# Commercial EV Charging Perth > Commercial EV charging from Yanchep to Mandurah. CHARGING WA PTY LTD, ABN 53 692 564 622, electrical contractor licence EC11686, based at Unit 2/77 Forsyth Street, O'Connor WA 6163 and serving Perth, from Yanchep to Mandurah. Source: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/ --- ## Services ### Workplace EV Charging in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/services/workplace-ev-charging/ Workplace EV charging installed across Perth. Shared AC bays, user authentication and billing that puts each charge on the right account. EC11686. For: Offices and staff carparks. Staff charge at work, and the cost lands on the right account without a monthly admin job. #### How a workplace charging install runs Five steps, first call to handover. - Site visit: We look at your supply, your switchboard and how the carpark is used. - Design: Bay count comes from your headcount, not from a rule of thumb. - Proposal: One itemised price, with the warranty and the yearly service in it. - Install: Licensed electricians, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety on completion. - Commission: Access is set, billing goes live and your team is shown the software. #### What a workplace charging install includes - Site visit and supply assessment - Bay count sized to your headcount - Itemised proposal before any work - Switchboard work, mounting and chargers - Access, billing and session reporting set up - Certificate of Electrical Safety and two year warranty #### Specification - Typical hardware: Ocular AC, 7kW to 22kW - Software: Exploren, with session reporting - Authentication: RFID or app, per user - Warranty: 2 years parts and labour #### What the wiring rules require of a workplace bay EV charging installations in Australia are covered by Appendix P of AS/NZS 3000:2018, the wiring rules. Every charging point takes its own final subcircuit, with its own overcurrent protection and its own RCD, which is why a bank of workplace bays is not a matter of adding outlets to the carpark circuit that is already there. The RCD type is decided by the charger, not by preference. A Type A device is only acceptable where the unit itself detects DC leakage and disconnects; where it does not, the circuit needs a Type B. It is worth asking any quote which of the two it has allowed for, because the difference is real money per bay. Source: AS/NZS 3000:2018 Wiring Rules, Appendix P. ### Fleet and Depot EV Charging in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/services/fleet-depot-ev-charging/ Depot EV charging for Perth fleets. Sized against your run sheet and overnight window so every vehicle is ready for the next shift. Contractor EC11686. For: Depots and yards. Sized against your run sheet, so every vehicle leaves full on the next shift. #### How a depot EV charging install runs Five steps, run sheet to first shift. - Run sheet: We start with your vehicles, the range they burn and the hours they sit. - Site visit: Yard supply, workshop load and where the cable can run. - Design: Sized to the real overnight window, not the nominal twelve hours. - Proposal: One itemised price, staged if the fleet is still growing. - Install and commission: The bays go live and every session reports against its vehicle. #### What a fleet charging install includes - Run sheet review and site visit - Bay count sized to the overnight window - Itemised proposal, staged where it helps - Yard supply, trenching and charger install - Load management across chargers and workshop - Per vehicle reporting and two year warranty #### Specification - Typical hardware: Ocular AC banks, DC where the schedule needs it - Software: Exploren, session and fleet reporting - Lead time: 2 weeks to 2 months - Warranty: 2 years parts and labour #### Why the network sets your date, not the hardware Western Power runs the network that serves Perth and regional WA, and an electrical contractor installing charging equipment has to stay within the capacity of the connection the site already has. A depot that wants more than that is not a bigger install, it is an application to the network. That is where a two week job becomes a two month one, and it is the reason we start with your run sheet. If the overnight window is long enough to share the supply you already hold, the network never enters the schedule at all. Source: Western Power, the network operator for Perth and regional WA. ### DC Fast Charging Installation in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/services/dc-fast-charging/ DC fast charging installed for Perth dealerships, service centres and public sites. Ocular hardware, Exploren software, tap to pay and usage reporting. For: Dealerships and public sites. For sites where a vehicle cannot sit on AC for eight hours. #### How a DC fast charging install runs Five steps. Lead time runs to two months on larger units. - Supply check: We work out what the site can carry as it stands. - Options: Load management and staging are looked at before any supply upgrade. - Proposal: Hardware, civil works and billing, itemised in one price. - Install: Licensed electricians, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety on completion. - Commission: Tap to pay goes live and usage reporting is switched on. #### What a DC fast charging install includes - Supply assessment before anything is quoted - Load management and staging options - Itemised proposal, hardware and civil works - DC unit install and commissioning - Tap to pay billing and usage reporting - Certificate of Electrical Safety and two year warranty #### Specification - Typical hardware: Ocular DC fast chargers - Billing: Tap to pay, usage reporting - Lead time: Up to 2 months for larger DC units - Support: Yearly service with a safety certificate #### A DC unit is a supply question before it is a hardware question DC fast charging draws more at once than anything else on a commercial site, so the first thing that decides whether it is possible is the capacity of the existing connection. An electrical contractor cannot install equipment that exceeds it, which is why the supply check comes before the quote rather than after it. Where the site genuinely needs more, the supply change is an application to Western Power, priced by the network on a published rate, and it carries its own lead time on top of the unit's. Staging the install, or pairing one DC unit with AC bays, is usually the cheaper way to the same outcome. Source: Western Power, the network operator for Perth and regional WA. ### Strata and Apartment EV Charging in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/services/strata-apartment-ev-charging/ EV charging for Perth strata and apartment buildings. Shared infrastructure with individual billing, built to expand. Licensed EC11686. For: Strata and developers. Shared infrastructure with individual billing, so the next resident is an addition and not a rebuild. #### How a strata EV charging install runs Five steps, first meeting to the first bay. - Site visit: Building supply, basement cable routes and where the bays go. - Load assessment: We work out what the building can carry overnight. - Committee proposal: A design and a price the committee can actually vote on. - Backbone install: One shared run the building owns, sized for every future bay. - Bay connections: Each bay is metered to its resident and added one at a time. #### What a strata charging install includes - Site visit and building load assessment - Shared backbone designed for every future bay - Proposal written for a committee vote - Backbone install on the common property side - Individual metering, resident by resident - Certificate of Electrical Safety and two year warranty #### Specification - Structure: Shared backbone, metered bays - Billing: Individual, per resident - Expandable: Yes, designed for it from day one - Warranty: 2 years parts and labour #### Two approvals, not one A strata job has an electrical approval and a strata one. Bays and cabling on common property are the owners corporation's decision under the Strata Titles Act 1985 (WA), so the resolution matters as much as the switchboard, and the design has to be something owners can actually vote on. That is the case for a shared backbone rather than one charger per resident. Owners approve the infrastructure once, each bay is metered to the resident who uses it, and the next resident is an addition to something already voted through rather than a fresh proposal to a meeting. Source: Strata Titles Act 1985 (WA). ### Destination EV Charging in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/services/destination-ev-charging/ Destination EV charging for Perth hotels, shopping centres, clubs and venues. Charging that gives a customer a reason to stay on your site longer. EC11686. For: Hotels, retail and venues. Hotels, retail and clubs. Charging that gives a customer a reason to stay longer. #### How a destination charging install runs Five steps, site visit to first guest. - Site visit: Supply, guest parking and the sight lines on arrival. - Placement: Bays sited where a guest arriving in the dark will see them. - Proposal: Hardware, access rules and the yearly service, itemised in one price. - Install: Licensed electricians, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety on completion. - Commission: Guest access is set up and remote monitoring is switched on. #### What a destination charging install includes - Site visit, supply and sight lines - Placement chosen for arriving guests - Itemised proposal, hardware and access rules - Switchboard work, mounting and chargers - Guest or member access, billing if you want it - Remote monitoring and two year warranty #### Specification - Typical hardware: Ocular AC, DC where dwell time is short - Access control: Guest, member or public - Monitoring: Remote fault alerting - Support: Yearly service with a safety certificate #### Your charging peak is also your building's peak A hotel, a club or a shopping centre fills in the evening, and that is exactly when the building's own load is highest. Charging added to that hour is added to the worst hour, which is why a destination site is sized against measured maximum demand rather than against the number of bays anyone would like. The wiring rules require each charging point to have its own circuit and protection, so the bays are a distinct load a contractor can measure and control, not a general power circuit. Held below the site's existing capacity, the bays and the building coexist on the connection already there. Source: AS/NZS 3000:2018 Wiring Rules, Appendix P. ### EV Charger Load Management in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/services/load-management/ Brand agnostic EV charger load management in Perth. Share the supply you already have across every bay instead of paying for a service upgrade. EC11686. For: Any site with limited supply. Share the supply you already have, instead of paying for an upgrade you do not need. #### How an EV load management project runs Five steps, and usually no service upgrade at the end of them. - Assess: We measure what the site actually draws today. - Model: The building's demand is mapped against the charging demand. - Proposal: Control priced against the service upgrade you were quoted. - Configure: The chargers are made aware of each other and of the building. - Verify: Total draw is held inside the supply you already have. #### What a load management project includes - Assessment of the site's real demand - Building load modelled against charging - Proposal priced against the upgrade quote - Configuration across every charger on site - Works with the chargers already there - Verification that the supply holds #### Specification - Approach: Brand agnostic, not locked to one vendor - Balances: Across chargers and against building load - Typical result: No service upgrade required - Software: Exploren #### What a supply upgrade actually costs in Perth Load management exists because network capacity is priced. For a Perth metro site within 25 km of a zone substation, Western Power's published rate to upgrade supply is $496 per kVA, with a capital contribution tax of 13.9 per cent on top. Check the current figure with them before you budget on it. That is the number the whole decision turns on. Sharing a supply across chargers is a controller and configuration; buying more supply is a per kVA charge, a network application and a wait. We test the first before anyone quotes the second. Source: Western Power, the network operator for Perth and regional WA. --- ## Service areas ### Commercial EV Charging in Perth CBD URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/perth-cbd/ Commercial EV charger installation in Perth CBD. Office carparks, hotels and apartment buildings, with load management for constrained city supply. Perth CBD takes commercial EV charging on supply that is shared between tenants and rarely spare. Both problems are solved with control rather than concrete. About 20 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Office towers: Parked all day, so a small spare supply covers a lot of bays. - Hotels: Guests stay overnight, which is a full charging window. - Apartment buildings: Own bay each, so the question is metering, not speed. - Public carparks: Strangers charging, so payment and durability matter more than output. #### Who we deal with - Building managers: A design they can put to the owners, and a cable route that works - Strata committees: A proposal and a load assessment a committee can vote on - Hotel operations: Bays that work for guests without becoming a front desk job - Carpark operators: Payment, uptime, and equipment that survives the public ### Commercial EV Charging in Belmont URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/belmont/ Commercial EV charger installation in Belmont. Airport precinct hotels, dealerships and freight yards, with load management sized to arrival peaks. Belmont runs commercial EV charging on three different clocks, because the airport sets them. Hotels fill at night, hire fleets turn around in the middle of the day, and freight moves whenever the aircraft do, so three sites in the same suburb want three different charging windows. About 20 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Airport hotels: Guests arrive late and leave early, which is a short but reliable window. - Hire and shuttle fleets: Turnarounds happen midday, so the charge has to fit between jobs. - Dealerships: Stock and handovers, ready on a promised hour rather than overnight. - Freight and courier depots: Vans leave at dawn, so the yard has to be full before it. #### Who we deal with - Hotel operations: Bays guests can use without asking at the desk - Hire fleet managers: A charge that fits inside a midday turnaround - Dealership service: Vehicles ready on the hour they were promised - Courier depots: A yard that is full before the first run leaves ### Commercial EV Charging in Bayswater URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/bayswater/ Commercial EV charger installation in Bayswater. Trade workshops, transport yards and older commercial buildings, with load management for tight supply. Bayswater needs commercial EV charging built for older, smaller commercial stock. A lot of it sits on a supply that was sized for a workshop rather than a fleet, which is usually a control problem, not a bigger connection. About 25 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Trade workshops: One or two vans, parked inside overnight, so a wallbox does it. - Transport yards: Vehicles back at the same time, so bays have to take turns. - Older commercial buildings: Original switchboard, so the assessment comes before the quote. - Small business parks: Shared supply between tenants, so metering decides the design. #### Who we deal with - Workshop owners: One or two bays put in without rewiring the building - Transport operators: Bays that share what the yard already has - Building owners: To know what the existing board can carry before quoting - Business park managers: Metering that bills the right tenant ### Commercial EV Charging in Balcatta URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/balcatta/ Commercial EV charger installation in Balcatta. Trade suppliers, distribution warehouses and showrooms, with load management sized to the working day. Balcatta works a day shift, and that decides how commercial EV charging is sized here. Warehouses and trade counters are busy from early morning, quiet by evening, and that long quiet stretch is the cheapest charging window a site can have. About 25 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Trade suppliers: Delivery utes in and out all day, back on the same hardstand each night. - Distribution warehouses: A long empty evening, which is the whole argument for staged charging. - Showrooms: Customers on site during trading hours, so bays are visible and simple. - Light manufacturing: Plant already draws hard by day, so charging waits until it stops. #### Who we deal with - Warehouse managers: Charging that uses the evening the site is already idle - Trade counter operators: Bays on the hardstand the utes already use - Showroom managers: Something customers can use without being shown how - Production managers: Charging that never competes with the plant ### Commercial EV Charging in O'Connor URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/oconnor/ Commercial EV charger installation in O'Connor, where our own workshop is. Trade workshops, warehousing and auto businesses. EC11686. O'Connor is where our workshop sits, so commercial EV charging here is installed in an area we know street by street. It is dense light industrial: small tenancies, shared driveways, and switchboards that have been added to for thirty years. Our workshop is here, so we are minutes away. #### Sites we install for here - Trade workshops: Small tenancy, one board, so the assessment is the first job. - Auto and mechanical: Customer vehicles on site all day, so a bay earns its space. - Warehousing: Roller door frontage, which is the easiest cable route there is. - Multi tenancy units: Shared supply and shared driveway, so metering and access come first. #### Who we deal with - Workshop owners: A bay put in around a board that has grown over the years - Auto businesses: Charging that fits between customer jobs - Warehouse tenants: A short cable run from the board to the door - Unit complex owners: Metering that keeps tenants separate ### Commercial EV Charging in Myaree URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/myaree/ Commercial EV charger installation in Myaree. Showrooms, homemaker retail and trade suppliers on the Leach Highway strip. EC11686. Myaree is a showroom strip with a trade yard behind it, and commercial EV charging has to serve both halves. Customers park for an hour at the front, staff and delivery vehicles park all day at the back, and those two halves want completely different bays. About 5 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Showrooms: An hour of customer parking, so output matters more than it usually does. - Homemaker retail: Shared centre carpark, so payment and signage settle the design. - Trade suppliers: Delivery vehicles behind the building, standing long enough for AC. - Offices above retail: Staff parked the whole day, which is the easiest window to fill. #### Who we deal with - Showroom managers: A bay that is useful in the hour a customer is inside - Centre managers: Payment and signage that work for the public - Trade suppliers: Charging at the back where the delivery vehicles already sit - Office tenants: Staff bays that use the whole working day ### Commercial EV Charging in Bassendean URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/bassendean/ Commercial EV charger installation in Bassendean. Manufacturing, transport depots and council facilities along the Collier Road industrial belt. EC11686. Bassendean's Collier Road belt is heavier than it looks from the street, which changes where commercial EV charging starts. Sites here often have a decent connection already, and the work is proving how much of it is genuinely spare before anything is specified. About 30 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Manufacturing: A real load already on the board, so headroom is measured, not assumed. - Transport depots: Trucks and light vehicles together, so bays are sized separately. - Council facilities: A mixed fleet on a set roster, which suits staged overnight charging. - Trade and hire yards: Vehicles back inside the fence each night, standing time worth using. #### Who we deal with - Plant and site managers: Proof of what the connection can spare - Depot supervisors: Light vehicle bays that do not touch the truck supply - Council fleet officers: Overnight charging that matches the roster - Hire yard operators: Bays where the fleet already parks up ### Commercial EV Charging in Midland URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/midland/ Commercial EV charger installation in Midland. Dealerships, health and services fleets, trade yards and transport sites in Perth's eastern corridor. Midland is where the eastern corridor turns commercial, and commercial EV charging here is mostly about vehicles that leave on a promise. A car is handed over at an agreed hour and a service fleet goes back out when it is called, so a bay that is nearly finished charging is the same as a bay that is empty. About 40 minutes from our O'Connor workshop, on the eastern side of the metro. #### Sites we install for here - Dealerships: Stock and handovers charge to a schedule, not to whoever plugged in first. - Health and services fleets: Vehicles leave on call, so the charge has to be finished before it is needed. - Trade and transport yards: Utes and light trucks come back to the same fence each night. - Retail and civic carparks: Shared bays where the session has to be authenticated and billed. #### Who we deal with - Dealer principals: Vehicles charged by the hour they are promised - Fleet coordinators: A bay ready when the call comes in - Yard supervisors: Overnight charging that uses the standing time - Centre managers: Shared bays with the session billed to the user ### Commercial EV Charging in Fremantle URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/fremantle/ Commercial EV charger installation in Fremantle. Hotels, heritage buildings, council carparks and port services, with hardware specified for salt air. Fremantle puts two constraints on commercial EV charging and neither is negotiable. Heritage buildings limit what can be fixed to a wall or dug through a floor, and the sea air decides what the hardware has to survive. About 10 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Hotels and short stay: Guests park overnight, which is the full window without trying. - Heritage buildings: What can be fixed and cut is limited, so the cable route is the design. - Public and council carparks: Strangers charging, so payment, uptime and durability come first. - Port and marine services: Salt air, so enclosures and fixings are specified for it from the start. #### Who we deal with - Hotel operations: Overnight bays that guests can just use - Heritage building owners: A route and a fixing method the building allows - Council and carpark operators: Public bays that keep working and keep taking payment - Marine and port services: Hardware chosen for salt air on day one ### Commercial EV Charging in Osborne Park URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/osborne-park/ Commercial EV charger installation in Osborne Park. Dealerships, showrooms, trade suppliers and office parks. Licensed contractor EC11686. Osborne Park is dealership and showroom country, so commercial EV charging here is a mixed install. Sites usually need one fast unit for handovers plus AC for staff, which is a very different design to a depot. About 25 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Dealerships: Handovers happen on the hour, which is what puts DC on site. - Showrooms: The charger sits in the frontage, so position is a brand call. - Trade suppliers: Short stops all day rather than overnight parking. - Office parks: Staff and visitor bays sit behind different meters. #### Who we deal with - Dealer principals: Cars handed over charged, without a second supply - Franchise groups: One approach that repeats at the next site - Trade suppliers: Bays that do not block the loading area - Office park managers: Tenant bays that bill back to the tenant ### Commercial EV Charging in Malaga URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/malaga/ Commercial EV charger installation in Malaga. Depot and warehouse charging sized to the run sheet, with load management across the yard. EC11686. Malaga is warehouse and transport ground, so commercial EV charging here is mostly depot charging. The question is the overnight window rather than the peak output. About 35 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Transport depots: Vans return each night, so the run sheet sizes the charging. - Warehousing: Dock equipment already uses the supply, so charging fits around it. - Light industrial: Small fleets on a modest supply, sharing power instead of upgrading. - Trade services: Parked knock off to start up, the cheapest window there is. #### Who we deal with - Depot managers: Every van full by the first run, and proof that it charged - Fleet operators: Reporting per vehicle, so a missed charge is visible before the shift - Warehouse operations: Charging that never trips the dock - Trade businesses: Bays where the utes already park ### Commercial EV Charging in Canning Vale URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/canning-vale/ Commercial EV charger installation in Canning Vale. Workplace and depot charging for the Bannister Road and Ranford Road industrial estates. EC11686. Canning Vale mixes distribution with business park, so commercial EV charging often does two jobs on one supply: workplace bays and depot charging. We have delivered here before. About 20 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Distribution centres: The timetable is fixed, so the charging window is fixed. - Business parks: Several tenancies on one supply, so metering decides who pays. - Workplaces: Cars sit all day, which means more bays at a slower rate. - Light industrial: Mixed vans and utes on one board, sharing what is there. #### Who we deal with - Distribution managers: The timetable respected, and vehicles ready at the same hour - Business park owners: A backbone that later tenancies can join - Facilities and HR: Staff charging with the cost attributed to the right person - Light industrial operators: Vans and utes sharing one board safely ### Commercial EV Charging in Welshpool URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/welshpool/ Commercial EV charger installation in Welshpool. Heavy industrial and transport depot charging, with load sharing against existing workshop demand. Welshpool is heavy industrial, and commercial EV charging here meets the trickiest supply situation in the metro. The workshop load matters more than the charging, so the charging is what gives way. About 20 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Transport depots: Back late, out early, so the overnight gap sets the design. - Heavy industrial: Plant comes first, and charging takes what is spare. - Workshops: Welders and compressors set the peak, chargers stay under it. - Logistics: Very different vehicle sizes, so more than one class of charger. #### Who we deal with - Plant and workshop managers: Plant keeps priority and charging takes what is spare - Transport operators: Trucks ready for the early start, every morning - Site electricians: A design that lands cleanly on the board already there - Logistics contractors: Bays for several vehicle classes at once ### Commercial EV Charging in Bibra Lake URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/bibra-lake/ Commercial EV charger installation in Bibra Lake and the surrounding Cockburn industrial area. Depot, workshop and workplace charging. EC11686. Bibra Lake is our closest industrial area, so commercial EV charging here gets short lead times on site visits and on anything that needs a second look after commissioning. About 10 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Light industrial: Modest supply, small fleet, bays sharing power rather than upgrading. - Workshops: The equipment sets the limit and the chargers work inside it. - Fleet yards: Bays go where the vehicles already stop. - Manufacturing: Production runs all day, so charging moves to the quiet hours. #### Who we deal with - Workshop owners: Nothing that risks tripping the shop mid job - Fleet supervisors: Vans full by morning without anyone managing it - Manufacturers: Charging that stays out of the production peak - Property owners: Conduit in early, so the next bay is an addition ### Commercial EV Charging in Joondalup URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/joondalup/ Commercial EV charger installation in Joondalup. Office, retail, health and education sites across the northern corridor. Licensed EC11686. Joondalup is a northern commercial centre with a lot of public facing sites, so commercial EV charging here is about destination charging and visibility more than raw output. About 45 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Retail centres: A couple of hours per car, so destination charging, not depot. - Health and education: One carpark, many users, so the site has to know who charged. - Office parks: All day parking, where slower bays cover more cars. - Councils: Fleet bays behind the gate, public bays out front, one supply. #### Who we deal with - Centre managers: Bays that serve customers and are visible from the entry - Council facilities: Fleet and public charging separated on one connection - Health and education sites: A shared carpark that still knows who charged - Business park managers: All day bays without a supply upgrade ### Commercial EV Charging in Rockingham URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/rockingham/ Commercial EV charger installation in Rockingham. Council fleets, contractors, retail and health sites through the southern coastal centre. EC11686. Rockingham is a regional centre with its own council fleet, contractors and a commercial strip, and commercial EV charging here is usually staged. Sites are large enough that installing over two phases is often the sensible answer. About 35 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Council fleets: Utes, vans, trucks and plant, all back at different times. - Contractors: Out early, so charging has to finish before the first start. - Retail centres: Constant public use, so mounting matters as much as the charger. - Health and education: Long midday stays on a carpark shared with visitors. #### Who we deal with - Council fleet officers: Every class of vehicle covered by one system - Contracting businesses: Vehicles ready for an early start - Retail landlords: Charging that survives public use - Schools and health campuses: Long midday stays on a carpark shared with visitors ### Commercial EV Charging in Kwinana URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/areas/kwinana/ Commercial EV charger installation in Kwinana. Heavy industrial sites, logistics yards and port services, with load management for committed supply. Kwinana is heavy industry and the port, so commercial EV charging here starts with what is spare. Supply is large but almost all of it is already committed, and the question is never how much power the site has. About 30 minutes from our O'Connor workshop. #### Sites we install for here - Heavy industrial: A big connection with little spare, so headroom decides everything. - Logistics: Vehicles move around the clock, so there is no quiet night. - Marine and port services: Salt air, so hardware is specified for it from the start. - Contractors: Parked inside the fence between jobs, standing time worth using. #### Who we deal with - Site and utilities managers: Charging that never threatens the site's headroom - Port and marine services: Equipment chosen for the environment from day one - Logistics operators: Charging that works without a quiet window - Contractors on site: Bays at the spots where vehicles already stand --- ## Blog ### EV Charging for Business Fleets in WA URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/ev-charging-for-business-fleets-wa/ Updated: 2026-10-05 Planning EV charging for a fleet starts with the vehicles, not the chargers. Work out how far each vehicle travels, where it parks and how long it sits there, and the number and type of chargers follows from that. Three EVs parked overnight may need only two AC chargers, the common units that charge a car over several hours, and rarely need DC fast charging, the far more expensive high-power kind. A site assessment then checks the power, works out where the chargers should go and plans how to add more as the fleet grows. #### Key points - The number of vehicles does not set the number of chargers - Vehicles parked 10 to 12 hours overnight rarely need fast charging - Where the chargers go can matter more to the price than the chargers - An office uses far less power at night, which can free capacity for charging - Load management lets chargers share the power the site already has - Company cars that go home with staff need a plan for home charging too #### Start With How the Vehicles Are Used Buying the EVs is only half the decision. The other half is how they will charge every day without creating a problem when the fleet grows. So before you look at any chargers, start with what the vehicles do each day. Three sales cars that come back to the office every night need something very different from vans that are on the road around the clock. Before anyone talks about chargers, answer these: - How many EVs are you buying now? - How many could the fleet grow to over the next few years? - What does each vehicle do on a normal working day? - Roughly how many kilometres does each one travel? - Where is each vehicle parked overnight? - What time does it come back, and what time does it have to leave? #### Charging Is an Energy and Time Problem A vehicle parked for 10 to 12 hours overnight has far more time to recharge than one that stops for an hour or two. That time is what lets a small, inexpensive charger do the job. Take three passenger EVs that each travel about 120 to 150 km a working day. A modern passenger EV can cover more than one day of that on a charge, but you should not plan a fleet around cars coming back nearly flat. A simple rule might be that each car gets a charge about every second working day, plus a top-up before weekends or long days. The point is that the number of vehicles does not automatically equal the number of chargers. #### How Many Chargers Does the Business Need? It is the first question most businesses ask, and the answer comes from the fleet's schedule, not a fixed ratio of one charger per car. - Work out how often each vehicle needs energy put back. - Look at how many hours the vehicles are parked and able to charge. - Allow enough charging that drivers are not swapping cars around or worrying about range. - Think about what happens on an unusually busy day. - Plan for growth, but you do not have to pay for the whole future fleet on day one. #### AC Chargers Usually Suit a First Small Fleet An AC charger is the common unit, mounted on a wall or on a standalone post called a pedestal, that charges a car over several hours. A DC fast charger feeds the battery directly and charges much faster, but it costs far more to buy and needs a lot more power from the site. If the vehicles are parked overnight, a slower AC charger still has them ready by morning, for far less than a fast charger. For a small fleet trial, a simple AC setup is often the sensible place to start. Three EVs with long overnight parking and staggered charging days may run comfortably on two AC chargers. The right answer still depends on the actual vehicles, their battery size, their daily kilometres and what happens if one is not ready. Our guide to [AC vs DC charging for business fleets](/blog/ac-vs-dc-ev-charging-for-business-fleets/) shows when DC is worth paying for. #### Where the Chargers Go Can Set the Price Commercial chargers can be mounted on a wall, on a pedestal, or in an open car park. The best spot balances what is easy for drivers with what it costs to get power and data cabling to the charger. If the main switchboard is right beside the bays, the cable run is short and simple. If the cars park at the back of the building and the switchboard is at the front, the job may need a 20, 50 or even 100 metre cable route, with trenching or other works along the way. Our guide on [where to install EV chargers at your business](/blog/where-to-install-ev-chargers-at-your-business/) walks through how to compare locations. #### Should You Build for the Future Now? A business moving 3 of its 15 vehicles to EVs may need a lot more charging later. There are two sensible ways to approach it. - Start simple. Put the first chargers in the cheapest practical spot. When the fleet grows, spend on more infrastructure then, and keep or move the original chargers. - Build the backbone early. Run power from the main switchboard to a dedicated EV distribution board, a separate small switchboard near the future bays that feeds only the chargers. It costs more at the start, but every charger after that is a simple addition. #### Which Approach Is Right for You Neither is right every time. If the first EVs are a genuine trial, keeping the first install simple makes sense. If the business has committed to moving the fleet across, spending more on the backbone at the start can mean less disruption and less cost later. #### Does the Site Have Enough Power? Whether the site has enough power is worked out on the site assessment. The building's electrical supply, what it already uses and how much is spare all need to be understood before the charging design is settled. An office uses much less power overnight than during business hours. Air conditioning, lighting and computers drop away when staff go home, which can leave useful capacity for charging cars overnight. The aim is to design within the power the site genuinely has before anyone talks about an expensive supply upgrade. Our guide on [whether your business has enough power for EV chargers](/blog/do-you-need-a-power-upgrade-for-ev-chargers/) goes into this in detail. #### Load Management Lets the Chargers Share Power As the number of chargers grows, [load management](/services/load-management/) becomes more useful. A current transformer, a clamp on the main cable that measures what the building is drawing, lets the chargers adjust their output so the whole site stays inside a set limit. If the building suddenly needs more power, the chargers ease back for a while. When the building's demand drops, the cars get more power again. #### Do You Need Charging Software? Not every small fleet needs software on day one. But many businesses want to see how much electricity the fleet is using, and they want more control as the number of vehicles grows. Software can: - Track charging sessions and how much electricity each one used - Report usage by charger, driver or vehicle, where the system supports it - Feed sustainability or emissions reporting - Show whether each charger is working and help find faults - Control who can use the chargers - Let staff charge their own cars for free or for a fee, if you want that #### Is the Software Worth the Subscription? Commercial charging software usually comes with an ongoing subscription. So before you pay for a feature, ask whether the business will use it enough to justify the subscription. Our guide on [taking payment on EV chargers](/blog/business-ev-charging-payments/) covers the options for charging staff and visitors. #### Company Cars That Go Home With Staff Not every fleet vehicle comes back to a depot. Sales reps, managers and technicians often take company EVs home. That raises three questions: how the car is charged, how the business's electricity is kept separate from the household's, and how the employee is paid back. Suitable home charging equipment, recorded charging sessions and a simple reimbursement process solve it. At Step4 in Canning Vale, we paired a workplace charger with a portable charger that has its own SIM connection and an RFID card, a contactless card that identifies the driver. Every session at home logs the start and finish time, the energy used and the user, so the business reimburses on records instead of an estimate. You can read more on our [projects page](/projects/). For many fleets the answer is a mix of depot or workplace charging, home charging and public charging, not one location. #### A Practical Example: Starting With Three EVs Take a business with 15 vehicles that is moving its first three to EVs. - 15 fleet vehicles, the first 3 changing to EVs: treat the first install as a trial that can grow, not the whole future fleet. - Passenger EVs doing about 120 to 150 km a day: use the real daily energy need and the overnight parking time to set how often each one charges. - Vehicles parked at the office overnight: AC charging is likely to be enough, because the charging window is long. - Three EVs to start: two AC chargers may be a practical start if charging days can be staggered. Confirm it with the actual vehicles. - Possible growth to 10 or more EVs: check whether a dedicated EV distribution board and future load management should be part of the plan. - The business wants energy reporting: choose chargers and software that work together, and confirm the ongoing subscription before you buy. #### What a Site Assessment Should Work Out A good assessment ends with a practical proposal with options, not a quote for the biggest or fastest charger on the shelf. It should cover: - How many EVs you have now and how many you expect - Daily kilometres, return and departure times, and which vehicles matter most - The existing supply and switchboard capacity - Possible charger locations and cable routes - Whether an EV distribution board is worth it - Whether load management is needed now or can be added later - The right mix of charger power and number of chargers - What connectivity and software the business needs - Security, public access and vandalism risk - A staged path for expansion, with budget options #### Questions to Bring to the First Discussion You do not need all the answers before you call, but these are the ones that shape the design. For a bigger depot, see our [fleet and depot EV charging](/services/fleet-depot-ev-charging/) service. - How many EVs are we buying now, and how many could we have in two to five years? - Which vehicles are we considering? - How many kilometres do they normally travel each day? - Where will they be parked overnight? - When do they come back, and when do they need to leave? - Do any employees take company vehicles home? - Do we need usage, cost or sustainability reporting? - Do we want staff or visitors to be able to use the chargers? - Do we know where the main switchboard is, and where we would like the EVs to park? #### Questions **How many chargers do we need for three EVs?** Often fewer than three. If the cars are parked overnight and their charging days can be staggered, two AC chargers may support them comfortably. The real answer comes from the daily kilometres, battery size and how long each car is parked, so we confirm it on the site assessment. **Does a business fleet need DC fast chargers?** Usually not when vehicles park overnight, because AC chargers have plenty of time to refill them. DC fast charging is worth the extra cost when vehicles have to go straight back out, such as an emergency or shift-based fleet. **Should we install enough charging for the whole future fleet now?** Only if the growth is certain and soon. For a genuine trial, start simple. If the fleet is definitely moving across within a year or two, running a backbone to an EV distribution board early can save money later. **How do we reimburse staff who charge a company EV at home?** Use a charger that records every session. A connected portable or wall charger with RFID logs the energy used and the driver, so reimbursement is based on records rather than a guess. ### AC vs DC EV Charging for Business Fleets URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/ac-vs-dc-ev-charging-for-business-fleets/ Updated: 2026-10-08 AC charging is slower and cheaper; DC fast charging is quicker, costs more and needs far more power from the site. For a business fleet, the right choice comes from how long the vehicles are parked and how much energy they need before they leave again, not from the charger's top speed. Vans parked overnight usually suit one AC charger each. Vehicles that only call in for an hour or two, or pool cars shared between drivers, are where DC is worth considering. Some fleets are best served by a mix. #### Key points - Start with the vehicles, not the charger - Twelve vans parked overnight and twelve cars that call in for an hour need different chargers - A van plugged in for 12 hours at 4 kilowatts (kW) takes in 48 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy - A fast charger can mean staff moving cars off it all day - Twelve AC chargers can cost less than two large DC chargers - Some fleets do best with AC for most vehicles and one DC charger for the exceptions #### The Short Answer AC charging is the common type you see on a wall or a post. The car's own onboard charger turns the AC power from the grid into DC to fill the battery, so it charges over several hours. A DC fast charger does that conversion inside the charger itself and feeds the battery directly, which is much quicker, but the charger costs a lot more and draws much more power from the site. When a business moves its fleet to EVs, it is tempting to think faster must be better. In practice the right answer depends far more on how the vehicles are used than on the biggest number printed on the charger. **The simple principle:** Start with the vehicles, not the charger. Work out when they are on site, how long they stay, how much energy they need before their next trip, how predictable that is, and how much power the site can spare. #### How Long Are the Vehicles Parked? The time a vehicle spends parked on site is called its dwell time, and it is one of the most important numbers in any commercial charging design. A van that comes back to the depot at 5pm and does not leave until 7am has about 14 hours to charge. A take-home car that calls in to the office for an hour or two has a completely different chance to charge. A long dwell time lets you put the energy back slowly. A short or unpredictable one can make charging speed the thing that decides whether the vehicle is ready. #### Same 12 Vehicles, Two Different Answers The first fleet below is a job we did. The second is a typical delivery depot with the same number of vehicles, to show how the answer changes. **A job we did: 12 take-home cars that call in to the office** (DC) An hour or two per visit, two or three visits a week - Staff take the cars home and spend most of the day on the road. - Each car calls in for an hour or two, two or three times a week. - Two or three arrive one day, four the next, and not always the same ones. - There is no overnight window at the office to charge in. DC charging. We installed two DC chargers with four charging ports between them, so four cars can charge at once. **A typical depot: 12 delivery vans back at the depot every night** (AC) About 14 hours parked each night, 5pm to 7am - The vans leave each morning, run their routes and come back at the end of the day. - Each one covers about 200 to 300 km. - They stay parked until the next morning. - Every van can be plugged in for the whole night. AC charging, with one charger per van, so every van sits on its own charger all night and is full for the morning. #### Why the First Fleet Went DC The office could not count on long overnight charging, because the cars were at staff homes overnight. It had to put useful energy into whichever cars happened to be in, during a short visit. Two DC chargers with four ports let up to four cars charge at the same time. How fast each car charged still depended on how the chargers were set up, what each car could accept and how much power the site had, so the design was built around using as much of the site's spare capacity as possible. Staff could charge in the time they were already at the office, so they relied much less on public fast chargers. Company cars that go home with staff also need a plan for [charging away from the office and reimbursing it](/blog/ev-charging-for-business-fleets-wa/#company-cars-that-go-home-with-staff). #### Why the Second Fleet Suits AC The depot fleet does not need to charge quickly. It needs every van to have enough energy before it leaves in the morning. If all 12 vans can be plugged in overnight, AC charging does that well. Each van stays in its own charging bay, nobody has to move a van after an hour, and the power the site can spare is shared across the whole fleet through the long charging window. Our [fleet and depot EV charging](/services/fleet-depot-ev-charging/) service is built around exactly this kind of yard. **The key difference:** The first fleet has short, irregular chances to charge. The second has long, predictable ones. Both fleets have the same number of EVs and need completely different charging setups. #### Isn't Faster Charging Always Better? Yes and no. Faster charging can be worth having, but speed brings its own costs. When a car finishes on a DC charger, someone usually has to move it so the next car can use the charger. In a busy workplace that means staff leaving their desks again and again to swap cars between the charging bay and a normal bay. On AC, a car can stay plugged in for several hours or overnight, which often fits how people actually work far better. Then there is the cost. Depending on the job, twelve AC chargers can cost less than two large DC chargers, and DC chargers need much more power from the site at any one moment. A fair comparison counts the hardware, the electrical work, the power the site has to spare and how the chargers will be used day to day, not just charging speed. Our guide to [what commercial EV charging costs in Perth](/blog/commercial-ev-charging-cost-perth/) covers the price side in detail. #### When DC Charging Is Worth Considering DC becomes a serious option when one or more of these is true: - Vehicles are only on site for short or irregular periods. - They need a lot of energy put back during a brief visit. - They are pool cars, shared by several drivers, and nobody knows how far the next driver needs to go. - They have to go back into service quickly. - The fleet cannot rely on a long overnight charging window. - You want to cut how much staff rely on public fast chargers while they are away from the depot. #### Pool Cars Are the Clearest Case With a pool car, one person brings it back with no idea how far the next person needs to drive. Businesses have complained to us about exactly this. A faster charger gives the car a better chance of having useful range for whoever takes it next, because it does not depend on the car sitting on a charger for hours. That benefit still has to be weighed against what DC costs to install and whether the site has the power for it. Fleets that have to go straight back out after every job need DC most of all. We fitted the [St John Ambulance depot](/projects/#st-john-ambulance) with DC fast charging for exactly that reason. See our [DC fast charging installation](/services/dc-fast-charging/) service for what that involves. #### When AC Charging Is the Better Fit AC is usually the better fit when: - Vehicles come back to the depot at predictable times. - They stay parked for long periods or overnight. - Routes and daily kilometres are fairly consistent. - You can put in enough charging points for the vehicles that need to be plugged in. - There is enough time to share the site's power across the fleet. - You want to keep swapping cars and managing charging bays to a minimum. **The plain-English rule:** If vehicle use is predictable and the charging window is long, the system can usually be designed around slower AC charging. If arrivals, parked times and energy needs vary a lot and vehicles need meaningful energy quickly, DC becomes a much stronger option. #### AC vs DC at a Glance If your fleet sits in the AC column on some rows and the DC column on others, a mix of both may suit. | Fleet characteristic | Often points toward AC | Often points toward DC | | --- | --- | --- | | Dwell time | Long or overnight | Short or irregular | | Usage pattern | Predictable | Varies a lot | | Who uses the vehicle | One driver per vehicle | Pool or shared vehicles | | Turnaround | Hours available | Back into service quickly | | Charging bays | Vehicles can stay plugged in | Chargers need to free up for the next vehicle | | Power demand | Load can be spread over time | More power may be needed at once | | The goal | Hands-off overnight charging | A fast top-up in a short window | #### Work Backwards From the Energy Start with how much energy each vehicle needs and how much time there is to put it in. Energy is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh), the same unit as on your power bill. Charging speed is measured in kilowatts (kW), the rate the energy goes in. For a depot fleet, the design starts by measuring or estimating how much spare power the site has during the charging hours, then sharing it across the vehicles plugged in. Here is a simplified example for one van: - Charging rate per van: 4 kW - Hours charging: 12 hrs - Energy it can take in: 48 kWh - Needed: 50 kWh battery from 20% to full: 40 kWh **On those numbers, AC does the job:** The van can take in 48 kWh and needs 40 kWh. A real design also allows for energy lost while charging, the vehicle's own AC charging limit, how the chargers are set up and shared, how the chargers are spread across the site's three supply lines, called phases, the site's actual load and a safety margin. The method stays the same: work backwards from the energy needed and the time available. #### Try It on Your Own Fleet Put in your own numbers to see which way your fleet leans. It is a guide to start the conversation, not an engineering design. A real answer needs a look at your switchboard and how much power your site has spare. #### Site Power Matters for Both You cannot pick a charging setup without looking at the electrical side. Before committing to several chargers, and especially to high-powered DC units, you need to know the site's existing supply, what it normally uses and how much power is spare during the hours the vehicles will charge. Where that is unclear, load monitoring, which means logging what the building actually draws through the day and night, shows the real picture. From there you can choose between [load management](/services/load-management/), which lets the chargers share the power the site already has, charging the vehicles in turns, a supply upgrade or a different mix of chargers. Our guide on [whether your site has enough power for EV chargers](/blog/do-you-need-a-power-upgrade-for-ev-chargers/) goes through it step by step. #### It Doesn't Have to Be AC or DC Some businesses are best served by a mix. The vehicles with predictable days charge on AC through their long parked hours, while one DC charger gives a fast top-up to pool cars, vehicles coming off an unusually long day and vehicles that have to turn around quickly. The charger mix should follow how the fleet works. Buying the fastest equipment first and then trying to make the fleet's routine fit around it is the wrong way round. #### Seven Steps to the Right Setup Work through these in order before you ask for a quote. 1. **Map the fleet.** List every vehicle, its daily kilometres, its battery size and energy use, whether it stays at the depot or goes home, and when it normally arrives and leaves. 2. **Work out the energy, not just the number of chargers.** Estimate the kWh each vehicle has to get back between shifts. The chargers only need to deliver that energy inside the time available, not run flat out all night. 3. **Measure the parked window.** Long, predictable parked times point strongly to AC. Short, irregular ones make DC worth more. 4. **Check the electrical side.** Look at the incoming supply, the switchboards, what the site already uses and how much is spare. Where it is unclear, monitor the load before settling the design. 5. **Walk through the daily routine.** Who plugs the vehicles in, whether they can stay in the charging bays, whether staff have to swap cars, and what happens when a vehicle comes back unexpectedly low. 6. **Plan for the hard days.** Long days, a missed charge, late returns, extra vehicles and shared pool cars. Work out which of those days a fast top-up would actually fix, and whether that is worth paying for. 7. **Consider a mix.** AC for the vehicles with long, predictable nights and DC for the smaller group that needs a quick turnaround can give the best balance. #### Questions to Answer Before You Choose You do not need every answer before you call us, but these are the ones that decide the design. If you are still working out [how many charging points your fleet needs](/blog/ev-charging-for-business-fleets-wa/#how-many-chargers-does-the-business-need-), start with our complete fleet guide. - How many EVs are in the fleet today, and how many do you expect in the next few years? - Are the vehicles depot-based, taken home, pool cars, delivery or field vehicles? - What time do they normally arrive and leave? - How many hours are they really available to charge? - How many kilometres does each vehicle usually travel in a day? - How much energy has to go back in before the next trip? - Do all the vehicles need to charge every day? - How predictable is the routine? - How many vehicles are likely to be on site at the same time? - Can vehicles stay in the charging bays, or would they need to be moved once charged? - How much spare power does the site have during the charging hours? - Would staff otherwise be using public fast chargers? - What happens on the fleet's hardest realistic day, not just an average one? - How will the charging grow when more EVs arrive? #### The Bottom Line For many depot fleets that are parked overnight, AC charging can be the most practical and economical answer. For vehicles with short, irregular or unpredictable chances to charge, DC charging can solve a problem that slower charging cannot. **Ask this first:** Before choosing chargers, ask how much energy your vehicles need, when they are available to charge and how quickly that energy has to go in. The answers usually point to the right chargers. #### Questions **What is the difference between AC and DC charging?** With AC charging, the car's own onboard charger converts the power, so it charges over several hours. A DC fast charger converts the power itself and feeds the battery directly, which is much quicker but costs more to install and needs more power from the site. **Is a 7 kW charger AC or DC?** AC. Most wall-mounted and post-mounted business chargers are AC units of 7, 11 or 22 kW. DC fast chargers are usually bigger units that draw far more power from the site. **Does a delivery fleet need DC fast chargers?** Usually not if the vans are parked overnight. A van in the depot for 12 hours at a 4 kW charging rate can take in about 48 kWh, which is enough for many daily routes. We confirm it against your vans' actual daily energy and the site's spare power. **What is the main downside of DC fast charging for a business?** Cost and power. DC chargers cost much more than AC chargers and need far more power from the site at once. A car that finishes quickly also has to be moved so the next one can charge, which takes staff time. **Can we have both AC and DC chargers at one site?** Yes, and for some fleets it is the best setup. AC chargers handle the vehicles parked for long periods, and one DC charger gives pool cars and quick turnarounds a fast top-up. ### Where Should You Install EV Chargers at Your Business? URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/where-to-install-ev-chargers-at-your-business/ Updated: 2026-10-05 Choose the location by how the power gets there, not just by which bays are handiest. A bay near the switchboard can still be the dearest option if it means cutting concrete, trenching and installing pedestals, the standalone posts a charger mounts on, while a wall 20 or 30 metres away may be simpler and cheaper. Compare convenience, cable route, mounting, security and future growth before you lock in the bays. #### Key points - The closest bay to the switchboard is not automatically the cheapest - The cable route can matter more than the straight-line distance - Walls are usually simpler than fences or open car parks - Plan security and bollards, the short posts that protect a charger, before the install - Only build for growth that is certain and soon - Fewer, faster chargers can beat a long row of slow ones #### The Handiest Bay Is Not Always the Cheapest Picking where EV chargers go looks easy: choose the most convenient bays and put the chargers there. In practice, the location has a big effect on the installation cost, on how easy the chargers are to use, on security, and on how simply the system can grow. A bay close to the main switchboard is not automatically the cheapest. If getting power to it means cutting concrete, trenching, resurfacing and installing pedestals, a charger 20 or 30 metres further away on a suitable wall may be simpler and cost less. #### Look at the Whole Site Before You Pick the Bays These are the questions that change the installation cost. You do not need the answers before you call, but it helps to start thinking about them. - Where are the main switchboard and any smaller boards around the site? - What sits between the switchboard and the bays: open wall, ceiling space, garden, bitumen or reinforced concrete? - Can cable run safely along a wall or overhead, or will it have to go underground? - Are the bays against a wall, a fence or out in open parking? - Will the chargers need pedestals, concrete footings or protective bollards? - Do the vehicles charge during the day, overnight, or both? - If they stay overnight, is the area secure and safe from vandalism? - Is the business likely to add more EVs soon, or is this a small trial? #### Start With How the Vehicles Will Use the Bays Work out who will charge there and for how long: fleet cars, pool vehicles, vans, staff cars or visitors. Vehicles that come and go all day need different bays from vehicles that stay plugged in overnight. Convenience matters. The cheapest electrical spot is no good if it gives the drivers a daily headache. Equally, the bays the business first picked are sometimes only a little more convenient than another spot that would save thousands of dollars in installation work. #### Find the Electrical Starting Point Find the main switchboard and any distribution boards, the smaller switchboards fed from the main one, around the site. A large property may have several, and the closest board is not automatically the best one. A board can sit right beside the bays and still not have the capacity for the charging load, while another part of the site is a much better starting point. Capacity has to be measured, never assumed. For a fleet that will grow, a dedicated EV distribution board can be the better long-term starting point. Our guide on [whether your business has enough power for EV chargers](/blog/do-you-need-a-power-upgrade-for-ev-chargers/) explains how capacity is worked out. #### Walk the Cable Route, Not Just the Distance The path the cable takes can change the cost more than the distance does. A five metre run through hard ground can cost more than a 25 metre run along an accessible wall or ceiling. Most of that difference is civil works, the digging, cutting and resurfacing needed to bury a cable. Questions to ask along the route: - Can the cable run in conduit, a protective pipe, along an existing wall? - Is there accessible ceiling or overhead space for a safe route? - Does it have to cross open ground? - Does it have to pass under bitumen, paving or reinforced concrete? - Will it need concrete cutting, trenching, or boring, which means drilling a tunnel underneath? - What surface has to be put back afterwards? - Is the business comfortable with the disruption and how it will look? - Are there existing underground services that complicate the route? #### A Useful Question to Ask If we choose these bays, how does the power physically get from the switchboard to the charger? That one question often shows where the biggest hidden costs are. At Midway Ford in Midland, the workshop charger sits 35 to 40 metres from the main switchboard. Two of the three chargers were fitted with 10 metre cables so technicians and the delivery team can charge across several bays without moving cars around. Our [projects page](/projects/) has the dealership's story. #### Wall, Fence or Open Car Park? What sits at the end of the bay changes how the charger is installed. - Against a suitable wall: usually the simplest. The charger mounts on the wall and the cable can often run along the building. - Against a fence: a fence is often not strong enough to carry charging equipment, so the job may need pedestals, concrete footings and an underground cable. - In an open car park: standalone pedestals, underground cabling and usually some protection around the equipment. #### Protect the Chargers A bollard, a short steel or concrete post, is the usual way to stop a car reversing into a charger. Questions to ask at each bay: - Could a vehicle reverse into the charger? - Are the bays tight? - Would bollards be sensible? - Will charging cables create a trip hazard or block access? - Could delivery trucks or other site traffic hit the equipment? - Does the charger get in the way of a footpath or an accessible bay? - Is it exposed to more vandalism than it needs to be? #### Do Not Overbuild, but Leave Room to Grow How much to build for the future depends on how certain the growth really is. - Two EVs now, no firm plans for three years: a simple, economical install is usually right. Paying for a large future system today makes little sense when fleet plans and technology may change. - Two EVs now, then two more every few months until the fleet reaches ten: a very different job. If you know you will need much more charging within 12 to 18 months, an EV distribution board, a main cable sized for the extra chargers, load management (which lets the chargers share the site's power) or a charging area designed to grow can avoid paying twice. #### More Chargers Is Not Always the Answer On one commercial site, the first idea was a row of seven AC chargers, the slower kind that charge a car over several hours. The chargers looked cheap, but getting enough power to the preferred spot meant major electrical and civil works. Once we looked at the available boards, how the vehicles were used and how quickly they had to turn around, a different plan made sense: fewer bays with faster charging, placed close to the main electrical infrastructure. The business spent more on chargers, less on civil works, and ended up with a system that serves more vehicles through shorter charging sessions. So price the whole job, including the cable route and civil works, before you compare chargers. Our guide on [what commercial EV charging costs in Perth](/blog/commercial-ev-charging-cost-perth/) breaks down where the money goes. #### The Walk-the-Site Checklist Walk the site with these questions before you commit to any bays. - Vehicles: how many EVs now and later, day or overnight charging, and how long they park. - Preferred bays: why these bays? Is the reason operational, or would nearby bays work just as well? - Security: will vehicles or chargers be exposed overnight, and is a safer area available? - Main switchboard: where is it compared with the bays? - Other boards: are any closer, and do they have the capacity and room to grow? - Cable route: wall, ceiling, conduit, underground, bitumen, paving or reinforced concrete? - Civil works: will trenching, cutting, boring or resurfacing be needed? - Mounting: wall-mounted or a pedestal, and will it need a concrete footing? - Protection: are bollards likely to be needed? - Future growth: is expansion definite and soon, or only possible in a few years? - Charging strategy: would several slower chargers or fewer faster ones suit how long the vehicles park? - Connectivity: will the chargers need a network connection for software, reporting, billing or monitoring? #### What a Site Assessment Should Give You A good assessment compares every workable spot, including the one you first pointed at, and explains what each means for cost, convenience and growth, so you can pick what suits the business. For the bigger picture on planning a fleet, start with our guide to [EV charging for business fleets in WA](/blog/ev-charging-for-business-fleets-wa/). - A preferred location based on how the business operates - Other locations, where they cut the cost or make growth easier - The likely cable routes and civil works - How the chargers will be mounted and protected - How much electrical capacity is available - Options to install now and expand later - Where it matters, different strategies, such as several AC chargers against fewer faster ones - Clear prices for each option #### Questions **Can an EV charger be mounted on a fence?** Often not. Most fences are not built to carry charging equipment, so bays against a fence usually need a pedestal on a concrete footing, with the cable run underground. **Do commercial EV chargers need bollards?** Not always, but they are common where cars reverse into the bays, the bays are tight, or trucks and other site traffic pass close by. We check this bay by bay on the site assessment. **How far can an EV charger be from the switchboard?** There is no fixed limit, but longer runs need heavier cable and cost more, and the route can matter more than the distance. A long run along a wall can be cheaper than a short one under concrete. **Should we pick the bays before we get a quote?** Have a preference, but stay open. Bring your preferred bays to the site assessment and we will show you what they cost against one or two alternatives. ### What Does a Public EV Charger Earn in Perth? URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/what-a-public-ev-charger-earns-perth/ Updated: 2026-10-05 What a public EV charging station earns as a business depends on how fast it delivers power and how many drivers use it. In Perth, DC fast charging sells for about 65 to 70c per kWh against about 30c per kWh to deliver, and a busy shopping centre DC charger can clear around $210 a day. The same charger costs $60,000 to $120,000 installed depending on how far the power has to travel, and most public chargers pay back in 4 to 8 years. #### Key points - DC fast charging sells for about 65 to 70c per kWh in Perth - A busy shopping centre DC charger can clear about $210 a day - The top Perth DC sites bring in more than $10,000 a month - Installed cost runs from $60,000 to $120,000 for the same charger - Most public chargers pay back in 4 to 8 years - Chargers earn most where drivers stay 30 minutes or more, such as shopping centres #### Two Things Decide What a Public Charger Earns Revenue from a public charger comes down to how fast it delivers power and how many drivers use it. Power is sold by the kilowatt-hour, or kWh, the same unit on your own power bill, so a charger that puts more kWh into more cars each day earns more. That is why the charger type matters so much. An AC charger, the common unit that charges a car over several hours, delivers power at about a fifth or a sixth of the rate of a DC fast charger, which feeds the battery directly. A slow AC charger can be in use all day and still earn a fraction of what a DC charger earns. #### The Numbers in Perth Right Now These are the figures Steve Randall, our director, works from on Perth public charging sites today. - AC charging sells for about 40c per kWh. - DC fast charging sells for about 65 to 70c per kWh. - Delivering that power costs the site about 30c per kWh. Steve's earnings figures use a DC margin of about 30c per kWh, a little under the 35 to 40c gap between the two prices. - A busy shopping centre DC charger doing 20 to 25 sessions a day, at 25 to 30 kWh a session, clears about $210 a day. - The top-performing DC sites in Perth bring in more than $10,000 a month. #### Where Public Chargers Pay Off Not every site works. The ones that do have natural dwell time, the time a driver would spend there anyway, and something to do while the car charges. As Steve puts it, "Putting power into cars and having lots of people come through, that's the key factor with public chargers." - Shopping centres: drivers park for an hour to shop, plug in and come back to a charged car. - Hotels and motels: guests charge overnight on AC while they sleep. - Sites with 30 to 45 minutes of natural dwell time. - Locations near food, retail or something else to do. #### Where They Struggle Petrol stations are the classic example. Drivers are in and out in five minutes and will not sit for half an hour. "Anywhere where people don't want to sit in their car for twenty minutes, half an hour, they just don't. It doesn't work," Steve says. - Sites with no food, retail or activity nearby. - Anywhere a driver would not naturally spend 20 minutes or more. - Hidden or hard-to-reach bays with no signage. #### Match the Charger to the Power You Have Charger speed is measured in kilowatts, or kW. For public use, 50kW DC is the minimum worth installing, and 120 to 180kW is the sweet spot for a busy site. AC chargers at 11 or 22kW suit hotels and overnight parking but are too slow for high-turnover public charging. Faster chargers need more power. A 180kW charger needs a 250 amp three-phase supply, the heavier supply most commercial sites have. Many sites do not have 250 amps to spare. A supply upgrade through Western Power, the network operator, can add $10,000 or more and months of delay. Matching the charger to the power already on site is usually the smarter choice. Our guide on [whether your business has enough power for EV chargers](/blog/do-you-need-a-power-upgrade-for-ev-chargers/) explains how that is worked out. - AC, 11 or 22kW: hotels and overnight parking. Too slow for busy public use. - DC, 50 to 60kW: the entry point for serious public charging. - DC, 120kW: suits a high-traffic shopping centre with one bay. - DC, 180kW dual bay: charges two cars at once on premium sites, and earns the most for the space it takes. #### What Installation Costs The same charger with the same output can cost anywhere from $60,000 to $120,000 installed. Almost all of that difference is the work to get power to the charger. Public charging is a big investment, and some whole sites run to about $200,000. - Distance to power: the closer the charger is to the existing supply, the cheaper the job. Long cable runs, trenching across a car park or cutting concrete add a lot. - Site conditions: underground services, the surface, access for digging equipment and the bay layout all change the labour and materials. - The charger itself: its output and number of bays set the hardware cost, which is usually the smaller part of the total. #### How Long It Takes to Pay Back Most public charger installations pay back in 4 to 8 years. Sites with power right beside the bays land at the shorter end. Sites that need trenching through a car park, underground concrete work or long cable runs push toward the longer end. Steve's view is that public charging in Perth is only just getting started. With far more EVs expected on the road over the next few years, he expects chargers that already make a return to make a stronger one. #### How the Money Reaches You Once the charger is running, collecting the money looks after itself. We set chargers up on Exploren, the charging software we install. - Drivers find the charger on PlugShare, the main app drivers use, and in the Exploren app, with its speed and price. - Drivers create an Exploren account, link a card, plug in and charge. Your staff do nothing. - Exploren collects the payments through the month and takes its software fees from each transaction. - At the end of the month you are paid one lump sum, with a breakdown of every session. #### You Set the Price You set and change the price yourself in the Exploren dashboard, at any time. You can charge a flat rate per kWh, a plug-in fee plus a rate per kWh, or different prices by time of day, with a discount off-peak to bring drivers in. Our guide on [taking payment on EV chargers](/blog/business-ev-charging-payments/) covers the payment options in more detail. "It's set and forget. Owners don't have to collate and collect money, it just automatically happens for them," Steve says. #### Getting Drivers to Use Your Charger Being easy to find is most of the job. Two things bring drivers in: being listed where they look, and being obvious once they arrive. - PlugShare and the Exploren app list the charger for you, with its price, speed and whether it is free right now. - Paint or wrap the wall behind the charger with EV fast charging branding. - Show the speed, such as 150kW fast charging. - Mark the bays and add clear signs from the car park entry. - Make the chargers visible from the road if you can. #### A Reliable Charger Protects the Revenue Drivers talk, and the charging apps show reviews. Steve's warning is that a public charging site that gets a bad reputation is very hard to turn around, so the charger has to be easy to use and reliable from day one. That is why we recommend a service every 12 months, and more often for public chargers that see heavy use. Each service includes RCD testing, which checks the safety switch that cuts the power if something goes wrong. It ends with a full electrical safety certificate. To see what a public charger would cost and earn at your site, book a site assessment. We will look at your power supply, traffic and layout. [Destination charging](/services/destination-ev-charging/) and [DC fast charging](/services/dc-fast-charging/) cover the two kinds of public charging we install. #### Questions **How much can a public EV charger earn in Perth?** It depends on the site. A busy shopping centre DC charger doing 20 to 25 sessions a day at 25 to 30 kWh each, with a margin of about 30c per kWh, clears around $210 a day. The busiest DC sites in Perth bring in more than $10,000 a month. AC chargers earn less even when busy, because they deliver power about five or six times slower. **What is the payback period on a public charger?** Usually 4 to 8 years. It depends mostly on the installation cost, so a site with power close to the bays pays back faster than one that needs trenching or a supply upgrade. **What speed of charger do we need for public charging?** 50kW DC is the minimum for serious public use, and 120 to 180kW is the sweet spot if your site has the three-phase power for it. AC chargers at 11 or 22kW are generally too slow for busy public charging, but suit overnight hotel parking. **Can we set our own prices?** Yes. In the Exploren dashboard you can set a flat rate per kWh, a plug-in fee plus a rate per kWh, or prices that change by time of day, and you can change them at any time. **Can the charger go anywhere on the site?** Yes, but the closer it is to existing power, the lower the cost. Long cable runs and trenching through a car park or concrete can double the installation cost, so where it goes matters as much as which charger you pick. ### EV Charger Rebates and Grants for WA Businesses URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/ev-charger-grants-and-rebates-wa/ Updated: 2026-10-05 As of 5 October 2026, the only federal or WA Government EV charger rebate or grant open to businesses is the DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream, Round 3. It pays up to $3,000 per plug, capped at $21,000 per site for chargers, and closes 30 April 2027. It is only for car dealers, their service centres and EV repairers. The DRIVEN Charger Grant Stream and the WA Charge Up grants are both closed. Strata buildings in the City of Perth can apply for a separate council grant. #### Key points - DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream, Round 3 is open until 30 April 2027 - It pays up to $3,000 per plug and $21,000 per site for chargers - Only car dealers, their service centres and EV repairers can apply - The DRIVEN Charger Grant Stream closed on 28 August 2026 - WA Charge Up grants closed on 30 June 2025, with no new round announced - City of Perth strata buildings can apply for up to 50% of a charger project #### What Is Open Right Now We checked each of these programs against its official government page on 5 October 2026. Grant rounds open and close quickly, so always confirm on the official page before you apply. - DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream, Round 3 (federal): open until 30 April 2027, for car dealers, their service centres and EV repairers. - City of Perth Residential Energy Upgrade Grants (local): open until 31 March 2027, for strata and similar residential buildings in the City of Perth. - DRIVEN Charger Grant Stream (federal): closed on 28 August 2026. It had one round only. - Charge Up EV Charging Grants (WA): closed on 30 June 2025. No new round has been announced. #### DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream: Open Until 30 April 2027 DRIVEN is a federal program that helps car dealers and repairers get ready for electric vehicles. Round 3 of its rebate stream opened on 8 September 2026 and closes at 5pm AEST, which is 3pm in Perth, on 30 April 2027, or earlier if the money runs out. Applications are dealt with in the order they arrive, so applying early matters. To apply, your main business has to be one of these, and you need an ABN and an Australian bank account: - A licensed motor dealer, including a used car dealer - A service centre attached to a licensed motor dealer - An automotive repair business that works from commercial premises, meets AS 5732:2022, the Australian Standard for maintaining and repairing EVs, and has at least one staff member qualified to work on EVs #### What the DRIVEN Rebate Pays The charger part of the rebate is worked out per plug, which is each point a car plugs into. - Up to $3,000 per plug for a fixed smart charger, which is one that connects online so its energy use can be watched and adjusted. It can be AC, the slower kind, or DC, the fast kind, at any power level. A portable DC charger also counts. - Up to $21,000 per site for chargers. - Up to 80% back on EV-specific safety gear, workshop equipment, tools and lifting equipment bought on or after 12 May 2026. This is new in Round 3. - Up to $50,000 per site in total across all rounds. - You need to spend at least $5,000 per site on eligible items for each claim. #### The Rules Worth Knowing Before You Buy These come from the program's own guidelines on business.gov.au. - The charger has to be smart, which means it connects online so its energy use can be watched and adjusted. - It has to be bought and installed on or after 26 March 2024, and installed by a licensed electrician. - Portable AC chargers are not eligible. - A new circuit or a switchboard upgrade needed for the charger can be claimed. An upgrade to the whole site's supply cannot. - Ongoing costs such as maintenance and software subscriptions cannot be claimed. - The rebate is paid to the dealer or repairer. An installer can help prepare the application but cannot receive the money. #### How We Help With a DRIVEN Claim If you are a dealer or repairer, we can quote smart chargers that meet the program rules, install them as licensed electricians, and give you the itemised invoice and charger details the application asks for. The application and the rebate stay in your business's name. Read the full rules and apply on the [DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream page](https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/driven-charger-rebate-stream) at business.gov.au. We installed three 22kW AC chargers for [Midway Ford in Midland](/projects/#midway-ford), in the showroom, the delivery bay and the workshop. #### DRIVEN Charger Grant Stream: Closed This was a separate, much larger DRIVEN grant for new public fast charging stations at dealerships and EV repairers. It offered grants of up to $8 million and needed at least 25 charging bays per application. Its one and only round closed at 5pm AEST on 28 August 2026, and it has not reopened. It is easy to mix the two up. The rebate stream above is the one that is open. #### Charge Up EV Charging Grants (WA): Closed Charge Up was the WA Government's grant for workplace and business charging, run by Energy Policy WA. Its last round, Round 3, paid up to half the cost of chargers for small and medium businesses, not-for-profits and local governments. Round 3 opened on 8 October 2024 and closed on 30 June 2025. No fourth round has been announced. You can check for news on the [Charge Up grants page](https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/energy-policy-wa/charge-ev-charging-grants). #### City of Perth Strata Buildings: Open Until 31 March 2027 The City of Perth's Residential Energy Upgrade Grants can help pay for EV charging in residential strata buildings inside the City of Perth, as well as student, aged and supported accommodation. The building needs at least four homes, and the project has to be for common areas or shared benefit. It is not for commercial premises. The grant pays up to half the cost and the building pays the rest. How much you can get depends on how many homes the building has. Apply at least eight weeks before the work starts. The grants close at 4pm on 31 March 2027, or sooner if the money runs out. - 20 or more homes: $10,000 to $20,000 - 10 or more homes: $5,000 to $10,000 - 4 or more homes: $3,000 to $5,000 #### Applying for the City of Perth Grant Details and the guidelines are on the [City of Perth grants page](https://perth.wa.gov.au/community/sponsorship-and-grants). For how shared chargers and billing work in a strata building, see [strata and apartment EV charging](/services/strata-apartment-ev-charging/). #### No Grant? Ask Your Accountant About Tax When there is no grant that fits, the tax side can still help. Chargers and the cost of installing them may count as business assets. That means you claim the cost against tax over several years, which is called depreciation. If a scheme such as the Instant Asset Write-Off applies to your business that year, you can claim it all at once. Your accountant can confirm it, and we will give you an itemised proposal that makes their job easier. Our guide to [what commercial EV charging costs in Perth](/blog/commercial-ev-charging-cost-perth/) breaks down where the money goes on an install. #### Questions **Is there a WA Government grant for business EV chargers right now?** Not as of 5 October 2026. The WA Charge Up grants closed on 30 June 2025 and no new round has been announced. The open program is the federal DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream, which is only for car dealers and EV repairers. **Can our installer apply for the DRIVEN rebate for us?** They can help you prepare it, but the application and the rebate belong to the dealer or repairer. The program says only the dealership or EV repairer can receive the rebate. **Does the DRIVEN rebate cover a switchboard upgrade?** A new circuit or switchboard upgrade that the charger needs can be claimed. An upgrade to the whole site's capacity or grid connection cannot. **Can we claim charger maintenance under DRIVEN?** No. Ongoing costs such as maintenance, replacement of existing equipment and software subscriptions are excluded. **We are not a car dealer. Is there anything for us?** If you repair EVs from commercial premises, you may qualify for the DRIVEN rebate under the repairer rules. Otherwise, as of 5 October 2026 we found no federal or WA Government grant for business chargers, apart from the City of Perth grant for strata buildings. Your council may run its own program, so check its website. Talk to your accountant about depreciation and the Instant Asset Write-Off, and ask us for an itemised proposal so the numbers are easy to work with. ### What a Commercial EV Charging Station Costs to Install in Perth URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/commercial-ev-charging-cost-perth/ Updated: 2026-08-26 The charger itself is rarely the expensive part of installing a commercial EV charging station. Cable distance, switchboard capacity and civil works drive the cost, and the single largest line is often a supply upgrade. Load management, which shares the power the site already has between the chargers, can often avoid it. Ask for an itemised proposal so you can see which line is which. #### Key points - Hardware is typically the smaller half of a commercial charging quote - The distance from the switchboard to the bays often costs more than people expect - A supply upgrade is the line most worth challenging - Load management is almost always cheaper than more supply - Trenching and reinstatement can exceed the chargers themselves - An itemised proposal is the only way to compare two quotes fairly #### Why nobody can quote it over the phone Two identical buildings on the same street can differ by tens of thousands on the same charging brief. Most of that difference is how far the power has to travel and what is between the switchboard and the bays. That is why a real quote follows a site visit. Until someone has seen your switchboard, any price is a guess, and the final invoice can end up well above it. #### The four things that actually set the price Every commercial charging quote comes down to these four costs. - Cable run. The distance from the board to the bay, and whether it can be surface mounted or has to go underground. - Switchboard capacity. Whether the switchboard has a spare slot for the new circuit and enough spare capacity, or needs work first. - Civil works. Trenching, cutting concrete, bollards, line marking and repairing the surface afterwards. - Hardware and software. The chargers themselves, the software licences, and commissioning, which is setting up and testing the chargers once they are in. #### The line worth challenging If a proposal carries a supply upgrade, treat it as a question rather than a conclusion. Upgrading a service is one of the most expensive things you can do to a commercial site, and it is frequently avoidable. Load management is often the cheaper option. It lets the chargers share the power the site already has, turning down when the building needs more and catching up overnight. Vehicles are usually parked for far longer than they need to charge, so drivers rarely notice. Before you accept an upgrade, ask whether load management could share the power the site already has. The site assessment should answer that before anyone prices an upgrade. #### Where the money is well spent Spend it on the design first. A backbone, the main cable run that feeds every charging bay, sized for where the site is heading lets you add each future charger without starting a second project. Then budget for what happens after commissioning. A warranty on parts and labour covers the first couple of years; after that, a yearly service keeps the chargers tested and certified. If your business depends on its chargers every day, budget for that yearly service before you chase a discount on the hardware. #### How to compare two quotes fairly Ask both for an itemised proposal that lists the hardware, the software, the electrical work, the civil works, the timeline, the warranty and the yearly service as separate lines. Then compare like for like. If one quote assumes cable fixed along a wall and the other assumes a trench, they are pricing two different jobs. #### Questions **Is a commercial EV charger more expensive than a home one?** The hardware is, but that is not where the difference sits. A commercial installation carries load management, authentication, billing, compliance and usually civil works. Comparing the two on charger price alone is misleading. **Can we phase the cost over two budgets?** Yes, and it is often the right call. Put in the backbone and the first bays now, then add bays later. It costs more overall than doing everything at once, but far less than doing the civil works twice. ### Does Your Business Have Enough Power for EV Chargers? URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/do-you-need-a-power-upgrade-for-ev-chargers/ Updated: 2026-10-05 Knowing your building has three-phase power, the heavier supply most commercial sites have, does not tell you if it can run EV chargers. What matters is the site's supply, how much of it the business already uses, and when the vehicles need to charge. Many sites have far more spare capacity at night than at 2pm, and load management lets the chargers share it. Only decide on a supply upgrade after an assessment has looked at the site and the fleet's real needs together. #### Key points - Three-phase power alone does not tell you if the site can charge a fleet - Spare capacity at 10pm can be far higher than at 2pm - Load management keeps the whole site inside its limit - Size the system on what each vehicle needs tomorrow, not on 100% every night - Priority charging fills the critical vehicles first - Battery storage is an option for genuinely tight sites, not a default #### Three-Phase Power Does Not Answer the Question One of the first things businesses ask when planning EV charging is whether they have enough power. Knowing the building has three-phase power, the heavier supply most commercial sites have, does not settle it. What matters is the site's total supply, how much of it the business already uses, when the vehicles need to charge, how many charge at the same time, and how much energy each one needs before its next trip. #### A Simple Example: 100 Amps In, 70 Already Used Amps measure how much electrical current the site draws. Picture a site with a 100 amp supply that uses about 70 amps when the business is busy. If several EV chargers then ask for another 45 amps at the same moment, the total is 115 amps, which is more than the site can supply. That does not automatically mean an expensive supply upgrade. Load management, also called dynamic load balancing or managed charging, watches what the site is using and turns the chargers up or down so the total stays inside a set limit. When other loads drop, power goes back to the chargers. #### Spare Capacity Changes Through the Day A site that looks short of power at 2pm may have plenty to spare at 10pm. Air conditioning, lighting, machinery and computers drop away when staff go home, and for a fleet parked overnight that spare capacity is exactly what is needed. So instead of designing around every charger running flat out, the system can be designed around the energy the vehicles need and the hours available to deliver it. #### Start With What Each Vehicle Needs Tomorrow Start by asking what each vehicle needs before it leaves again. A well-designed system does not assume every EV has to charge at full power or reach 100% every night. - How many EVs are charging now, and how many are expected in 12 to 24 months? - What battery level, or state of charge, do the vehicles usually come back with? - How many kilometres does each one have to travel the next day, and how predictable is the route? - How many hours is each vehicle parked? - Which vehicles genuinely need to be ready first? - Do they need 100%, or just enough for the next day's work? - What actually happens if a vehicle is not charged enough? #### Check the Fleet Data Before You Size Anything It is easy to default to a rule like every pool car must be full every morning. Sometimes that is justified. A pool car might be booked at short notice for a 280 km round trip, and leaving it at 60 to 70% could create a real problem. But before the infrastructure is sized around a rule, confirm it. Look at the telematics, the tracking system in the vehicle that logs every trip, or the odometer readings, booking records or trip logs. If there is no good data, a one or two week manual log is a useful start. If the fleet really does need every car full each morning, the system can be designed for that. Checking first makes sure the money goes on a real need. The answer can change the number of chargers, their power, the load management and whether any extra electrical work is justified. #### Not Every Vehicle Needs the Same Priority For a larger fleet, software can charge vehicles in order of importance. Say 20 vehicles come back at 5pm and leave at 7am, and ten of them do early starts or long runs. Those ten get priority. As they fill up and draw less, the spare power moves on to the rest. Think of it like an accordion: the available power expands and contracts across the fleet. What matters is that each vehicle has enough charge when it has to leave, even if some bays get more power than others. #### Dedicated Bays or Shared Bays? The design also depends on how you want the parking to work. Some fleets want one charger per vehicle. Others are happy for vehicles to share bays. - Dedicated bays mean less work for drivers, but more chargers and more infrastructure. - Shared bays cost less to install, but may mean moving vehicles or clearer procedures for staff. - On larger systems, software and priority rules can cut down the manual shuffling. - The right choice depends on the fleet size, the parking layout, how staff behave and how critical each vehicle is. #### When Load Management Matters Less A small office putting in one or two chargers, with plenty of spare capacity and cars parked for long overnight stretches, may not need sophisticated load management straight away. Growth still matters, though. It is often worth choosing chargers and wiring that let load management be added later, so the system does not have to be redesigned when the fleet grows. #### When Load Management Earns Its Place It becomes especially valuable when any of these apply. Our [load management](/services/load-management/) service covers how we set it up, including an option that works across charger brands. - Several EVs may charge at the same time. - The site already uses a lot of power. - Demand changes a lot through the day. - The business wants to avoid or delay an expensive supply upgrade. - The fleet is expected to grow steadily. - Some vehicles need priority over others. - The business wants charging to make the most of the capacity it already has. #### When the Power Genuinely Is Not Enough Load management cannot create energy that is not there. If the fleet needs more energy in its charging window than the site can physically supply, the project needs a different strategy. A site with public DC fast chargers, the high-power units that charge far faster than the common AC kind, or a depot turning vehicles around in a short window, can genuinely outgrow its supply. The options are: - Check again whether every vehicle needs the energy that was assumed. - Extend or shift the charging window where operations allow. - Use a different mix of slower AC chargers and faster DC chargers. Our article on [whether a fleet needs AC or DC charging](/blog/ac-vs-dc-ev-charging-for-business-fleets/) covers how to pick that mix. - Stage the move to EVs, or the infrastructure, over time. - Assess a supply or switchboard upgrade. - Consider battery storage where the operation and the numbers support it. #### Battery Storage for Tight Sites A battery energy storage system, often called a BESS, is a large battery installed on site. It can help in some high-demand situations. For example, an electric truck may need a lot of energy in a short overnight window, while the site has spare capacity for most of the day while the truck is out. The battery can slowly fill up over those daytime hours, then help charge the truck faster at night. It is not automatically the right answer, because storage adds cost, takes space and needs its own engineering. It is one option when the site's capacity and the charging window do not line up. #### Pre-Assessment Checklist: Do We Have Enough Power? Answer as many of these as you can before the site assessment. The ones you cannot answer are useful too, because they show where the data is missing. - Fleet today: how many EVs are you introducing now? - Fleet growth: how many do you realistically expect in 12, 24 and 36 months? - Vehicle type: passenger cars, vans, utes, trucks or a mix? - Daily kilometres: what does each vehicle actually travel on a normal day? - Return state: roughly what battery level do vehicles come back with? - Charging window: when do vehicles come back, and when must they leave? - Readiness: which vehicles genuinely need to be ready first or close to full? - Evidence: are those needs backed by trip data, or are they assumptions? - Parking: one charger per vehicle, or shared bays? - Site operations: what major electrical loads run while vehicles charge? - After hours: does the site's demand drop a lot overnight? - Existing supply: do you know the main supply rating and the switchboard capacity? - Future loads: is new machinery, air conditioning, solar or a battery planned? - Software: do you need priority charging, reporting, access control or remote monitoring? - Risk: what happens if a particular vehicle is not ready in the morning? #### What a Site Assessment Should Give You Do not decide you need a power upgrade, or assume you do not, until the site's demand and the fleet's real charging needs have been looked at together. A good assessment should give you: - The site's existing capacity and how much it already uses - A realistic energy requirement based on how the vehicles operate - The recommended number of chargers and their power - Whether load management is needed now or should be allowed for later - A charging priority plan, where it matters - Options for growing in stages - Where extra electrical work may be needed - Clear alternatives before you commit to an expensive upgrade #### Start With the Fleet's Energy Needs Work out how much energy the fleet needs, when it needs it, and how to deliver it safely within what the site can supply. That answers the power question. Maximum charging speed is not the goal unless the operation genuinely needs it. If you are just starting out, our guide to [EV charging for business fleets in WA](/blog/ev-charging-for-business-fleets-wa/) covers the whole process. #### Questions **Does load management lock us into one charger brand?** It depends on the system. Some load management only works with chargers of its own brand. One of the options we install works across brands, so chargers you add in three years do not have to match the ones that went in today. Ask any provider this before you commit. **Do we need load management for one or two chargers?** Not always. A small office with plenty of spare capacity and cars parked overnight may not need it yet. It is still worth choosing equipment that lets you add it later, so growth does not mean starting again. **What is a battery energy storage system?** A large battery on site that fills up slowly when spare power is available and then helps charge vehicles faster when they need it. It suits a few high-demand sites, such as trucks with short overnight windows, and it costs more and takes up room. **How do we find out what our site can carry?** A site visit. We look at the switchboard, the existing demand and the distance to the proposed bays, then design to what is there. That assessment happens before anything is quoted. ### How to Choose a Commercial EV Charger for Your Business URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/choosing-commercial-ev-chargers/ Updated: 2026-08-26 To choose a commercial EV charger, start with how long the vehicle sits still, not peak output. AC chargers, the common kind that charge a car over several hours, suit anything parked for hours. DC fast chargers suit short turnarounds and cost much more. The software matters as much as the hardware, because it checks who is charging, bills them and reports on use, and local support matters once the site has been running for a while. #### Key points - Dwell time picks the charger, not the spec sheet - AC for anything parked for hours, DC for short turnarounds - Software decides whether charging can be billed and reported - Authentication is what stops a bay becoming a public power point - Locally supported hardware beats a better spec with no one to call - Design for the bays you will want, not only the ones you need now #### Start with dwell time Before comparing any two chargers, answer one question: how long is the vehicle standing still? If a car sits in a staff carpark for nine hours, almost any AC charger will do the job. If a vehicle has only 90 minutes between runs at a depot, AC can't put enough back, and you will need DC charging even though it costs more. #### AC or DC Charging AC chargers are simple and cheap, and for a vehicle parked for hours the slower speed rarely matters. DC chargers are fast, but they are expensive, physically large and take longer to arrive. If you are choosing for a fleet, our [AC vs DC fleet charging guide](/blog/ac-vs-dc-ev-charging-for-business-fleets/) compares 12 take-home cars we fitted with DC charging against 12 delivery vans that suit AC. - AC 7kW: a single bay where a vehicle sits all day or overnight - AC 22kW: shared bays where several vehicles cycle through - DC: public sites, and depots where vehicles have to turn around quickly - Mixed: AC for the vehicles that park for hours, and one DC unit for the ones that need a quick top-up, which suits some fleets #### The software is the part you live with The hardware charges the car. The software decides whether you can tell who charged, when, how much they used, and whether anyone paid for it. Without software that checks who is charging, a bay on a commercial site becomes a free power point for anyone passing. Without a record of each session, you can't recover the cost of staff charging or bill residents for theirs. We install Exploren software with Ocular hardware because the two are built to work together, and Ocular is supported locally. #### What the spec sheet does not tell you A spec sheet doesn't tell you about support or about room to grow, and both matter later. The first is support. A charger with a slightly better spec and no local support is worse than a plainer unit that someone in Perth can come out and fix. Ask who fixes it and where they are. The second is expandability. A site that puts in the backbone now, the main cable run that feeds the charging bays, can add bays cheaply for years. A site that only solves today's need ends up paying for the digging and concrete work twice. #### Questions **What are the best commercial EV chargers in Australia?** There is no single best, only the right fit for your dwell time, your supply and your billing needs. We install Ocular hardware with Exploren software because the two are built to work together and Ocular is supported locally, which matters more than a spec comparison once the site is running. **Should we buy the chargers ourselves and have someone install them?** You can, and occasionally it makes sense. Be careful about warranty though: the installation workmanship and the hardware are covered separately, and you want it clear who is responsible for which when something stops working. ### How to Take Payment on EV Chargers for Your Business URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/blog/business-ev-charging-payments/ Updated: 2026-09-27 A business can take EV charging payments in four main ways: through an app linked to the driver's card, with RFID cards, a card or key tag the driver taps on the charger, for staff and fleet, by tap to pay at a charger with a card reader, or through a QR code for one-off guests. Which suits you depends on who is charging. Decide that before you choose the chargers, because not every charger supports every option. #### Key points - Decide who will use your chargers before you decide how they pay - Tap to pay and QR codes suit the public; RFID cards suit staff and fleet - Tap to pay needs a charger with a card reader built in - QR code payment lets a visitor pay once without an account - Free charging can make sense when it brings customers in - Plug and Charge, where the car pays for itself when it is plugged in, is coming, so ask for chargers that support its standard, ISO 15118 #### Start with who will use your chargers We set up business EV charging across Perth, and it starts with who will be plugging in. Staff, a fleet, customers and the public each want to pay in a different way. Staff and fleet drivers come back every day, so they want something fast they never have to think about. A customer or a passing driver may only charge with you once, so they need a way to pay without signing up for anything. Most sites have a mix. A shopping centre might have staff in one corner of the carpark and the public in another. Get this clear first, because it decides which chargers you can use. #### EV charging apps and platforms Most public charging in Australia is paid through an app. The driver downloads it, adds a card, and starts and stops the charge from their phone. The payment goes through when the session ends. For you, the app is run by a charging platform, the software that connects your chargers to drivers. You set the price in it, and it handles the billing. When you choose a platform, ask whether your chargers support OCPP, an open standard for connecting chargers to charging platforms. A charger that supports it can usually be moved to another platform that also supports OCPP. The catch for drivers is that each network has its own EV charging app. Someone who has never used yours has to download it at the charger, and on a site with poor phone reception that can take a while. #### RFID cards for staff and fleet charging An RFID card is a card or key tag that starts a charge when the driver taps it on the charger. Each card is linked to an account, so every charge lands on the right person or the right vehicle. This is the best fit for [workplace EV charging](/services/workplace-ev-charging/) and [fleet depot charging](/services/fleet-depot-ev-charging/). There is no app to open and no phone signal needed. Every charge is recorded against the card, so you get a report showing who used how much. #### Tap to pay at the charger Some chargers have a card reader built in, so a driver can pay with a debit or credit card, or with Apple Pay or Google Pay, the same way they would at a shop counter. The driver has nothing to download and needs no account. This is the easiest option for the public, but it only works if the charger has a reader. One we install for exactly this is the Ocular Charging IQ Tower. If you want customers to be able to walk up and pay, choose the charger with that in mind from the start. Our guide to [choosing commercial EV chargers](/blog/choosing-commercial-ev-chargers/) covers the other features to weigh up. #### QR code payment for one-off guests Some chargers let a driver pay once by scanning a QR code. The driver scans it, enters their card details on a web page, and the charge starts. It suits a visitor who will only charge with you once. It takes a little longer than an app or a card, but it means nobody gets turned away because they do not have the right app. #### Should you charge drivers at all? Not every business needs to. A hotel, a cafe or a retail centre may offer [destination charging](/services/destination-ev-charging/) free, or free for customers, because it brings people in and keeps them there longer. Even then, it is worth putting the chargers on a platform that can switch payment on later. Free charging that gets popular can start to show on your power bill, and you want the option to set a price without replacing the chargers. If you do charge, set the price so it covers your electricity. Some businesses also add an idle fee, a charge once a car is full but still plugged in, so bays do not get tied up. #### Plug and Charge and ISO 15118 Plug and Charge lets the car pay for itself. The driver plugs in, the car and the charger identify each other, and the charge starts and is billed to the driver's account automatically. It runs on a standard called ISO 15118. Few Australian chargers use it yet, but it is a minimum requirement for government-supported public charging, so it is where the market is heading. If you are buying chargers now, ask whether they support ISO 15118. #### Setting it up When we install your chargers, we connect them to the platform, set your prices and access rules, and test them before we leave. We also show your team how to read the reports and change the settings. Before you buy, check whether one of the [EV charger grants and rebates open to WA businesses](/blog/ev-charger-grants-and-rebates-wa/) can pay for part of the job. Tell us who will use your chargers and whether you want to charge for them, and we will recommend the chargers and payment setup that fit. #### Questions **Can we charge the public and let our staff charge for free?** Yes. Access is set per user, so staff can charge with RFID cards while the public pays through the app, a QR code or tap to pay. **Do drivers need to download an app to use our chargers?** Not if you choose chargers that also take tap to pay or QR code payment. An app is only essential when it is the one payment method on offer. **How do we get paid for the charging?** The charging platform handles the billing, and every session and payment shows in its reports. On Exploren, the charging software we install, you are paid one lump sum at the end of each month, with a breakdown of every session. **Can we change our prices later?** Yes. Prices and access rules are set in the platform's software, so you can change them at any time without anyone coming back to site. --- ## Projects ### Midway Ford, Midland Sector: Dealership. Hardware: 3 Ocular IQ Wallbox 22kW chargers. Commercial chargers at the Midland dealership, supporting the new e-Transit and EMAC electric range. A dealership has a charging problem most sites do not: the vehicles being charged are not the staff's, they are stock and customer handovers, and they have to be ready on the hour they are promised. Ocular commercial chargers were installed to support the incoming e-Transit and EMAC range, so the dealership can prepare vehicles for delivery and support customers after it. The dealership already had a quote of $27,000 from another provider. We came in more than $10,000 under it, with every part of the job done by our own team and no subcontractors. There are three chargers: one in the showroom for display stock, one in the delivery bay and one in the workshop, about 35 to 40 metres from the main switchboard. The delivery bay and workshop chargers have 10 metre cables, so cars can be charged across several bays without being moved. ### Step4, Canning Vale Sector: Workplace. Hardware: Ocular IQ Wallbox 7kW with Exploren software. Workplace charging paired with a software enabled portable charger, so home charging is reimbursed accurately. Step4's staff used electric vehicles for work, which left the business balancing the cost of public charging against the difficulty of reimbursing home charging fairly. Other providers had quoted over four thousand dollars. The answer was two parts. Workplace charging for the hours the vehicles were on site, and a software enabled portable charger with its own SIM connectivity, RFID authentication and automatic session recording for the hours they were not. Every session logs the start and finish time, the energy consumed and the user, so home charging can be reimbursed on evidence instead of an estimate. The result was lower installation cost, less spend on public charging, and more flexibility for staff. ### St John Ambulance, Perth Sector: Emergency fleet. Hardware: Ocular DC fast charger. Ocular DC fast charging at the depot, for a fleet that cannot wait on a slow charge. An emergency fleet is the clearest case for DC there is. A vehicle that has just come back has to be able to go out again, and an eight hour charge is not an option at any price. DC fast charging was installed at the depot so turnaround is measured in the time it takes to change over, not the time it takes to charge. --- ## Frequently asked questions URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/faq/ **How much does a commercial EV charger installation cost in Perth?** There is no honest number until someone has looked at the site. The hardware is a small part of it; the cost is driven by how far the supply is from the bays, whether the switchboard has capacity, and whether the ground has to be opened. We assess all three at the site visit and the proposal is itemised, so you can see what each part is costing you. **Do we need to upgrade our power supply to install EV chargers?** Usually not. Most sites have enough supply if the chargers share it rather than all drawing at once. Load management is almost always cheaper than a service upgrade, and it is the first thing we test for. **How long does a commercial EV charging installation take?** Between two weeks and two months. AC chargers on an existing supply sit at the fast end. Larger DC units carry manufacturer lead times and heavier electrical work, so they sit at the slow end. **Which EV chargers do you install?** Ocular hardware with Exploren software. Both are supported locally in Perth, which matters more than a badge when something needs attention two years in. **Can we bill staff, residents or the public for charging?** Yes. Sessions are authenticated by RFID or app, and every session records the user, the start and finish time and the energy consumed. That supports staff cost recovery, individual resident billing, or tap to pay for public use. **Is commercial EV charging tax deductible?** It may qualify under schemes such as the Instant Asset Write-Off or Temporary Full Expensing, but that depends on your business and the year. Ask your accountant. We will give you an itemised proposal that makes their job straightforward. **What warranty comes with the installation?** Two years on parts and labour, covering both the charger and the installation workmanship. After that, we recommend a service every 12 months. It costs a $250 call-out plus GST, then $150 for each AC port and $250 for each DC port, a port being each point a car plugs into. Your quote confirms the final price. Every service includes RCD testing, a check of the safety switch that cuts the power if something goes wrong, and ends with an electrical safety certificate. **Do you work outside the Perth metro?** We cover the Perth metro from Yanchep to Mandurah. If your site is further out, call us and we will talk it through. **Can we start small and add chargers later?** That is the sensible way to do it, and it is why the design matters more than the hardware. If the backbone is sized for where the site is heading, adding bays later is an addition rather than a second civil job. **Are you licensed to do the electrical work?** Yes. We are a licensed electrical contractor, EC11686, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety is issued on completion. --- ## Contact URL: https://commercialevchargingperth.com.au/contact/ CHARGING WA PTY LTD trading as Commercial EV Charging Perth ABN 53 692 564 622 · Electrical contractor EC11686 Unit 2/77 Forsyth Street, O'Connor WA 6163 (08) 6275 6587 · info@commercialevchargingperth.com.au Hours: 8:30am to 5pm, seven days Service area: Perth, from Yanchep to Mandurah