Commercial EV charger installation is the design, supply upgrade and fit-out of electric vehicle charging for a workplace, retail site, strata building or fleet depot. It differs from a home installation mainly in scale. Several bays drawing at once pull far more current than a single car, so the job starts with the building's supply capacity rather than with the charger itself.
That one difference drives almost every decision that follows: which chargers you can run, how many bays you can serve, whether the network operator needs to be involved, and how long the job takes. This guide walks through what actually determines the answer for a Sydney site.
How is a commercial install different from a home one?
A home charger is a single load added to a supply that usually has room for it. A commercial installation is a capacity problem first and an electrical fit-out second. A house with a single 7 kW charger adds roughly the same load as an electric oven. A car park with eight bays charging together can add more load than the rest of the building uses at peak.
Three things change as a result:
- Supply comes first. The existing main switchboard and consumer mains have to carry the new load, or they need upgrading. On many older commercial buildings this is the real project.
- The network operator gets involved. Any increase to the site's supply capacity has to be approved and connected by an accredited provider, not just wired in.
- The chargers need to be managed. Multiple bays without load management will trip the site or force a much larger and more expensive supply than you actually need.
What supply does a commercial site actually need?
The charger type you can install is decided by the supply available, not by preference. Most commercial sites in Sydney already have three-phase supply, which opens up faster AC charging, but capacity and rating are separate questions.
| Charger type | Typical output | Supply needed | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-phase AC | Around 7 kW | Single-phase | Small sites, staff parking with long dwell times, overnight charging |
| Three-phase AC | 11 kW to 22 kW | Three-phase | Workplaces, strata car parks, retail and hospitality where cars sit for hours |
| DC fast charging | 25 kW and above | Three-phase, commonly with a supply upgrade | Fleet depots, high-turnover public sites, short-stay charging |
If your site is still on single-phase, or the switchboard is at its limit, the first step is a Level 2 ASP assessment of the incoming supply. The same logic applies at home, which we cover in our guide to three-phase power upgrades.
Why load management usually decides the job
Load management lets a site run more charging bays than its spare capacity would otherwise allow, by sharing the available current between cars instead of reserving full output for every bay. Eight 22 kW bays running unmanaged would need 176 kW of headroom. The same eight bays under dynamic load management can share a much smaller allocation, because cars rarely all arrive at the same state of charge and rarely all need full power at once.
For most workplaces and strata car parks this is the difference between a straightforward installation and an expensive supply upgrade. It is worth assessing before assuming the supply has to grow.
Not sure what your site can support?
DM Electrical holds both Level 1 and Level 2 ASP accreditation, so the supply assessment, any network-side upgrade and the charger installation are handled by one team rather than split across contractors. We have delivered multi-bay commercial charging across Sydney, including EV charger contracts for NSW Government and local councils.
Who pays in a strata or leased building?
In a strata building, chargers in common property car parks generally need owners corporation approval, and the cost split is set out in a by-law rather than decided by the installer. The common arrangements are an individual owner funding a charger for their own bay, or the owners corporation funding shared infrastructure that individual owners then connect to.
The practical advice is to get the electrical design and the by-law moving together. A load assessment gives the committee real numbers to make a decision on, which is usually what stalls these projects. In a leased commercial building, the same question runs through the lease: check who owns the improvement at the end of the term and who is responsible for maintaining it.
Billing, access control and the software side
Commercial chargers need a way to control who uses them and how usage is paid for, which is a software decision as much as an electrical one. Most commercial-grade chargers support OCPP, an open protocol that lets the hardware talk to third-party management platforms. Choosing OCPP-capable hardware keeps you free to change management providers later without replacing the chargers.
Decide early whether charging is free for staff and customers, billed at cost, or billed at a margin, because it affects metering and the platform you choose. Retrofitting billing onto hardware that does not support it is the expensive path.
What the installation process looks like
- Load assessment. Measure the site's existing peak demand against the rated supply to find the genuine spare capacity.
- Design. Set charger count, output and load management strategy against that capacity and the site's parking patterns.
- Supply upgrade, if needed. Consumer mains, switchboard and metering work, coordinated with the network operator. This is Level 2 ASP work and is normally the longest step.
- Installation. Cable routes, sub-boards, charger mounting, and site protection such as bollards and line marking.
- Commissioning. Testing, connection to the management platform, and handover with documentation.
Our EVX multi-site charger rollout is a worked example: each site needed its supply assessed, the upgrade sized, the network operator coordinated, and the hardware and bollards installed.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Level 2 electrician to install a commercial EV charger?
Often yes. If the site needs a new or upgraded supply, new metering, or a change to the consumer mains, that work sits on the network side of the connection point and only an accredited Level 2 ASP can carry it out. If the existing supply already has enough spare capacity and the chargers simply connect to the existing switchboard, a licensed electrician can complete the work.
How many EV chargers can my building support?
It depends on the spare capacity in your existing supply, not on the number of parking bays. The starting point is a load assessment, which measures what the site already draws at peak against what the supply is rated for. Load management can then let a site run more chargers than raw capacity would suggest, by sharing available current between bays instead of giving each one its full rating.
Can EV chargers be installed in a strata building?
Yes, and it is increasingly common, but the process involves the owners corporation as well as the electrical work. Chargers in common property car parks generally need owners corporation approval, and many buildings handle this through a by-law that sets out who pays for the installation, who pays for the electricity, and who maintains the equipment. Getting the electrical design and the by-law moving at the same time avoids a long wait.
How long does a commercial EV charger installation take?
The electrical work is usually the fast part. The timeline is normally set by whether a supply upgrade is needed, because that brings the network operator into the process for approval and connection. Sites with enough existing capacity can be completed quickly, while sites needing a new supply or metering should plan around the network's approval times.
The bottom line
Commercial EV charging is a capacity question before it is a hardware question. Get a load assessment done first, because it tells you whether you are looking at a straightforward fit-out or a supply upgrade, and that single answer shapes the budget and the timeline. If you are weighing up charging for a workplace, strata building or depot in Sydney, see our EV charger installation service or get in touch and we will start with the assessment.