Search for "commercial EV charger installation cost UK 2026" and you will find guides quoting anything from £1,500 to £15,000 per charging point. That spread is technically true, but it is useless for a budget holder who has to put a number in front of a finance director. As a UK manufacturer that also installs through an authorised partner, Auto E can do something most guides cannot: publish the actual list price of the hardware, then add honest market ranges for the parts of the job that genuinely vary from site to site.
Why most commercial EV charging quotes are so vague
A commercial installation is really five separate purchases bundled into one invoice: the charging units, the electrical installation, the civils (trenching, bases, bollards, reinstatement), any distribution-board or grid-connection upgrade, and the load management or back-office layer. Only the first of these has a fixed price. The rest depend on your car park, your incoming supply and your DNO. Installers who do not make their own hardware tend to blur everything into one wide range so the quote can be adjusted later. Our approach is to fix what can be fixed and be transparent about what cannot.
Auto E hardware list prices for 2026 (ex VAT)
These are catalogue prices for the units most commonly specified on workplace, car park and fleet sites. Every station carries a three-year warranty and is compatible with our management platform.
- EF AC-WW22M - wall-mounted 22 kW, single Type 2 socket: £1,449
- EF AC-W22x2M - dual 22 kW (two Type 2 sockets, 44 kW total): £1,649, or about £825 per socket
- EF AC-W22M-J7x2 / AC-W22-J7M7 - 22 kW socket plus built-in Type 1 and Type 2 cables (three cars): £1,799
- Charging Complex DC rapid: £23,000; Charging Complex 2: £21,000 - both before civils and grid connection
Full specifications are on the commercial charging stations page and the Charging Complex page.
Market ranges for everything else
The figures below are UK market ranges taken from published 2026 cost guides, not Auto E fees. We quote each item after a free site survey.
| Cost element | Typical UK range (ex VAT) | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Installed dual-socket AC unit (hardware + labour + certification) | £2,500 - £5,000 per charger | Cable run length, wall vs pedestal, existing three-phase supply |
| Civils / groundworks | £500 - £3,000+ per charger | Trenching distance, tarmac or block paving, bollards and bases |
| Electrical upgrades (sub-boards, switchgear, high-capacity cabling) | £1,000 - £20,000+ per site | Spare capacity on the existing board, distance from the intake |
| Single- to three-phase DNO upgrade, all-in | £3,000 - £12,000+ | Whether the DNO must dig the road or lay new cable |
| Smart charging / load management | £200 - £1,000+ per charger | Number of units, back-office and billing requirements |
| DC rapid site (Charging Complex) | £21,000 - £23,000 hardware, plus grid connection and civils | Available kVA, distance to a suitable connection point |
One point that catches many first-time buyers: a 22 kW unit needs a three-phase supply. Most commercial premises already have one, but if yours does not, the DNO upgrade line becomes the single largest variable in the project. Every new charge point must also be notified to the DNO - UK Power Networks across London - which our partner installer handles as part of the job.
Worked examples: 4, 10 and 40 sockets
The examples below use Auto E list prices for the hardware and mid-range market assumptions for everything else. To keep the arithmetic transparent we assume an illustrative £1,000 per socket for electrical installation and certification, which sits inside the market range for a dual-socket unit once hardware is stripped out. Your real quote may be lower or higher; a survey will tell you which. All figures ex VAT.
| Line item | 4 sockets (2 dual units) | 10 sockets (5 dual units) | 40 sockets (20 dual units) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware at list price | £3,298 | £8,245 | £32,980 |
| Electrical installation and certification (illustrative £1,000/socket) | £4,000 | £10,000 | £40,000 |
| Electrical upgrades / sub-boards | £0 (spare capacity assumed) | £3,000 | £20,000 |
| Civils | £500 (wall-mounted, short runs) | £5,000 | £20,000 |
| Load management and commissioning | £800 | £2,500 | £10,000 |
| Gross project cost | £8,598 | £28,745 | £122,980 |
| Workplace Charging Scheme (£500 per socket, max 40) | -£2,000 | -£5,000 | -£20,000 |
| Net cost after WCS | £6,598 | £23,745 | £102,980 |
| Net cost per socket | about £1,650 | about £2,375 | about £2,575 |
Two things stand out. First, the hardware is rarely the biggest number: on the 40-socket site the units are around a quarter of the gross cost. Second, the per-socket cost does not fall automatically with scale, because larger sites are the ones that trigger switchgear upgrades and long trenching runs. Where scale genuinely helps is in spreading the fixed cost of a DNO application, a new sub-board and a load management controller across more sockets.
Adding DC rapid charging
If your site needs a rapid charger for fleet turnaround or public users, add a Charging Complex at £21,000-£23,000 list, plus the grid connection and civils, which we quote after a survey. Because rapid units draw far more power, the DNO capacity check is the first thing we do before recommending one. See our commercial installation guide for how AC and DC mix on a typical site.
Grants and tax relief that reduce the bill
Workplace Charging Scheme
For installations completed from 1 April 2026 the WCS pays up to 75% of purchase and installation costs, capped at £500 per socket and 40 sockets per applicant across all sites, and it closes on 31 March 2027. On every example above the £500 cap, not the 75% limit, is the binding constraint. Read our WCS 2026 guide for eligibility and the application steps.
100% first-year capital allowances
Charge point plant and machinery qualifies for a 100% first-year allowance, which the Autumn Budget 2025 extended to 31 March 2027 for corporation tax and 5 April 2027 for income tax. In practice a company can deduct the full qualifying cost of the project from taxable profits in the year it is incurred rather than writing it down over many years. Your accountant will confirm how the grant-funded portion is treated.
What drives commercial installation cost up
- No three-phase supply - a DNO upgrade adds £3,000-£12,000+ before a single charger is fitted.
- Long cable runs - a car park on the far side of the building means trenching, ducting and reinstatement.
- Full switchgear replacement - old or fully loaded distribution boards push the electrical upgrade line towards the top of its range.
- Pedestal rather than wall mounting - each pedestal needs a base and usually bollards.
- Public access - contactless payment and price display obligations under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 apply to units of 8 kW and above, adding back-office cost.
- Phased projects - installing four sockets now and ten later means paying twice for mobilisation, so future-proof the ducting and board capacity on day one.
Key takeaways
- Auto E dual 22 kW units list at £1,649 (about £825 per socket); Charging Complex DC units at £21,000-£23,000 before civils and grid connection.
- Realistic net cost after WCS: roughly £1,650 per socket for a simple 4-socket site, rising to about £2,400-£2,600 per socket on 10- and 40-socket sites once boards, civils and load management are included.
- WCS is worth £500 per socket up to 40 sockets until 31 March 2027; 100% first-year allowances run to April 2027.
- Supply capacity and civils, not the chargers, are what swing a commercial quote - which is why a survey comes before a price.
Auto E designs and manufactures its charging stations in the UK and installs them across London and the South East through an authorised partner, with UK-wide coverage for commercial projects. Learn more about our commercial installation service, or call +44 20 3393 4113 to arrange a free site survey and a fixed quote for your car park.