Parking is the part most South Yarra townhouses already have handled: a garage, or a tandem space the car sits in overnight. What an EV charger installation here really turns on is whether the board behind that wall can carry the load, and whether the wall itself is wholly yours to drill or shared with the unit next door. Martin Turnbull, a licensed A-Grade electrician who has run Smartlec since 2017, has fitted enough chargers on local townhouses and units to settle both before quoting.
Smartlec Electrical Solutions covers the area from a base in nearby Prahran, right next door. Tell us the dwelling and where the board sits, and a firm number comes back before anything is fixed to the wall.
Charging an EV on a South Yarra townhouse or apartment
A standalone house with a driveway is the simple version of this job. South Yarra runs more to townhouses and newer apartments, which shifts the first questions. A townhouse usually has the part that matters most, your own garage or tandem space, but the wall, boundary or meter can still be shared with the unit next door. A unit with a basement bay brings the building into it, since a charger there is best fed from your own meter and the cable route may cross common property.
The City of Stonnington has also been running an EV charger trial, with public chargers mapped to spots around South Yarra. Those are handy for a top-up while you are out, but not the overnight fill the car you drive daily really wants: a unit on your own wall, on its own circuit, charging at a cheaper rate while you sleep. We look at where your car actually parks and tell you straight what suits it.
What it costs: the $99 inspection, waived if you go ahead
Almost nobody publishes a real price for an EV charger install, because the charger is a small part of it. What sets the cost is the run from the board to where the car parks, whether the switchboard has room, and whether the home is on single or three-phase supply. A figure quoted without seeing any of that is a guess.
So we charge a $99 inspection to assess the job properly and hand you a fixed, itemised quote, and that $99 is waived in full the moment you go ahead. A straightforward townhouse install can often be scoped from a few clear photos of your board, meter and parking spot. Either way the price is locked before work starts, so there is no hourly meter and no surprise on the invoice.
Will a newer South Yarra board take the load?
A newer townhouse or apartment usually starts ahead here, because the board went into a more recent standard than the old terrace stock nearby and often has a spare way or two to work with. That is a head start, not a guarantee. A 7kW charger is a heavy continuous load, drawing hard for hours at a stretch, and a board already feeding ducted air, an induction cooktop and a hot water unit can be closer to full than it looks. In some homes the honest answer is that the board, or the mains feeding it, wants attention first. On others it is fine as it stands, and we say so just as plainly rather than sell you an upgrade to land the charger.
