Ask three installers what a commercial EV charger costs and you will get three very different numbers. That is not evasion. The charger itself is often the smallest line on the invoice, and the things that move the total, your incoming power supply, the distance from the switchboard to the parking bays, and the surface you have to dig through, are specific to your site.
This guide breaks the cost down into the parts you can actually plan around, using published UK market ranges as they stand in August 2026. It then does the part most cost guides skip: it shows what the government grants take off the bill, and what your net cost looks like once they are applied.
The short answer
For most UK businesses installing workplace or fleet charging, the installed cost per charge point falls into these ranges.
| CHARGER TYPE | TYPICAL INSTALLED COST PER UNIT |
|---|---|
| 7kW to 22kW AC, single socket | £1,500 to £4,000 |
| 7kW to 22kW AC, dual socket | £2,500 to £5,000 |
| 50kW DC rapid | £15,000 to £35,000 |
| 150kW and above ultra-rapid | £50,000 to £100,000 and up |
Those figures cover hardware and standard installation labour. They do not include a power supply upgrade, significant groundworks, or ongoing operating costs. Each of those is covered below.
If your site needs grid capacity work, add anywhere from £1,000 to £20,000 and above. Civil works typically add £500 to £3,000 per charger.
What actually drives the cost
The chargers
An AC unit at 7kW to 22kW is the standard choice for workplace car parks, staff parking and depot overnight charging. Hardware alone sits at roughly £800 to £2,000 for a single socket unit, and £1,500 to £3,300 for a dual socket unit. Adding a card payment terminal or a mounting pedestal adds around £650 on top, which is where the higher end of both ranges comes from. It is the right specification when vehicles are parked for hours rather than minutes.
DC rapid units at 50kW and above cost considerably more, from around £10,000 to £25,000 for hardware at 50kW, and considerably more again at ultra-rapid speeds. They earn their place where dwell time is short: customer parking, public-facing sites, and fleets that turn vehicles around during the working day.
The practical decision is not "which is better" but "how long is the vehicle standing still". Specifying rapid charging for a car park where staff arrive at nine and leave at five is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes we see.
Groundworks and cabling
This is the line that varies most. Running a cable across an open grass verge is not the same job as trenching through reinforced concrete, crossing a service road, or reinstating a resurfaced car park. Distance matters, because cable cost and voltage drop both rise with it, and so does the labour of getting it there.
The single cheapest thing you can do to control installation cost is to put chargers as close to the incoming supply as the parking layout allows.
Your incoming power supply
Every site has a limit on how much power it can draw. If the chargers you want exceed it, you are into a Distribution Network Operator application, and potentially a new or upgraded connection. This is the item that can turn a straightforward project into a long one, and it is the reason a site survey should happen before anyone quotes a number.
There is a cheaper route that many sites overlook. Load management software staggers and throttles charging across the units so the site never exceeds its existing capacity. For overnight depot charging and workplace car parks, where vehicles sit for eight hours or more, load management frequently removes the need for a supply upgrade altogether. Our guide to workplace EV charging infrastructure covers how that works in practice.
Software, networking and payment
Networked chargers cost more than dumb units, typically £200 to £1,000 extra per charger, and they are worth it for any site with more than a handful of bays. Networking is what gives you access control, usage reporting, tariff setting, remote diagnostics and the ability to charge users. It is also what makes load management possible.
If your chargers will be publicly accessible, the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 bring additional obligations, including contactless payment on any new chargepoint of 8kW and above and clear pricing displayed in pence per kilowatt hour
Ongoing costs
Installation is a one-off. Electricity, network fees, maintenance and repair are not. Any cost comparison that stops at installation is only telling you half the story, and the half that matters less over a ten year asset life. Our guide to EV charger maintenance, servicing and uptime sets out what to budget for and who is responsible under each ownership model.
What the grants take off the bill
This is where the numbers change materially. The UK government funds a meaningful share of commercial installation through the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, and the rates went up in April 2026.
Workplace Charging Scheme: £500 per socket
The Workplace Charging Scheme covers 75% of the cost to buy and install chargepoints, capped at £500 per socket and 40 sockets across all your sites. That is a maximum of £20,000 per applicant. The rate rose from £350 to £500 per socket on 1 April 2026.
It is open to businesses, charities, public sector organisations and small accommodation businesses, and it runs until 31 March 2027. For a business the chargepoints must sit on off-street parking designated for your own staff or fleet, not customer or public parking. Public authorities, charities and small accommodation businesses can also let visitors and guests use them. Applications produce a voucher code, and you have 180 days from issue to complete the installation.
The catch that costs people money is straightforward: the work must be done by an OZEV-approved installer. If you appoint an installer who is not approved, the grant is gone. Our Workplace Charging Scheme guide covers eligibility and the application process in full, and the business grants hub sets out every scheme open to UK businesses.
Schools, colleges and universities: £2,000 per socket
State-funded education institutions get a substantially better rate. The education version of the Workplace Charging Scheme covers 75% of costs up to £2,000 per socket, again capped at 40 sockets, giving a maximum of £80,000.
The rate moved from £2,500 to £2,000 per socket on 1 April 2026, and institutions that applied before that date hold vouchers that are still valid at the higher rate. If you are an academy trust, the 40 socket cap applies per institution rather than per trust. See our WCS for Education guide and the education grants hub.
Residential landlords: £500 per socket
Landlords letting residential property can claim £500 per socket under the Residential Landlord Chargepoint Grant, with up to 200 grants per year. It is a different scheme with different rules to the workplace one, and it is set out in our Residential Landlord Chargepoint Grant guide.
What closed in March 2026
Two schemes that used to feature in commercial cost calculations have gone. The EV Infrastructure Grant for staff and fleets, which covered 75% of infrastructure work up to £15,000 for businesses with fewer than 250 employees, closed to new applications on 31 March 2026. The Commercial Landlord Chargepoint Grant closed on the same date.
If you have been working from a business case written in 2025, check it. Those two lines are no longer available, and the Workplace Charging Scheme is now the main route for most commercial sites. Our EV charger grants pillar tracks what is open and what has closed.