How to choose an EV charging installer

Two kinds of company do this work: electrical contractors who added charging to what they already did, and charging companies who sub the electrical work out to somebody else. Both can be fine. What matters is that somebody in that chain holds the right license, has done this in your town before, and will still pick up the phone in three years.

These are the questions to ask, and what the answers tell you.

Ask whose license it is, and in what state

Electrical licensing is state by state, and the license going on your permit belongs to a specific company. A national brand can be an excellent outfit and still be subcontracting your job to a local license holder. That's normal and perfectly legitimate. What isn't okay is not being able to get a straight answer about who it is.

Good answer: a company name and a license number you can check with your state's licensing board. Bad sign: vagueness, or a license in the next state over offered like it covers yours.

Ask what they've installed near you

Permitting practice, inspectors and utility procedures are all local. An installer who's worked in your jurisdiction knows what the inspector will look for and how long review takes. That knowledge is worth real money on your schedule.

Good answer: specific nearby jobs of a similar type, and they'll let you call one. Bad sign: big volume claims with nothing local in them.

Ask if they're certified on the hardware

Charger manufacturers certify installers on their equipment, and warranty terms sometimes hang on it. It's a low bar, which is exactly why it's worth checking. An installer who couldn't be bothered has told you something.

Ask what's in the quote, line by line

This is the most useful question you can ask. A charging quote should break the work out instead of landing as one number, and the breakdown should match what you watched them look at.

• Electrical service work, including any upgrade
• The run from the panel out to the parking, and whether that means trenching or boring
• Putting the surface back where they opened it
• Mounting, bases, bollards, striping and signage
• Permits and any engineering drawings
• The charging equipment itself
• Commissioning, and turning on the network if there is one

If the breakdown lines up with what you saw them inspect, the number on the bottom is probably real. If the two don't connect, ask why before you sign.

Ask what's excluded

Exclusions are where the surprises live. The usual suspects: buried utilities nobody knew about, rock during trenching, a service upgrade that only turns up after the utility reviews it, permit corrections, and whatever the utility asks for that wasn't known at quote time.

An honest installer will tell you which of those are genuinely unknown on your site. That's accuracy, and it's what you want. Get a sense in advance of which items could move and what would set them off.

Ask about utility programs before they quote

If your utility runs a make-ready or rebate program, timing matters and several want approval before work starts. An installer who works your area regularly will know the local programs and what order to do them in. One who's never mentioned them may be about to cost you money you had coming.

Ask what happens after they leave

• Who warrants the labor, and for how long?
• Who warrants the equipment, and who deals with the manufacturer on a claim?
• If the chargers are networked, what's the subscription per year and what happens if you stop paying it?
• Who do you call when one goes down, and how fast do they come?

This equipment sits outside and gets used by the public. Somebody needs to be responsible for it. Work out who before you need them.

Bad signs

• A firm price without seeing the site. The cost of this work is set by site conditions. A number produced without looking at yours is a guess, and it'll move.
• Suggesting the permit is optional. It isn't, and the suggestion tells you how the rest of the job will go.
• Pressure to sign today. Utility programs have deadlines. Installers don't need you to decide inside a phone call.
• Incentive amounts stated like they're guaranteed. These programs are limited and conditional. "You'll get X" is a claim nobody can honestly make about a program they don't run.
• Won't give you a license number. There's no good reason for this.

Get more than one

Two or three quotes on a commercial job is normal and nobody will be offended. The value isn't only comparing prices either. Reading three scopes next to each other is the fastest way to spot the one that missed something, and to understand which parts of your building are driving the cost.

EV Ready USA introduces property owners to licensed, certified installers, and we check the license and the certification before anyone joins. We don't quote or do the work, and the agreement is between you and the installer.