EV charging at home in Melbourne: what you actually need

If an electric car is in your next few years, the charging question is simpler and cheaper than the sales pitches suggest. Here is the ground truth for a Melbourne home.

The three ways to charge

A normal power point (trickle charging) adds roughly 10 to 15km of range per hour through the cable that comes with the car. Slow, but overnight that is 100km or more of daily commuting, and plenty of EV owners never need more.

A dedicated wall charger (7kW, single phase) adds roughly 40 to 50km of range per hour, refilling most EVs overnight from nearly empty. This is the sensible default for most homes, costing roughly $800 to $2,000 for the unit plus installation depending on the electrical run and switchboard state.

Three phase (up to 22kW) charges faster than almost anyone needs at home and only makes sense if your house already has three phase power or you routinely arrive empty and leave early.

The question that actually matters: when do you charge

Charging is where EVs meet the self-consumption logic of solar. Three patterns, in rising order of value:

1. Overnight on a cheap EV tariff. Several retailers offer super off-peak windows for EV owners. Simple and effective if you drive daily.
2. Midday from solar, when your parking pattern allows. Weekends, work-from-home days, or a household second car soaking up exports that would otherwise earn cents.
3. Solar-aware charging. Smarter wall chargers can track your export in real time and feed exactly the spare solar into the car. It is the best kilowatt-hour economics in the house; whether it justifies the price premium depends on how often the car is home in daylight.

Practical install notes

• The charger needs its own circuit and, in most Melbourne homes, a switchboard check: older boards add cost. Get the sparky to quote the whole job, not the unit.
• Put the charger where the cable reaches the charge port with the car parked naturally. Measure this before install day, not after.
• If solar or a battery is on your roadmap, mention it: circuit sizing and charger choice interact with both, and doing the wiring once is cheaper than twice.
• Renters and apartments are harder territory: portable chargers on a suitable circuit, and owners corporation processes for anything fixed.

The short version

Start with the cable in the boot and a cheap overnight tariff; add a 7kW single phase wall charger when trickle charging annoys you; choose a solar-aware model if the car is home during the day. Costs last checked 31 August 2026.