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EV Charger Installation for New Construction
Charging at home is a nightly habit, so the install has to be boring and reliable. The charger is the easy part. Whether the service can carry it alongside the air conditioning and the dryer is the real question.
EV Charger Installation for New Construction in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Clint Ehman does the work himself. Seventeen years in the trade, Infinity Electric since June 2022.
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.
Nothing gets quoted off a description. The reading comes first, because a symptom has several possible causes at very different prices and only a measurement separates them.
Where a permit and an inspection are required they happen, and the site is left ready for them. One person carries the job from the first call to the final test.
When people call about this
- A garage with no dedicated circuit
- Wanting a second charger
- A charger moved from an old house
- A new EV on order
Why people choose Clint for it
The diagnosis and the repair are the same person’s work, which is why the explanation you get is first-hand rather than relayed.
Five point zero from 94 Google reviews, A+ with the BBB since December 2022, and seventeen years in the trade behind it.
Where this is done
A roughly fifty mile working radius from O’Fallon, covering thirty municipalities across five jurisdictions in the St. Louis metro.
See the full service area, or the rest of our ev charging work.
Where the charger should actually go
Cable length and mounting height decide whether you still like the install a year later. The cable has to reach the car’s port on the side it is parked, with slack to hang without dragging.
Future second cars matter too. Running conduit for a second charger while the wall is open costs very little; adding it later means opening the wall again.
What happens when you change cars
Connectors and charging rates change; the circuit does not. A properly sized 240 volt circuit with the right receptacle outlives several cars, and most of what changes is the unit on the wall.
That argues for a receptacle rather than a hardwired unit where the code and the charger allow it, because swapping a plug-in charger is a ten minute job and swapping a hardwired one is a service call.
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.
The three answers before a service upgrade
Charging load is the most common reason a house suddenly looks short on capacity, and a service upgrade is only one of three honest answers. The other two are a smaller charger that still fills the car overnight, and load management that shares capacity with the range or dryer.
The load calculation decides which, and you see it. Both alternatives are code-compliant and both are cheaper than new service.
Rough-in that does not get opened up twice
The load calculation happens before framing, against what will actually be in the rooms rather than what the drawing labels them. Getting that wrong means opening finished walls later.
Rough-in is labeled and photographed before insulation, inspections are timed around the other trades, and devices and fixtures go in at finish with the final inspection attended.
“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
Related ev charging work
EV Charger Installation for New Construction across the metro
Where the house is changes what the work involves. Clint works out of O’Fallon across five jurisdictions, and the same service means different work in each.
St. Louis County
St. Louis County has the older housing stock, which is where knob-and-tube, cloth wire and fuse-box conversions come from. Inspection requirements vary by municipality, and that variation is half the job.
St. Louis City
The City is an independent city, not part of the County, and it runs its own permits and inspections. Assuming county process here is a common and expensive mistake.
Lincoln County
Distance is the design factor out here. A run to a shop or a well house is often hundreds of feet, which makes voltage drop a real calculation rather than a textbook one.
County by county coverage is on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
Can my panel handle a charger?
Often yes. The load calculation checks what the house already runs against the service rating. Where it is tight, load management lets the charger share capacity instead of forcing an upgrade.
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.
Where do you work?
Out of O’Fallon across St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Lincoln and Warren counties, roughly a fifty mile radius.
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.
Worth a call before it gets worse.
Heat, a smell or a repeated trip is the house reporting something real. EV Charger Installation for New Construction in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Hours are Mon-Thu 8-5, Fri 8-4, Sat 10-3 · or type it out.