Our guide to EV charger safety at home.

A quick introduction to home EV charger safety.

While electric vehicles themselves are generally safe, charging them safely at home does mean taking a few precautions. First of all though, it’s a good idea to remind ourselves how an EV charger fits into your home’s electrical setup.

Home EV chargers connect to, and get power from, your house's electrical system, usually through your consumer unit (fuse box). Most of the time, home EV chargers are installed on a new dedicated circuit using thick cables suitable for high currents. Think of it like adding a powerful new appliance to your home with its own dedicated power line.

Using a dedicated circuit means that your EV charger won’t overload your existing circuits and that you can get the best performance from your charger. Your EV charger must also be properly earthed to prevent electric shocks, and include a residual current device (RCD). An RCD is a safety device that automatically cuts off electricity if it detects an electrical fault.

Most good home EV chargers have safety features to make charging your vehicle as safe as possible. However, as with any powerful electrical equipment, it’s worth understanding the risks of using them. And home EV chargers can throw up unique hazards, particularly if you’re in a rush or tired. Let’s jump into our guide and get you up to speed on EV charger safety.

What are the most common risks of home EV charging?

EVs and their batteries are powerful things, using a lot more current than most typical household appliances. For example, if you plug your EV into a standard outlet to charge, it will use around 2,300 watts (2.3 kW). That’s more than double a typical modern microwave (1,000 watts or 1 kW) and nearly 50 times higher than plugging in a laptop, which uses about 50 watts.

High power problems – overloading your circuits.

Such high power loads can overload your home's electrical circuits. If your home's wiring is old or faulty, or if you’re running many high-powered appliances at the same time, charging your EV could overload your circuit. This can cause overheating and lead to fire hazards.

This is why installing an EV charger on a dedicated circuit is safer than adding it to an existing circuit, or plugging your car into a standard plug socket.

Using unsuitable extension cords.

If you don’t have a dedicated home charger and plug your EV into an extension cord that’s not rated for the high power the car needs, then you’ll overload and overheat the cord. Again, this is unsafe and will cause a fire risk.

What’s more, if you’re using an extension cord outdoors that isn’t weatherproof you’ll only be adding to the dangers.

Electric shocks.

While EV chargers are waterproof, avoid touching your charger or cable with wet hands. Just as in your bathroom or kitchen, it’s best to dry your hands before touching any electrical appliances to avoid the risk of electric shocks.

Practical hazards – tripping over cables, damaging cables and forgetting to unplug.

Even if you have a home EV charger, you’ll still need to use a cable to connect your car to the charger. Make sure everyone in your home knows when you’re charging your EV so that they can keep an eye out for the cable. A trip over a charging cable is not the type of trip you want anyone to associate your EV with!

Be sure to take care of your charging cable too. If you have a tethered cable (one that’s attached to the charger), think about how you can protect it from the elements. No matter whether your cable is tethered or untethered (unpluggable at both ends), try not to run over it in your car.

And please, always, always check you have unplugged your charging cable before you drive off. The sound of your charging cable tearing out of your charger and clattering along the road behind you shouldn’t be the soundtrack to any of your journeys.

What are some other safety considerations for home electric vehicle charging?

Get a professionally installed home charger.

First things first, for the reasons covered above, we recommend having a home EV charger installed by a qualified and professional installer. This will give you a much safer EV charging setup than simply charging using a standard power outlet. At E.ON Next, we include professional installation in all our EV charger prices, and our installers will run you through all the key safety considerations when they fit your installer.

Before installing your charger, we’ll do a video survey with you to check a few things about your property and electrical system. You’ll also be able to ask any questions about the installation before booking the installation date.

Fit a dedicated fuse board.

While a dedicated fuse board for your home EV charger isn’t totally necessary, it can be the safest option if you want to completely separate your EV charger from the rest of your electrical system. With a dedicated fuse board for your charger, you’ll be separating the charger from other circuits on your household system. In terms of safety, this option goes one step beyond the option of linking your charger to a separate circuit.

Install surge protection for your EV charger.

When you have your EV charger installed, check whether the installation includes surge protection devices too. These protect your home, EV and charging equipment in the event of a power surge or sudden voltage spike.

We include surge protection with our EV charger installations for no extra charge if your home is powered by underground electricity cables. Around 85% of homes in the UK are powered this way, so there’s a good chance your home falls under this category. In these cases, we install a standard Type 2 surge protection device (SPD).

For the remaining 15% of homes that are supplied by overhead cables and telegraph poles, Type 1 and Type 2 surge protection devices are needed. If your home fits in this category then we’re obliged to fit these when installing your charger to ensure you have adequate surge protection. We charge an extra £50 to install these.

Check your charging equipment.

It’s good to get into the habit of regularly checking your charging equipment. Look for signs of wear, damage, or fraying on the charging cables, plugs, and on the charger itself too. If you’re unsure about the condition of any components, check with the company that installed your charger. We offer 24/7 support for our EV chargers, so we’re always happy to help. Replace damaged components and don’t attempt any DIY repairs on your charging equipment – leave it to the professionals.

To minimise the risk of damaging your charging kit, keep the space around your charger free of anything flammable, puddles, water drips and clutter.

Stick to manufacturer guidelines.

Check the guidelines and warranty for your EV and EV charger. Make sure that your charger is compatible with your car and get familiar with the safety instructions included in any product manuals. This can help you avoid warranty issues.

Why are dedicated home EV chargers safer than using normal power outlets?

We’ve already touched on a couple of reasons why a dedicated home EV charger is safer than relying on your home’s standard power outlets. Here we’ll go into a little more detail on five areas:

• High load capacity.

• Weatherproofing.

• Durability.

• Safety standards.

• App compatibility.

High electrical load capacity.

Home EV charging stations are specifically designed to handle the high power loads needed for EV charging. With dedicated circuit breakers and wiring directly into your home’s electrical system, EV chargers can safely manage the high power needed to charge your EV at the speeds they’re designed to.

Weatherproofing.

Home EV chargers are designed to withstand all sorts of weather – rain, snow, wind, hail, and sun without overheating or developing safety issues. The chargers we offer are covered by IP (ingress protection) ratings. This means they’re tested and rated according to their ability to keep out things like dust and liquids.

Durability and impact resistance.

EV chargers are also built to withstand shocks and impacts. Our chargers are IK10 rated. This is the highest impact rating available for EV chargers. Technically, this means that the charger can survive the impact of a 5kg weight dropped on it from a height of 40cm. So if you do happen to bump or knock one of our chargers, it should be able to withstand it without damage.

Safety standards.

EV chargers are built to recognised safety standards, and include safety features too. These can include things like DC leakage protection to protect your car’s battery, temperature monitoring to prevent overheating and PEN protection to detect electrical faults and prevent electric shocks.

A standard outlet charging setup, using extension cords and components that aren’t specifically designed for EV charging, is far more likely to throw up safety issues than using a dedicated EV charger.

App compatibility.

EV chargers are compatible with apps like our E.ON Home app, so you can schedule charging or allow smart scheduling. This is safer than charging using a standard three pin plug and leaving it "on" all the time.

Why you must use a professional installer to fit your EV charger.

Unless you’re a professional electrician or EV charger installer yourself, don’t attempt to install your own EV charger. Installing an EV charger involves working with high-voltage electricity, which can be very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Beyond safety issues, it’s also a legal requirement to have your charger installed by a qualified professional. EV chargers are classified as ‘notifiable work’ in terms of building regulations, so your installation will need to be approved and compliant. We handle this process as part of your installation, but it’s still a requirement.

During your installation, one of our professional installers will check your home’s electrical system to make sure it can handle the demands of EV charging. They’ll recommend any upgrades you might need to make to your system to give you the safest setup.

If you need to increase the amps into your home to charge your electric car then we’ll contact your District Network Operator (DNO) on your behalf. If a supply increase is needed, your DNO will contact you directly to arrange the fuse upgrade.

After installing your charger, your installer will test it to make sure it’s working safely and that they’ve covered potential hazards with you. They’ll also make sure your installation meets safety standards, local electricity codes and regulations. Finally, your installer will register your home charger’s guarantee with the manufacturer.

We offer 3 year warranties and 24/7 support to cover your charger and the installation too, so you can rest easy that we’ll be around to help should you have any problems.

What to do if you have problems with your home EV charger.

Your charger manual should indicate which charger issues you might be able to solve yourself, and for which you’ll need the help of a professional. If your charger shows error messages, you can look these up in your charger manual too.

Don’t attempt to repair or modify your charger yourself though, as this could void your warranty and lead to safety hazards. If your charger isn’t turning on this could indicate a problem with the circuit breaker, wiring or the charger itself. If your charger isn’t charging as fast as it should, it might not be set to the correct amperage, or your home’s electrical system could be overloaded.

If you can’t find any answers in your charger manuals, it’s best to get professional support for your charger.

Protecting your EV charger from the elements.

While most good EV chargers are generally weatherproof and impact proof, there’s no harm in thinking about how you can shield your charger from the worst of the weather. Here’s a few ideas to consider:

Install a protective cover.

While there aren’t many protective EV charger covers on the market, there are a few. So if you’re concerned that your charger could be overly exposed to the elements, you could install one for your peace of mind. Covers can range from simple waterproof shells that fit over your charger to plastic or metal cases that need to be fixed to the wall.

Take care of your charger:

It’s a good idea to keep your charger clean, especially if it’s had a bit of a battering from a recent storm. While the chargers we offer are IP rated it’s worth not letting dust or debris build up around any joints or seals.

Make sure everyone in your home knows about charger safety.

In a busy household, it can be easy to forget all the comings and goings of daily life. This applies to EV charging too, especially if it means there’s a chance that there’ll be cables in use that people might forget to avoid. If you have young children, teach them that your EV charger isn’t a toy, and stress that they should never touch it with wet hands.

Use EV charger apps to safely manage your charging.

Controlling your charger with recommended apps can help you to monitor charging. You can also set alerts to warn you of any issues with your charger. It’s always safest to stop charging using the app rather than just unplugging your charger too. This cuts off the power supply to your charger so you can unplug it safely. If you’re an E.ON Next customer, you can use the E.ON Home app to control your EV charger.

Don’t use a damaged charger or cables.

If you spot any damage to your charger or cables, don’t use it. Get support from your installer and if necessary arrange an inspection of your equipment before using it again.

Make everyone aware of your charger’s emergency disconnect features.

Your charger should have an emergency disconnect or shutdown feature. Make sure that everyone in your household who uses your charger knows how to activate this.

Are EV charger manufacturers developing safer chargers?

Yes, EV charger safety is a big concern for charger manufacturers, so there’s lots of innovation around safety features. These include improvements to electrical safety incorporating advanced monitoring and diagnostics to spot potential electrical faults and shut down to prevent hazards. Smart features and improved apps that allow more detailed remote monitoring and control are also on the way.

All this being said, with a little care and knowledge of the basics, charging your EV at home is already very safe. So don’t let safety concerns dissuade you from making the switch to an EV and reaping all the benefits they offer.

If you already have an EV charger installed by us, and still need support, visit our EV charger support guide, or contact our experts 24/7 on 0333 202 4417.

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