At the 2021 Census, 42.8% of Brighton East households had two cars and another 16.9% had three or more. That figure shapes how we plan EV charger installation Brighton East jobs. We design for the second electric car from the first visit, because adding it later is when the awkward rewiring happens.
Our electricians come from DUKE’s Brighton premises at 99 Bay St, about 2 km from the middle of Brighton East, so the streets around Dendy Park, the Brighton Public Golf Course and the Hawthorn Road shops are close to home for us. We are DUKE EV, the EV-charging arm of DUKE Electrical Group and a Victorian Registered Electrical Contractor (REC 35838). We supply and install chargers, fit one you have already bought through your dealer, and look after the switchboard, supply and load-management work that sits behind it.
EV charger installation Brighton East: plan for the second car now
On a single-phase supply, one 32 A charger delivers roughly 7.4 kW, which is plenty for one car charging overnight. Two cars each pulling 32 A at 7pm, while the oven and the heating are on, is a different conversation.
There are four sensible ways to handle a two-EV driveway:
- One charger, shared. Cars take turns overnight. Cheapest to wire, and fine when daily distances are modest.
- Two chargers with load sharing. The units talk to each other and split the available current, so the circuit is never asked for more than it can carry.
- Dynamic load management. A meter at the switchboard watches the whole house and trims charging when other appliances are busy, then lets it ramp back up.
- A three-phase supply. Worth it when the home’s total demand is already high, or when a car can genuinely use more than single-phase power.
That last point matters. The car’s onboard charger sets the ceiling for AC charging, whatever the wall box is rated at. Polestar lists the Polestar 2 at 11 kW AC on a three-phase 16 A supply, so a 22 kW charger would not fill that car any faster. United Energy, the network that supplies Brighton East, notes that a 22 kW charger normally requires a three-phase supply in the first place.
Our honest view: most two-EV households here are better served by a well-managed pair of 7 kW chargers than by a 22 kW installation. Overnight is a long window. Spend the money on load management and a tidy switchboard first.
Houses, townhouse pairs and where the switchboard sits
Brighton East is mostly houses, but not as overwhelmingly as the state average. The 2021 Census counted 67.9% separate houses, 23.8% semi-detached homes and townhouses, and 7.9% flats or apartments, against 73.4%, 13.9% and 12.1% across Victoria. Each type sets up a different job.
The detached house with a garage at the back
Picture a typical Brighton East house: meter box on the front or side wall, switchboard in the hallway, double garage at the end of a long concrete driveway. The new circuit has to cover that whole distance, usually through the roof space and down the garage wall. Cable for a 32 A single-phase charger is normally 6 mm², stepping up to 10 mm² on a long run, with the size worked out under AS/NZS 3008.1.1. Length is therefore one of the biggest things that moves the quote.
The townhouse pair on a shared driveway
Two townhouses on what was once one block often have separate meters, which helps. The catch is the driveway and any shared services, which may be common property. Works on common property need the owners corporation’s agreement, and a significant change to its use or appearance needs a special resolution, as the Owners Corporations Act 2006 sets out. We try to keep the whole circuit inside your own lot, from your meter to your garage, so the conversation with next door stays short.
Low garages and overland flow
About 8% of Brighton East sits in the Special Building Overlay, which flags land liable to inundation by overland flows from the drainage system. If your garage floor is below the driveway, we mount the charger and its circuit protection higher on the wall rather than at bumper height.
How a Brighton East job runs, from site visit to certificate
Every installation follows the same order, whether it is one charger in a carport or two on a load-managed circuit.
- Site visit. We look at the garage, the driveway, the meter box and the switchboard, and note the AC charging limit of each car you own or plan to buy.
- Load assessment. We work out the home’s maximum demand with the charger added, which tells us whether the existing supply copes.
- Overlay check. We check whether the property sits in a heritage precinct or on the Glen Eira side of the municipal boundary, because that affects where the charger can go.
- Network registration. United Energy wants every wall or fast charger on its network installed by a REC and entered in its myEnergy portal, which we take care of.
- Install and test. A dedicated circuit with Type A or Type B RCD protection, then the mandatory tests, including RCD operation. Since 1 May 2023, Type AC RCDs cannot be used in new work, in part because they may miss the pulsating DC leakage an EV charger can introduce.
- Certificate. You receive a Certificate of Electrical Safety, and Energy Safe Victoria explains what that certificate covers. If the job replaced the main switchboard or consumer mains, that is prescribed work, and an independent Licensed Electrical Inspector checks it before it is switched on.
What drives the price is predictable: cable run length, spare capacity in the switchboard, single or three-phase supply, any trenching, network approval and the charger model. We spell each of those out in the quote rather than burying them in one figure.
Heritage precincts and the Glen Eira edge
The Bayside Planning Scheme maps heritage precincts in Brighton East at Cheeseman Avenue, Berkeley Grove and Palmer Avenue. Landcox Park and the remnant plantings along Union Street between Thomas Street and Hawthorn Road are listed too. In October 2025, Amendment C192bays put 50 individual post-war places and one group listing across Bayside under the Heritage Overlay, and five of those places are in Brighton East.
The rule that matters for chargers is short. Clause 43.01 makes a charger a permit matter only when it is visible to people on a street or in a public park; a view from a lane is excluded. Applications go through VicSmart, the state’s fast-track process, and skip public notice. Bayside’s local heritage policy also asks owners to keep carports and garages behind the front façade and to conceal ancillary services from the street. Fitting the charger where it cannot be seen from the street or a park, inside the garage for example, avoids the permit trigger and sits comfortably with that policy.
One more local quirk. Most of Brighton East is in Bayside, but a strip on its eastern edge is in the City of Glen Eira, including Brewer Road, Lansell Road, Heyington Place and the even-numbered side of Thomas Street. There the Glen Eira Planning Scheme applies. The electrical work is identical; the overlays we check are not. Your rates notice settles it.
When the switchboard or the supply needs work first
Sometimes the charger is the easy part. An older board with no spare space, or no modern safety switches, needs attention before a 32 A circuit goes on it, and our switchboard upgrade for an EV charger covers that work properly.
The supply itself can also be the limit. United Energy says some homes need power-supply upgrades to manage EV charging, and once a property needs 170 amps or more it typically becomes a negotiated connection, as United Energy’s new and upgraded supplies page sets out. Where moving from single to three-phase makes sense, our three-phase power upgrade service handles the application, the new mains and the board. We also check your network’s requirements before fitting any 32 A single-phase charger, since the Victorian Service and Installation Rules carry advice on large single-phase loads.
If you simply want the standard path for one car, our page on home EV charger installation walks through charger choices, and the EV charger installation in Brighton page covers the suburb our team works from.
Frequently asked questions about EV charger installation in Brighton East
Does a charger in Brighton East need a planning permit?
Only in some cases. If your home is in a Heritage Overlay, such as the Cheeseman Avenue, Berkeley Grove or Palmer Avenue precincts or one of the newly listed post-war houses, a charger in view of the street or a public park requires a VicSmart permit. A charger that cannot be seen from the street or a park, such as one tucked inside a garage, does not trigger it. We check which overlays apply to your property before any work starts.
Can one charger serve two electric cars?
Yes. Alternating cars overnight on one 7 kW charger works well when daily distances are modest. If both cars need topping up most nights, two chargers with load sharing, or dynamic load management at the switchboard, lets both charge without overloading a single-phase supply.
Is my Thomas Street address in Bayside or Glen Eira?
It depends on your house number. The municipal boundary runs down Thomas Street: in Brighton East the even-numbered side is in the City of Glen Eira and the odd-numbered side is in Bayside. Brewer Road, Lansell Road and Heyington Place are in Glen Eira too. It changes the planning scheme we check, not the electrical work, and your rates notice confirms it.
Which network supplies electricity in Brighton East?
United Energy. It requires home wall chargers and fast chargers to be installed by a Registered Electrical Contractor and registered through its myEnergy portal, which we do as part of the job.
Will Council’s public fast chargers do the job instead?
Not for daily charging. None of the nine sites on Bayside City Council’s EV charger project page is in Brighton East; the completed ones are in Black Rock, Highett and Beaumaris. Home charging remains the practical option for most households here.
If you are planning for one electric car now and a second one later, we can design the circuit for both on the first visit. Call 1300 003 853, Monday to Saturday from 7am to 7pm, or book a site visit through our contact page, and we will come over from Bay Street, look at the garage, switchboard and meter box, and give you a written quote. If you are across South Road in Hampton, our page on EV charger installation in Hampton covers that suburb’s heritage streets and apartments.