A row of chargers along a staff car park, a pair of fast chargers outside a shopping strip, a hotel basement that has to top up guests overnight: commercial EV charger installation covers all three, and the design that suits one site is usually wrong for the next. Our A-grade electricians plan, install and certify commercial charging across Melbourne under REC 35838, from a single 7 kW point at a showroom to managed groups of bays across a multi-level car park.
The chargers can come from us, or we can fit units your business has already bought, along with the cabling, switchboard and supply work behind them.
Commercial EV charger installation starts with who parks there
Before anyone chooses hardware, we want to know how long cars stay, because a car parked for eight hours needs a very different charger from one parked for forty minutes.
| Site | How long cars usually stay | What tends to suit |
|---|---|---|
| Office or workplace car park | Most of the working day | 7 kW AC points on load management |
| Shopping strip or centre car park | A short visit | DC fast charging for turnover, or AC for longer stays |
| Café, restaurant or pub | An hour or two | Higher-power AC where the cars and supply allow |
| Hotel or serviced apartments | Overnight | 7 kW AC across many bays, scheduled after the evening peak |
| Dealership or service workshop | Varies with handovers and repairs | AC for preparation bays, DC where cars must turn around quickly |
We also ask who may charge (staff, customers, the public or your own vehicles) and where the main switchboard sits relative to the parking. A long cable run across an open car park, especially one that needs trenching or core holes through a slab, is one of the biggest variables in any quote. If the car park also serves your own vehicles, our page on fleet and workplace EV charging covers depot scheduling and driver reporting.
AC or DC: matching charger power to the time parked
Government guidance groups dedicated AC chargers from 7 kW to 22 kW as Level 2, and DC chargers from 25 kW to 350 kW as Level 3. The arithmetic is simple: 32 A on a single phase is about 7.4 kW, 16 A on each of three phases about 11 kW, and 32 A on three phases about 22 kW.
The car has the final say on AC. Every EV has a maximum rate it will accept, and a bigger charger can’t push past it. Polestar’s Australian specifications quote 11 kW for the Polestar 2 (16 A per phase), so pairing that car with a 22 kW unit buys no extra speed.
Our honest view: plenty of workplaces would get more from eight managed AC points than from one DC charger. Staff cars sit all day, and by CitiPower’s reckoning a 7 kW wall unit adds 30 to 40 km for every hour it is plugged in, which covers most commutes well before home time. DC belongs at shopping strips, dealerships and anywhere a car must leave with useful range inside an hour, and even then bigger isn’t automatically better. Solar Victoria notes that plug-in hybrids, the Nissan Leaf and the Renault Zoe can’t take full advantage of ultra-rapid charging but are fine up to 50 kW.
AC uses the Type 2 plug. On DC, CCS2 is the most common plug and CHAdeMO the least common, so we check which cars will visit before choosing connectors.
Maximum demand and what the network will accept
Every commercial job starts with a maximum demand check. We work out what the site already draws, usually from interval data and the main switchboard, then model the chargers on top. The result shows whether the chargers fit the existing supply, fit only with load management, or need the network first.
The governing document is the Victorian Service and Installation Rules, the connection rulebook all the state’s distributors share. Its 2026 edition says that once a site’s calculated maximum demand goes above 100 A per phase, limiting devices must control it. For equipment that could cause voltage fluctuation or waveform distortion, the distributor can refuse it or set conditions, so we talk to the network before you order a large DC charger.
The Melbourne CBD, where our Bourke Street premises sits, is on CitiPower (see EV charger installation in Melbourne’s CBD), while Brighton, home to our Bay Street premises, is on United Energy (see EV charger installation in Brighton). United Energy lists premises needing 170 amps or more among those that typically require a negotiated connection. CitiPower and Powercor name high-capacity EV charging installations as an example of work that can trigger their network upgrade process, and their alteration applications must be lodged by a registered electrical contractor (REC). Where a site needs more supply, the steps are set out under three-phase power upgrade.
Load management across many bays
Spread twelve 32 A single-phase chargers evenly over a three-phase supply and each phase carries four of them: 128 A per phase if every car pulls full power at once. That rarely happens, but an unmanaged design has to allow for it. A load management system caps the group at what the supply can spare and shares that allowance between whichever cars are plugged in.
Most sites combine several methods. A fixed limit per charger is the simplest. Dynamic control reads the main meter and hands spare capacity to active bays in real time, which suits buildings where lifts, kitchens or air conditioning swing the load through the day. Whatever the method, the system should fall back to a safe, low setting if its communications drop out.
New buildings already have to plan for this. In the National Construction Code, clause J9D4 requires car parks associated with Class 2, 3, 5, 6, 7b, 8 and 9 buildings to have EV-only distribution boards, labelled as such and wired to a charging control system. For offices, shops and the other Class 5 to 9 buildings, each circuit must be capable of giving a charger at least 12 kWh in the 9 am to 5 pm window, although the chargers themselves can come later.
Charging software, OCPP and who owns the data
Most commercial chargers are run by software that starts and stops sessions, applies tariffs, reports usage and flags faults. The protocol that matters is OCPP, which the Open Charge Alliance describes as the global open communication protocol between charging stations and charging management systems. Its point is interoperability: chargers and software from different makers can work together, so you are less tied to one supplier.
OCPP 1.6 dates from 2015 and remains widely used while the industry moves to 2.x. Version 2.1, released in January 2025, adds support for ISO 15118-20, bidirectional charging and control of distributed energy resources. Before anything is ordered, we check:
- the OCPP version each charger supports, and whether your software platform supports the same one
- whether you can export session data, and who owns it if the contract ends
- what happens to the chargers if the software provider raises its fees or closes
A charger that only works with its maker’s app is a gamble on a car park you expect to run for a decade.
Access, signage and billing for drivers
Decide early who the chargers are for. Staff bays usually start sessions with an RFID tag or an app login. Customer bays might be free during trading hours as a reason to stay. Public bays need payment, clear time limits and someone to call when a session fails. We plan bay layout, wheel stops or bollards and signage positions around that use, and keep cables and pedestals out of walkways.
If drivers pay for the electricity, you won’t need a retail licence: Victoria’s Essential Services Commission exempts sellers of EV charging electricity automatically under its General Exemption Order 2022, with nothing to register. Some charging sellers still owe the Commission a yearly report by 31 March, and some exempt activities must follow specified provisions of the Energy Retail Code of Practice.
Councils are moving as well. Bayside City Council’s “Charge while you shop” project, delivered with a commercial charging network, put 50 kW DC fast chargers into shopping-precinct car parks, each converting up to two adjacent spaces to EV charging only. Installations were completed at Black Rock in November 2024, Highett in March 2025 and Beaumaris in June 2025. Near those strips, a slower AC point in your own car park is a different offer: a reason for customers to stay longer.
Car dealerships and EV repairers can also look at the federal DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream, which helps them buy and install charging units and EV-specific equipment. It is open until 5pm AEST on Friday 30 April 2027, with applications assessed in order of receipt until the funding runs out.
Testing, certificates and the standards behind the job
Every installation is done by our A-grade electricians under REC 35838. Before anything is energised, the work gets a visual inspection and the six mandatory tests Energy Safe Victoria lists, from insulation resistance and polarity through to RCD operation and earth fault-loop impedance.
Protection is matched to the charger. Since 1 May 2023, new work in Australia can’t use Type AC RCDs: EV chargers can put pulsating DC leakage onto a circuit that a Type AC device might miss, so the protection we fit is Type A or Type B. The EV appendix of AS/NZS 3000:2018, which is informative rather than mandatory, suggests Type B when a charger has no DC fault detection of its own.
A Certificate of Electrical Safety comes with every job, and prescribed work (new consumer mains or a new main switchboard, for example) can’t be energised until a Licensed Electrical Inspector has checked it. After handover, our team handles EV charger repairs and servicing, so the people who built the site can keep it running.
Frequently asked questions from businesses
Can you install chargers our business has already bought?
Yes. First we check the model suits your supply and protection, confirm its OCPP support if it will join a managed group, and install it to the maker’s instructions with the same testing and certificate as any other job.
Is three-phase power essential for commercial chargers?
Not always. Standard 7 kW AC chargers run on single-phase circuits, and a three-phase site can spread many of them across its phases. A 22 kW AC charger needs three-phase power and DC chargers need far more supply, so it depends on the chargers you pick.
How long does a commercial installation take?
A small AC installation inside existing capacity can move quickly once the design is agreed. Anything that needs the distributor takes longer: CitiPower and Powercor say most alteration works take three to eight weeks depending on complexity, and missed appointments or retailer delays can stretch that.
Which charger brands do you recommend?
We don’t push one brand. We shortlist chargers on OCPP support, the power your visitors’ cars can accept, local service and parts, and warranty terms, then explain the trade-offs so you can choose.
If you’re weighing up chargers for a workplace, shop, venue or customer car park, we’ll start with a site visit and a maximum demand check. Book a commercial site assessment or phone 1300 003 853; our lines are open Monday to Saturday from 7am until 7pm. DUKE EV is part of the DUKE Electrical Group, which also does electrical, automation and security work.