Two-car driveways often set the agenda for EV charger installation Caulfield North planning. At the 2021 Census, a third of occupied homes in the suburb had two registered vehicles and another 11 per cent had three or more. When the second car goes electric too, the question changes from “which charger?” to “can this house charge two cars at once?”
Caulfield North is looked after by our team at 128 Toorak Rd, South Yarra, about 4 km from the middle of the suburb, as part of the same patch as our South Yarra EV charger installations. Each install is carried out by our A-grade electricians, with REC 35838 as our Victorian electrical contractor registration. Caulfield North sits in the City of Glen Eira. Its housing is a genuine mix: 36 per cent separate houses, 24 per cent semis, terraces and townhouses, and 39 per cent flats.
Planning for a second EV on the same switchboard
Two chargers do not automatically mean a bigger supply. With load management, they can often split one supply between them, using whatever capacity the house is not using and throttling back when the oven, heating and hot water all come on together. Both cars still charge overnight; they simply take turns at full speed.
Where the numbers get tight, the network rules come in. Under the Victorian Service and Installation Rules, limiting devices must control maximum demand when the calculated figure for an installation goes above 100 amps per phase, or when the distributor specifies it. United Energy treats premises needing 170 amps or more as a typical case for a negotiated connection. We do the maximum demand calculation first, so you know which side of those lines you are on before spending anything.
If the house really does need more, a three-phase power upgrade for EV charging spreads the load across three phases and opens the door to 11 kW or 22 kW charging. It is worth it for some households. For many, careful load management on single-phase does the same job for far less disruption.
CitiPower or United Energy, depending on the address
Caulfield North is one of the suburbs where two networks meet. CitiPower’s distributor finder runs on a postcode file that names both CitiPower and United Energy for Caulfield North, and that file does not show which streets go where. We confirm the network for your address at the quote.
The network decides who processes a supply change. CitiPower’s page on changing your existing power supply lists EV chargers among the reasons to modify a supply, says only a registered electrical contractor can lodge the alteration, and says most works take between three and eight weeks depending on complexity. It also flags that high-capacity EV charging can trigger a network upgrade process where the local network cannot support the change. At United Energy addresses, chargers are registered through the myEnergy portal, and supply upgrades go through the same portal.
Both networks connect under the same Victorian Service and Installation Rules, which name EV chargers as a reason a supply capacity upgrade may be needed. We lodge the paperwork either way, and we tell you honestly when the network step, not the electrician, is the bottleneck.
Heritage precincts and the original garages behind them
Heritage controls are patchier here than in St Kilda or Elwood. By our own sampling of the state’s overlay mapping, under a tenth of Caulfield North sits in a Heritage Overlay, mostly in named precincts: HO14 Caulfield North Estate and Environs (around Carnarvon Road, Arthur Street and Malakoff Street), HO55 Park Crescent, HO73 Glen Eira Road and environs, HO152 Normanby Road, HO238 Aroona Road Modernist precinct, HO240 Findon Avenue and HO241 Grimwade Court.
Glen Eira’s heritage policy has a line that suits EV owners. It asks owners to retain and conserve original garages where they form a prominent element in the streetscape, and to keep car parking to the side or rear. A charger mounted inside an original garage changes nothing anyone can see from the footpath, which is exactly why it is usually our first suggestion on a heritage property.
The state’s heritage permit trigger for chargers is all about visibility: from a street, though not from a lane, or from a public park. Part of Caulfield Park is itself in a Heritage Overlay (HO4), and any heritage-listed home that overlooks a park should treat that frontage like a street. Nearby landmarks such as Labassa and the heritage-listed Grand Union tramway junction at Balaclava and Hawthorn Roads are a reminder of how much history this part of Glen Eira holds.
Older switchboards and the safety switch question
A lot of Caulfield North charging work starts at the switchboard rather than the garage. An EV charger is a long, heavy load, and a board that was fine for lights and a dishwasher may have no room for another circuit or the right protection.
Protection is the part people overlook. Type AC safety switches have been off the permitted list for new electrical work in Australia since 1 May 2023; they may miss the pulsating DC leakage an EV charger can produce. The Wiring Rules’ EV appendix, which is guidance rather than a mandatory clause, indicates a Type B device where the charger cannot detect DC fault current itself, and treats Type A as sufficient where the charger has built-in DC detection. We match the device to the charger’s own specification.
Our opinion, for an older house planning two EVs: replace a tired board once, properly, rather than squeezing a charger circuit into a full one. Because replacing a main switchboard counts as prescribed work, the new board must pass an inspection by an independent licensed electrical inspector before it is energised. Our switchboard upgrades for EV chargers are planned with that inspection booked in.
Detached garages, sub-boards and long cable runs
Take a Caulfield North house on a deep block, with the meter box on the front wall and the garage down the far end of the garden. The distance between the two is often the biggest single factor in the job. A long run needs heavier cable to keep voltage drop in check, and if the garage stands apart from the house the cable may have to go underground, in conduit, laid to the Wiring Rules’ requirements for underground wiring.
Some detached garages already have a small sub-board fed from the house. That helps, but only if the cable feeding it was sized for more than a light and a power point. If it was not, we replace the feeder rather than hang a charger off a supply that was never meant to carry one. Where a garage holds two cars, we usually run one supply big enough for both chargers and let load management share it, which is tidier than two separate runs down the side of the house.
Trenching across a finished garden is the part owners like least, so we look for existing conduits, under-floor routes and side paths before anyone picks up a shovel.
EV charger installation Caulfield North: the decision path
For a two-EV household, this is the order we work through:
We measure the existing load, check each car’s maximum AC charging rate, test whether load management on the current supply covers both cars, inspect the switchboard, and only then recommend a three-phase alteration if it is genuinely needed. The job finishes with testing, a Certificate of Electrical Safety and the network registration.
Buying into a new apartment building
With 39 per cent of Caulfield North homes being flats, some readers will be buying into a new building. Under the National Construction Code’s EV provisions (J9D4), car parks in new apartment buildings must have distribution boards dedicated to EV charging and connected to a charging control system. The circuits must be able to support a charger that delivers at least 12 kWh between 11 pm and 7 am. There is no requirement to install the chargers themselves at the start, but the boards must allow 7 kW (32 amp) chargers to be added later.
Glen Eira’s Climate Emergency Response Strategy 2025 to 2029 also commits the council to making developers include EV charging infrastructure. If you are buying off the plan, ask where the EV board is and how the control system shares capacity. Once you move in, our apartment and strata EV charging team can fit the charger to that board.
Frequently asked questions about chargers in Caulfield North
Can we charge two EVs at home without three-phase power?
Often, yes. With load management, two chargers split a single-phase supply and slow down when the house is busy. We calculate your maximum demand first and recommend three-phase only when the numbers call for it.
How do I find out whether my street is on CitiPower or United Energy?
Caulfield North appears under both networks in CitiPower’s distributor finder data, so the postcode alone will not settle it. Before any application goes in, we check which network actually supplies your address.
How long does a supply upgrade take?
CitiPower says most supply changes take between three and eight weeks, depending on complexity. United Energy upgrades go through its myEnergy portal. We book the work around the network’s timing.
Does a charger inside an original heritage garage need a permit?
Not under the Heritage Overlay’s charger trigger. That trigger depends on the charging station being seen from a street or a public park, and a unit inside a closed garage is seen from neither.
Should we fit two chargers now or one now and one later?
If the second EV is less than a year or two away, we usually suggest running the supply cable for both now and fitting the second charger later. The disruptive part is the cable run, not the wall unit.
Where do your electricians travel from?
From 128 Toorak Rd in South Yarra, about 4 km away. We also work across neighbouring Caulfield.
For a plan that covers both cars, book a Caulfield North site visit or call 1300 003 853 between 7am and 7pm from Monday to Saturday. We will look at the switchboard, the network and the garage before suggesting anything bigger than you need.