About seven-tenths of Ringwood’s land sits under a Significant Landscape Overlay in the Maroondah Planning Scheme, most of it Schedule 4, which carries the plain title “Landscape Canopy Protection”. The suburb also runs on a different electricity network from its Whitehorse neighbours. Between them, those two facts shape EV charger installation Ringwood jobs more than the choice of charger ever does, so they are where we start.
DUKE EV is the EV charging arm of DUKE Electrical Group, the Melbourne electrical, automation and security company. The nearest of our premises to Ringwood is South Yarra, at 128 Toorak Rd, about 21 km to the west, and the A-grade electricians who come out from there work under our Victorian registration, REC 35838. Besides supplying chargers, we fit units owners have sourced themselves and carry out the switchboard, supply and repair work that keeps them running.
EV charger installation Ringwood starts with AusNet
Cross from Mitcham into Ringwood and the distribution network changes with the suburb. The state government’s open spatial data on distribution areas puts every part of Ringwood we sampled inside AusNet’s network, while Mitcham and the Whitehorse side of Vermont are United Energy. The difference matters because each network has its own application system and its own published advice.
AusNet’s guidance on electric vehicles and home charging describes a dedicated wall charger as Level 2 charging and says to check with your electrician whether your home’s supply is suitable before installing one, adding that some homes may need an upgrade, including three-phase power. Changes to an existing supply go through AusNet’s EnergyConnect portal, where an upgrade is lodged as a new connection application.
AusNet does not publish a home-charger notification threshold that we could find, so we check the network’s requirements for each address at quote stage rather than assume. Where the supply is the limit, an upgrade to three-phase power is sometimes the right move, though for a single car it often is not.
Canopy country: what the landscape overlays control
Maroondah’s planning scheme is blunt about why the overlay exists: canopy trees and steep to undulating topography are major elements of the municipality’s urban character. On our sampling of the state’s planning data, Schedule 4 covers about 51% of Ringwood and Schedule 3, the Wicklow Hills Ridge and Loughnan Warranwood Ridge landscape protection area, about 19%.
The good news for a charger is that Schedule 4 does not require a permit for buildings or works at all. What it controls is vegetation, which cannot be removed, destroyed or lopped without a permit. The exemptions are specific, including small trees under 5 metres with a trunk circumference under half a metre, pruning for regeneration or ornamental shaping, dead or dangerous trees declared so by a suitably qualified person, and any tree within 3 metres of an existing dwelling. That last exemption excludes outbuildings.
Read that carefully if your car lives in a detached garage or under a carport at the back of the block. A large gum beside a detached carport or garage does not get the 3-metre exemption unless it is also within 3 metres of the house, because the exemption is measured from the dwelling and expressly leaves out outbuildings, so lopping it to make room for a charger post or a new roof needs a permit unless another exemption applies. Schedule 3 has the same vegetation rule, plus slope and site-coverage conditions that decide whether new buildings need a permit. A smaller area, about 6% of Ringwood, also carries Vegetation Protection Overlay Schedule 1 for sites of biological significance, and that schedule notes remnant indigenous vegetation now makes up only 3% of Maroondah.
Because Schedule 4 leaves works alone and controls only vegetation, the planning risk on a Ringwood job sits with the trees rather than the charger, so we site the unit on an existing wall and choose a cable path that needs no lopping.
Renters, owners and Ringwood’s 39%
Renters occupied 39.3% of Ringwood’s homes at the 2021 Census, well above neighbouring Mitcham (27.4%) and Vermont (18.6%), and 13.0% of homes were flats or apartments. That changes who we talk to. A hard-wired charger is a fixed electrical installation on someone else’s property, so we confirm the owner’s approval, often through the managing agent, before any work is booked.
If you rent, our advice is to ask the owner before you buy a charger, not after. Our plan and quote can go straight to the owner to make that conversation easier, and nobody enjoys finding out the answer after the box has been opened.
In the meantime, AusNet notes that charging from a standard power point is Level 1 charging, the slowest option. If you rely on it, plug the portable charging cable straight into the socket. United Energy’s safety advice, which applies whatever network you are on, warns against household adaptors and against plugging one extension lead into another.
Eastland, the activity centre and new apartments
Central Ringwood is a Metropolitan Activity Centre, zoned under an Activity Centre Zone whose schedule names Eastland Shopping Centre, Ringwood Lake Park, Bedford Park and the Mullum Mullum Creek environment among its landmarks. Since 11 April 2025, a Housing Choice and Transport Zone has also applied to about 15% of the suburb’s land, supporting more homes close to the centre.
Newer apartment buildings may already have EV-ready switchboards under the National Construction Code, but older blocks are a different job. There, the owners corporation, the building’s spare capacity and a fair way to bill each user all need settling first, which our strata and apartment charging service is set up to handle. Maroondah’s environmentally sustainable design guidance for planning applications adds that, where a development needs a Green Travel Plan, the plan should highlight parking for electric cars along with bicycles and car share.
Maroondah City Council’s Transport Strategy 2025 to 2035, endorsed in April 2025, lists a transition to low-carbon transport, including electric vehicles, among its strategic directions, and points to the EV charging stations at Eastland as an example of emerging transport services.
Two cars on one AusNet connection
A third of Ringwood households (33.8%) had two registered vehicles in 2021, and 11.7% had three or more. AusNet’s warning on this is direct: charging more than one vehicle at the same time can quickly increase the load on a home, especially alongside split systems or electric cooking, and if the house draws more than it can handle, circuit protection may trip.
Its suggestions line up with how we plan these jobs. Ask about a smart charger that manages the home’s energy use, avoid charging two cars at once without one, and have the existing connection checked before adding a second charger. In practice we measure the household load, look at the main switch and the supply, and set the chargers to share what is available. If the switchboard is the weak point, a switchboard upgrade for an EV charger comes first.
Planning a Ringwood install, layer by layer
We work from the network down to the tree line, because a problem higher up changes everything below it.
The network sets what the supply can carry. The switchboard decides whether the new circuit fits safely, with the right RCD protection for the charger. The route connects the two, and in Ringwood that route has to respect the canopy. A heritage listing, if there is one, decides whether a charger in view of the street needs a permit. Testing comes last: the mandatory checks, RCD operation among them, and then the Certificate of Electrical Safety. Anyone can look up REC 35838 on Energy Safe Victoria’s public register.
A quote is only as good as the site information behind it. On a Ringwood job, the things that move the number are:
- the length and difficulty of the cable route, including any trenching around trees;
- spare capacity in the switchboard and the incoming supply;
- whether AusNet needs an application or a supply upgrade;
- the charger model, if we are supplying it rather than fitting yours.
Heritage pockets: Haig Street, Kendall Street and the station
Ringwood’s Heritage Overlay covers less than 1% of the suburb, but it is concentrated. The Haig Street Precinct and the Kendall Street Precinct are both listed, with solar energy system controls switched on. Ringwood Railway Station on the Maroondah Highway is on the Victorian Heritage Register, and individual places include the former Ringwood State School on Greenwood Avenue and “Chipping” on Wonga Road, where tree controls also apply.
Any charger on those listed properties that can be seen from a street or public park needs a VicSmart permit under Clause 43.01-1, while one seen only from a lane does not. Put it in the garage and the question never arises.
Frequently asked questions: canopy rules, renting and two-car charging in Ringwood
Do Ringwood’s canopy controls stop me installing an EV charger?
No. Schedule 4 of the Significant Landscape Overlay does not require a permit for buildings or works. Vegetation is another matter: taking out or lopping trees needs a permit, so the charger and cable are planned around them.
Can a tenant book a Ringwood charger installation directly?
You can make the booking, but we only schedule the work once the owner, usually through the managing agent, has approved a hard-wired charger on their property. Ask before you buy the unit.
Do I need three-phase power for a charger on the AusNet network?
Not always. A single-phase 7 kW charger suits many households. Three-phase is needed for 11 kW or 22 kW charging, which only helps if your car’s onboard charger can accept it, and AusNet notes some homes may need an upgrade, including to three-phase power.
Can two EVs charge at the same time in my house?
Yes, if the connection can take it. AusNet advises against charging multiple vehicles at once without a smart charger and suggests having the existing connection checked before installing more than one, so that check comes first, then we pair smart chargers that share the supply.
How far is your team from Ringwood?
Ringwood is about 21 km from our South Yarra premises (see our South Yarra location page), and we take calls Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm. If you are near the Mitcham boundary, our Mitcham EV charger installation page explains the United Energy side of the line.
For a quote on a Ringwood charger, owner-occupied or rented, use our online quote request form or phone 1300 003 853, and tell us about the property, the car and where it parks.