase service and a switchboard with no spare ways, sometimes on older fuse-style protection. Bolt a charger onto that without checking and you invite nuisance tripping, or trouble you do not see until heat finds the weak point.
Three-phase power would open up faster charging, but in older terrace streets it is frequently not available at the property. Bringing it in is separate network work, not something an installer simply switches on. So for most Richmond terraces the realistic setup is a well-installed 7kW single-phase charger on a board with room for it. On a fair share of homes the honest answer is that the switchboard, or the mains feeding it, wants upgrading first. We tell you that plainly when it is true, and just as plainly when the board you have is fine.
What it costs, and the $99 that comes off when you go ahead
Almost nobody publishes a real price for an EV charger install, and on a terrace a sight-unseen figure is further from the truth than usual. The cable route, the board's spare capacity and your single-phase supply all move it, so a round number quoted down the phone is a guess at a job nobody has looked at.
So we charge a $99 inspection to assess it properly and hand you a fixed, itemised quote, and that $99 is waived in full the moment you go ahead. A straightforward job can often be scoped from a few clear photos of your meter box and parking spot. Either way the price is locked before any work starts, so there is no hourly meter ticking over and no surprise on the invoice.
