Home / Charging / EV Charger Panel Upgrade
EV Charger Panel Upgrade
Cable length and mounting height decide whether you like the install a year later. 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 Panel Upgrade in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Owner-operated: the person who answers the phone is the person who measures it.
5.0 from 94 Google reviews · BBB A+ since 2022
What this work actually involves
The circuit is sized for continuous duty and run on its own breaker, with the disconnect where the code and the inspector expect it.
Clint measures before he quotes. The reading comes first, then what it means, then the one repair that solves it. If the honest answer is smaller than what you called about, that is the answer you get, even when the bigger job pays better.
Work that needs a permit gets one, and work that needs an inspection is left ready for it. One person does the diagnosis and the repair, so nothing is lost between a salesman and a technician.
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
A one-person shop cannot be in two places at once, so you get a real date instead of a window. What you also get is the same person every time.
Seventeen years in the trade, four of them on his own, 5.0 from 94 Google reviews and an A+ BBB accreditation since 2022.
Where this is done
Out of O’Fallon across five jurisdictions: St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Lincoln and Warren counties. About fifty miles in any direction.
See the full service area, or the rest of our ev charging work.
Continuous load, and why it changes the maths
Code treats EV charging as a continuous load, which means the circuit is sized at 125 percent of the charger’s rating. A 40 amp charger wants a 50 amp circuit. That single rule explains most of the difference between an EV install and an ordinary outlet.
It also explains why a charger that worked at an old house trips at a new one. The charger did not change; the circuit behind it did.
Where the charger goes and why it costs what it does
The run from the panel to the parking spot is usually the larger part of the install. A charger on the far side of a finished garage is a different job from one on the panel wall, and an attached garage is a different job from a detached one.
So the route gets walked before anything is priced: what it passes through, whether existing cavities can carry it, and whether the cable will reach the car’s port with slack on the side it actually parks.
Panels: full, overloaded, or obsolete
Three different problems get called the same thing. A full panel has no space left but adequate service. An overloaded service cannot carry the house. An obsolete panel has a known defect or no available parts. Each has a different and very differently priced answer.
The load calculation and a look at the bus with the cover off decide which one you have. A sub-panel solves the first for a fraction of the third.
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.
“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
If the fix belongs to another trade, you get the name of one rather than a price from this one. Finished work is in the gallery. To book, pick a day.
Related ev charging work
EV Charger Panel Upgrade across the metro
Five jurisdictions, five different sets of conditions. Clint works out of O’Fallon across five jurisdictions, and the same service means different work in each.
Lincoln County
Rural properties where the panel is fine and the two hundred foot run to the barn is the actual job.
Warren County
Backup power is a more common purchase out here, and when a well pump is the water supply the loads that matter are not the kitchen.
St. Charles County
Condition is rarely the problem in St. Charles County. Capacity usually is, and the two have very different prices.
Every municipality covered is listed on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
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.
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.
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.
What do your reviews say?
5.0 from 94 Google reviews, and A+ accreditation with the BBB held since 2022. The reviews are on the reviews page with links to where each was posted.
Tell him what the house is doing.
You will get a reading and a straight answer about what it means, including the answer where the fix is small. EV Charger Panel Upgrade in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Mon-Thu 8-5 · Fri 8-4 · Sat 10-3. If a message suits you better, there is a form.