EV Charger Installation for Businesses: What Changed in 2025

EV Charger Installation for Businesses: What the 2025 Regulation Changes Mean for You

If you're a facilities manager, commercial landlord, or business owner in Kent, Surrey, or Greater London, you've probably had EV charging on your radar for a while. But the ev charger business installation regulations 2025 brought in some meaningful changes — and if you're planning an installation this year or working out whether your existing setup is still compliant, it's worth understanding exactly what shifted and why it matters.

This isn't a scare story. Most of the changes are sensible and well-signposted. But ignoring them could mean failed inspections, denied grant funding, or equipment that doesn't meet current standards.

---

What the 2025 Regulations Actually Changed

The EV Infrastructure Regulations: A Quick Recap

The UK's Electric Vehicles (Smart Charging) Act 2019 laid the groundwork, but it took until 2022 and then further refinements in 2025 for the business-facing requirements to gain real teeth.

From 2025, the key obligations for businesses are:

New builds and major refurbishments must include EV charging infrastructure. Under the updated Building Regulations (specifically Part S, which covers infrastructure for electric vehicle charging), any new non-residential building with more than ten car parking spaces must provide at least one working EV charge point for every five spaces. Existing buildings undergoing major renovation that affect more than 25% of the building's surface area are also captured.

Smart charging is now mandatory for new charge points. Any newly installed business charge point must be "smart" — meaning it communicates with the grid, can be remotely monitored, and supports demand-side response. This is not optional. A standard dumb charger installed after the mandate came into force doesn't meet the standard.

Randomised delay functionality is required. Smart chargers must include a randomised delay feature so that not every vehicle plugged in simultaneously begins charging at exactly the same moment. This smooths demand on the grid during peak periods.

Accessibility requirements have been tightened. At least one charge point in a business car park must meet accessibility standards for disabled users, including appropriate cable management and clear signage.

---

What This Means in Practice

For Businesses Already Operating

If you installed your charge points before 2025 and haven't touched them since, you're not automatically required to rip them out. The regulations largely apply to new installations and newly refurbished premises. That said, if you're expanding your charging provision or bringing in a new installer, any additional units must comply with the current rules.

Worth noting: some grant schemes — including those administered through the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) — now require full compliance with the 2025 smart charging mandate as a condition of funding. So even if you're not legally obliged to upgrade, applying for grant support on a non-compliant installation will likely be refused.

For Businesses Planning New Installations

This is where the ev charger business installation regulations 2025 have the most direct impact. Before you speak to any installer, you should have a clear picture of:

• How many car parking spaces you have (this dictates minimum charge point numbers)
• Whether your building qualifies as a new build, renovation, or existing structure
• Whether you want to access OZEV grant funding (and therefore need a pre-approved installer and compliant equipment)
• Your DNO (Distribution Network Operator) capacity — more on this below

---

The Electrical Side: What Needs to Happen on Site

Load Assessment and DNO Notification

Installing commercial EV chargers isn't like fitting a socket. Even a modest installation of four 7kW chargers adds 28kW of potential demand to your supply. Most commercial premises in Kent and the wider South East are fed by a three-phase supply, but the available capacity varies significantly.

Before any work starts, a qualified electrician needs to carry out a load assessment. This looks at your existing maximum demand, the headroom in your current supply, and whether a DNO application is needed to increase capacity. In some parts of Greater London and Surrey, connection upgrades can take several months, so factoring this in early is critical.

Where smart load management is used — which is now both mandatory and genuinely useful — charge points communicate with each other and with the building management system to distribute available power intelligently. This can allow more charge points to be installed than the raw supply figures might suggest.

Compliance with BS 7671 and NICEIC Standards

All electrical work must comply with BS 7671:2018 (the IET Wiring Regulations, including the 2022 Amendment 2). For commercial premises, this means proper circuit protection, appropriate cable sizing, earthing arrangements, and RCD protection on all EV charging circuits.

The installation must be carried out by a competent person. For commercial work, this typically means a contractor registered with a recognised scheme such as NICEIC. The completed installation requires an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC), and in many cases you'll also need formal sign-off from the relevant building control body, particularly where structural work or significant electrical alterations are involved.

Don't assume that because a company sells EV chargers, they're also qualified to install them safely. Always ask for their NICEIC registration number and check it on the NICEIC public register before any work begins.

---

Costs: What to Budget For

Commercial EV charger installation costs vary widely, but here are realistic ballpark figures for the South East:

• Single 7kW smart charger (existing supply, straightforward installation): £800–£1,500 fitted
• Dual-output 22kW unit: £1,500–£3,000+ fitted
• Multi-bay installation (4–10 units with load management): £5,000–£20,000+ depending on supply upgrades, groundworks, and cabling runs
• DNO connection upgrade (if required): £2,000–£15,000+ and 3–6 months minimum

OZEV's Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) currently offers a grant of up to £350 per socket (capped at 40 sockets per applicant) for eligible businesses. The application must be submitted before installation begins — not after — so this needs to be part of your planning process from the start.

---

When to Call a Qualified Electrician

You need a qualified, registered electrician involved at these stages:

• Before you commit to any equipment — to assess your supply capacity and advise on realistic costs
• Before submitting a WCS grant application — to confirm the installation will be compliant
• When getting DNO quotes — an experienced contractor will know how to present the application and avoid unnecessary delays
• During and after installation — for the EIC and any required building control notification

If an installer quotes you a fixed price without visiting your site and assessing your supply, treat that as a red flag.

---

Installations Across the South East

Cleary Electrical carries out commercial EV charger installations across Kent, Surrey, Greater London, Essex, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hampshire. Whether you're managing a business park in Maidstone, a retail site in Bromley, or an office complex in Guildford, the regulatory requirements are the same — and so is the need for an installer who understands both the electrical and compliance sides of the job.

As a NICEIC-approved contractor, all our commercial EV installations are carried out to BS 7671 and fully certificated. We handle DNO liaison, load assessments, and can advise on OZEV grant eligibility before any work starts.

If you're planning an installation or need advice on whether your current setup meets the ev charger business installation regulations 2025, get in touch for a free quote.