Hiring an electrician without getting taken

• Who to call
• The visit
• The quote
• The permit
• Red flags
• After

Who to call

A licensed electrician who has installed EV chargers before. Both halves matter. A charger pulls its full load for hours on end, which is harder on a circuit than nearly anything else in the house, and the rules for it are specific.

• Ask how many they've done, and which chargers.
• Get three quotes. Not for the lowest price. For the one that's different from the other two, in either direction.
• Check the license number with your state. It takes two minutes.
• Your utility and your carmaker both keep installer lists. Useful as a starting point. Not a guarantee of price.

What they should look at before quoting

A number given over the phone with no photos is a guess with a dollar sign on it. A proper quote starts with someone, in person or by picture, looking at four things.

• The panel. Its size, its brand, and whether there's a free space for a new breaker.
• The load. What else the house runs, added up, to see whether the service can take a charger. This is a real calculation. If nobody does it, nobody knows. Run it yourself first and you'll know whether their answer makes sense.
• The route. How the wire gets from the panel to the charger: along a garage wall, through an attic, or under a driveway. This is most of the price.
• The charger. Which one, how many amps, hardwired or plugged in. Start here works out the setup for your car and your panel in two minutes, so you walk in knowing what to ask for.

What a good quote says

You're not checking the electrician's math. You're checking that the paper commits them to the things that matter.

The numbers, for reference. A charger is a continuous load, so the breaker has to be a size up from the charging current.

The permit is not optional

Nearly every jurisdiction requires a permit for a new 240-volt circuit. It costs a little and it buys a lot: a second person, with no stake in the job, checks the work.

• Skip it and your insurer has a reason to argue after a fire.
• Most utility rebates ask for the permit number. Look up yours by ZIP before the work starts, since some need approval first.
• It shows up, or doesn't, when you sell the house.

The electrician pulls the permit, not you. An offer to do it cheaper without one tells you how they'll treat everything else you can't see.

Red flags

• "You don't need a permit for this."
• A price with no site visit and no photos.
• A panel upgrade recommended before anyone has done a load calculation. Sometimes you do need one. Often a smaller charger or a load manager does the job for a tenth of the price. The gear shelf has a row of them.
• Aluminum wire offered to save money without telling you. It's legal when sized and terminated correctly. It should be your choice, in writing.
• A plug-in install with a cheap receptacle. The $12 one melts. Ask for an industrial-grade one by name, or hardwire.
• A large deposit, cash only, or a price that's good until tonight.
• One line on the quote: "Install EV charger."

After the install

• Wait for the inspection before the final payment.
• Check that the charger's own current setting matches the circuit. A 48-amp charger on a 40-amp breaker has to be set down to 32. It's a setting in the app or a switch inside the box, and it gets missed.
• Make sure the new breaker is labeled in the panel.
• Keep the permit, the inspection record and the invoice together. The rebate form and your future buyer will both want them.
• Then set a charging schedule, which is where the actual savings are.