EV Charger Installation
Charging for staff, tenants, customers or a fleet — starting with whether the building can feed it.
ThreeCo installs electric vehicle chargers. The charger is the part everybody sees, and it is the smallest part of the job. What decides whether a charger works properly — and what it costs to put in — is the power behind it: whether the panel and the service have room for a large new load that may run for hours at a time, and how far that power has to travel to the parking space.
That is electrical work before it is anything else, and it is the part this page is about: what an electrician has to check before a charger goes on the wall, and what changes the price.
Signs a property is ready to plan for charging
- Employees, tenants or residents are asking where they can plug in.
- Company vehicles are being replaced with electric ones, and they need to charge where they park overnight.
- Customers or visitors spend long enough on site to charge while they are there.
- A new building or a parking lot rebuild is on the drawings — the cheapest time to run conduit for chargers you may add later.
- A charger someone put in years ago trips its breaker or no longer keeps up with the cars using it.
What an electrician checks first
A charger is a continuous load: once a car is plugged in, it can draw close to its full rating for hours. The electrical code sizes the circuit for that, so a charger needs more breaker and wire than its nameplate suggests. The first question is therefore not which charger, but how much spare capacity the building has.
- 1
Panel and service capacity
We look at the panel the chargers would feed from and at the service behind it: its size, the free breaker spaces, and how loaded it already is.
- 2
Load calculation
We add up what the building already runs and what the chargers will add. That number says whether the existing service carries the chargers, whether a new panel is needed, or whether the service itself has to grow.
- 3
The run from the panel
We measure the route from the panel to each parking space — through the building, along a wall or under the lot. Distance sets the wire size, and trenching or boring under pavement is often the largest part of the labor.
- 4
Permit and inspection
New circuits for chargers are permitted and inspected. We find out what your city requires before work starts, including any local rules about chargers in parking areas.
- 5
The utility
If the chargers need a bigger service or a separate meter, the utility has to be involved, and its schedule sets the date the chargers can be switched on. We coordinate it as part of the job.
When the building is short of capacity
A load calculation that comes back tight is not the end of the plan. Chargers can often be set to share a circuit's capacity between them — slowing every car a little rather than tripping the breaker — which can put more chargers on the same service. Where that is not enough, the answer is a new panel or a service upgrade, which we also do, and which is better planned once for the chargers you expect to add over the next few years than once per charger.
What affects the cost
We do not publish prices. What moves the number: how many chargers, and how much power each one draws; whether the panel and service have room or need an upgrade first; the distance from the panel to the spaces, and whether that run is through open ceiling, along a wall or under concrete and asphalt; the mounting — wall or pedestal — and any protection the location needs from vehicles; and what the city and the utility require. A quote is a number after the walk-through, not a range.
Recent work
Chargers we scoped and quoted in 2026
Finished between August and early October 2026. We describe the work and the town; we do not name the customer.
- Kansas City, MO — Scoping and quoting EV chargers for a developer's property.
FAQ
Questions about ev charger installation
Can our building handle an EV charger?
It depends on the spare capacity in the panel and the service, which a load calculation answers. We do that before quoting, so you know whether the chargers fit on what you have or need a panel or service upgrade first.
Why does a charger need such a large circuit?
Because it can run near its full rating for hours once a car is plugged in. The electrical code treats that as a continuous load and requires the breaker and wire to be sized above the charger’s own rating.
Do EV chargers need a permit?
New charger circuits are electrical work that cities permit and inspect. We check what your jurisdiction wants before the work starts.
We want to add more chargers later. What should we do now?
Plan the capacity and the conduit for the number you expect, even if fewer chargers go in today. Running empty conduit while the ground or the wall is open costs far less than opening it again.
How do I get a quote?
Start with Watt, the chat button on this page. Tell it the address, how many chargers you are thinking of and where they would go. You can also call (816) 730-9100. Estimates are free unless a site visit is needed to scope the job; where one is, there is a trip charge, waived if you move forward with the work.
Thinking about chargers?
Tell Watt the address and how many spaces you have in mind. The first answer is whether the building can feed them.
New customers: start with Watt and get 10% off your first job.