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Level 1 EV Charger Installation
Level 1 needs an outlet. Level 2 needs a plan. The charger is the easy part. Whether the service can carry it alongside the air conditioning and the dryer is the real question.
Level 1 EV Charger Installation in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
One electrician, start to finish. Seventeen years in the trade and four running his own shop out of O’Fallon.
5.0 from 94 Google reviews · BBB A+ since 2022
What this work actually involves
The charger is mounted where the cable actually reaches the car, which sounds obvious and is the most common complaint about other people’s work.
The measurement happens before the number. You hear what the reading says in plain words, then what it means, then what it will take to fix. Where the fix is small you are told that rather than sold past it.
Permits get pulled where the municipality asks for one, and the work is left ready for the inspector with the panel labeled. The same person does the diagnosis and the repair.
When people call about this
- A panel with no spare double-pole space
- A garage with no dedicated circuit
- Wanting a second charger
- A charger moved from an old house
Why people choose Clint for it
There is no dispatcher taking a description for someone else to act on, and no commission riding on what the visit totals. The person who measures it is the person who fixes it.
Seventeen years in the trade and four running Infinity Electric out of O’Fallon, with 5.0 from 94 Google reviews and BBB accreditation since 2022.
Where this is done
O’Fallon is home and the shortest drive. Beyond it, St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, Lincoln County and Warren County.
See the full service area, or the rest of our ev charging work.
Why charging is treated as a continuous load
The code treats anything drawing for three hours or more as continuous, and sizes its circuit at 125 percent of the draw. A car charges for hours, so a 48 amp charger needs a 60 amp circuit. That multiplier is why charging eats service capacity faster than its nameplate suggests.
It also explains why dialing a charger back is so effective. Dropping from 48 to 32 amps takes the circuit from 60 to 40, which frequently fits inside an existing service, and still fills most cars overnight.
Load management instead of new service
Load management lets the charger share capacity with another large appliance rather than adding to it. The charger backs off while the range or the dryer runs, then resumes. For a car sitting in a garage for ten hours, that pause costs nothing.
It is code-compliant, it is far cheaper than a service upgrade, and it is the answer a great many houses around here should be getting instead of a quote for new service.
What the car actually needs from the house
A Level 2 charger is a continuous load, which means the circuit is sized at 125 percent of the charger’s draw rather than to its nameplate. A 48 amp charger therefore wants a 60 amp circuit, and that is the number that has to fit inside what the service already carries.
Where it does not fit, there are usually two honest answers before a service upgrade: a smaller charger that still fills the car overnight, or load management that lets the charger share capacity with the range or the dryer. Both are cheaper than new service and both are code-compliant. You get the load calculation either way.
What the price actually depends on
Three things move the number on almost every job: how far the run has to travel and what it passes through, whether the existing panel has space and the service has capacity, and whether the municipality wants a permit and an inspection. None of those is visible from the phone call, which is why the measurement comes before the quote.
What does not move it is urgency theatre. There is no inflated figure waiting to be discounted, and no bundle built so the thing you called about cannot be bought on its own.
Permits, inspections and why they vary here
Requirements genuinely differ across this metro. O’Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters, the St. Louis County municipalities and St. Louis City each run their own process, and what one treats as a minor repair another permits and inspects.
Work that needs a permit gets one, and work that needs an inspection is left ready for it with the panel labeled and the junctions accessible. That matters most before a closing, when an inspector’s written item becomes someone’s negotiating position.
“Clint did an excellent job installing two bathroom exhaust fans. He installed high-quality fans that were far superior to the ones I had purchased from a big box store. I highly recommend his services.”
David Hinners · Google review
How the visit goes
- The call
Which car, which charger, and where it parks. Those three answers decide most of the install before anyone visits.
- The measurement
A load calculation against the existing service, plus the run from the panel to the parking spot and what it passes through.
- The finding
Either the service carries it, or load management lets it share, or a service upgrade is genuinely needed. You hear which, with the number behind it.
- The work
Dedicated circuit sized for continuous duty, disconnect where the code and the inspector expect it, charger mounted so the cable reaches with slack, and a test charge before anyone leaves.
What the job includes
- Load calculation to confirm the service can carry the charger
- A dedicated circuit sized for continuous duty, on its own breaker
- Charger mounted where the cable reaches the car with slack to spare
- Disconnect where code and the inspector expect it
- Permit and inspection where required
- Conduit for a second charger while the wall is open, if you want it
What it does not
- Supplying the charger itself, unless you ask
- Utility rebate paperwork, though we will tell you what exists
- Charging network accounts and apps
Work that is not electrical gets a referral, not a quote. Recent jobs are worth a look before you call.
Related ev charging work
Level 1 EV Charger Installation across the metro
The same job is not the same job in every part of this metro. Same trade across five jurisdictions out of O’Fallon, with a different inspection process in each.
Warren County
It is the far end of a roughly fifty mile radius, so visits get grouped rather than squeezed in. That affects the date, not the price.
St. Charles County
St. Charles County is mostly 1990s and 2000s subdivisions. The wiring is modern and the services were sized before anyone owned an electric car or finished a basement, so capacity is the usual constraint rather than condition.
St. Louis County
Older stock that has been worked on repeatedly, so a panel here has often been added to three or four times by different hands.
The full footprint, county by county, is on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
Level 1 or Level 2?
Level 1 plugs into a standard outlet and adds a few miles an hour, which suits short commutes. Level 2 needs its own circuit and fills a car overnight. The honest answer depends on your daily miles.
Do I need a 60 amp circuit for a 48 amp charger?
Yes. Charging is a continuous load, so the circuit is sized at 125 percent of the charger’s draw. That is also why dialing the charger back is often what keeps a house off a service upgrade.
Can two cars share one circuit?
With load-managed chargers, yes, and for most two-car households overnight charging still finishes both. It is considerably cheaper than new service.
Do you pull permits?
Where the municipality requires one, yes, and the work is left ready for inspection with the panel labeled and junctions accessible. Requirements genuinely differ across this metro, which is why it is established per address rather than assumed.
How long have you been doing this?
Clint has seventeen years in the trade and has been running his own shop out of O’Fallon since 2022.
Get the measurement first.
The reading comes before the number, so you know what you are deciding about. Level 1 EV Charger Installation in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Reachable Mon-Thu 8-5, Fri 8-4, Sat 10-3. Outside those hours, leave the details.