You cannot compare two EV-charger installation quotes until they describe the same job. Write a one-page scope first — charger power, mounting position, cable route and length, protection devices, earthing work, metering, testing and reinstatement — and send it unchanged to every contractor. Then rewrite each reply as the same list of lines and mark every line a quote fails to mention. Price gaps are often scope gaps rather than efficiency. A quote can look cheaper simply because it has left out earthing work, protection devices or a signed test record. Judge completeness first and total second, and put the missing questions in writing.
Fix the scope before you ask for a price
An open request — "please quote for an EV charger" — lets each contractor imagine a different job. One assumes a short run from the nearest board, another a fresh circuit from your flat's meter across two floors of basement. Write the scope yourself, specific enough that two contractors in the same bay price the same work.
- The parking bay, by number, and whether it is stilt, open, podium or basement.
- Where the supply comes from: your flat's meter, a new meter or the common supply, and whether a sub-meter is needed.
- The charger power, and whether the contractor supplies the unit or you do.
- The cable route you would accept, and any route the society has refused.
- Who obtains permission, and when the bay must be left clean and usable.
The supply point drives cable length, protection and billing at once, as our comparison of own meter, sub-meter or common meter explains. The rating drives cable size and the load your flat must support, so settle 3.3 kW versus 7.2 kW before quoting.
This guide carries no rupee figures on purpose. Prices turn on your city, your building, the run length and the state of the existing wiring, so the only trustworthy numbers are the ones on the quotes in front of you.
The line items a complete quote contains
A comparable quote reads like a bill of materials with labour attached, priced in lines you can check one by one.
Charger, mounting and cable
The quote should name the charger's rated output in kW, single- or three-phase, connector type, enclosure ingress rating and warranty in months, with mounting as its own line. The cable line should state conductor material, cross-sectional area in square millimetres, cores and run length in metres, and if that length is estimated it should say so and give a rate per extra metre.
Containment, protection and earthing
Cable does not float. Someone fixes conduit and clips the run along a soffit, so ask for containment type and metres; the routes are in our guide to cable routing in apartment buildings. Each protective device should be named individually — type and rating of the breaker, the residual-current device and its sensitivity, any isolator at the bay — and earthing priced separately: electrode, conductor, pit, testing and connection. You need only have them itemised, so that a licensed electrician can judge them. Background is in RCCB, MCB and RCBO explained and earthing and EV charging.
Metering, labour and making good
A required sub-meter is a line of its own: meter, enclosure, installation and the means of reading it. Labour belongs on the page as a figure, or as day rates and days, rather than folded into materials — and so does making good.
| Line item | What a complete quote states | What its absence can mean later |
|---|---|---|
| Charger unit | Rated kW, phase, connector, ingress rating, warranty | A lower-rated or shorter-warranty unit than you assumed |
| Cable | Size in sq mm, cores, length, rate per extra metre | An extras bill once the route is measured |
| Protection | Each device named with type and rating | A different device substituted, or none at the bay |
| Earthing | Electrode, conductor, pit, test and connection | The existing earth reused untested, with no record |
| Testing, making good | Tests done, document issued, patching and paint | No evidence for your committee, and a mason to pay |
The vague phrases that hide cost
None of these is dishonest by itself. Each shifts a decision, and its cost, from the quote to the invoice, by which time you have no leverage.
- "Cable as required" — what size, how many metres included, what rate beyond that.
- "Earthing as per site" — existing earth or new electrode, and will you test and record the value.
- "Protection included" — which devices, what ratings, which model numbers.
- "Testing on completion" — which tests, and what signed document do I keep.
- "Civil work extra" — which work, priced by whom, and against what rate.
"Taxes extra" deserves the same treatment: ask for the total including taxes. Put these questions in writing rather than on site, because a written answer becomes part of the quote.
What should sit outside your quote
Some costs belong to the building rather than to your charger. Letting them drift into your quote turns a personal installation into a subsidy for common infrastructure. The table below describes how societies commonly split this, not a rule you can rely on: your own by-laws and your committee decide where the boundary falls.
| Work | Often treated as the resident's cost | Often treated as a society cost |
|---|---|---|
| Sub-meter for your point | Commonly yes, as it serves one flat | Where the society standardises meters |
| Repair of a common distribution board | Rarely, and worth questioning | Commonly yes, it is a building asset |
| Improving the building's earthing | Rarely, one flat cannot own it | Commonly yes, it benefits every flat |
Settle that boundary before quotes arrive. Our guide to who pays for apartment EV-charger wiring covers the usual arguments, and how load enhancement works helps if common-supply capacity is involved.
Testing, certification and after-sales
Quotes describe the end of the job worst. Ask two questions.
What will you test, and what will I be given? You want a written record of the commissioning tests, with values where they are measured, signed and dated by whoever did the work and carrying their licence details. That is what you hand the committee and keep with your flat's papers.
Who returns if something fails, and how fast? The warranty on the hardware and the warranty on the workmanship are separate promises, and a quote mentioning only the first says nothing about the second. Ask how long each lasts, what a call-out costs, and what attention an outdoor or basement point needs through the monsoon, as maintaining a charging point sets out.
None of this replaces an independent view. A site assessment by a licensed electrician who is not bidding can tell you which lines are missing from every quote you hold, and what an electrician checks in a site assessment describes that visit. Any decision about wiring, load, earthing, protection devices or fire risk must rest on a licensed electrician's inspection of your own building.
Why a cheap quote can be the incomplete one
Quotes are read side by side, and the easiest way to look cheaper is to assume the favourable version of every unknown: the earth is fine, the run is short, nobody will insist on conduit or ask for a test record. Each assumption is defensible alone; together they produce a number that cannot be delivered without extras later or corners cut now. The corners cut are the invisible ones — earth quality, device rating, cable size — which are exactly the ones that matter when something goes wrong at two in the morning in a closed basement. So rank by completeness before price:
- List every line item above down one column of a sheet, give each quote a column, and fill in what it says, not what you hope it means.
- Leave a blank where a quote is silent; the blanks are the real finding.
- Go back to each contractor with their blanks alone and ask for a revision.
- Compare only the revisions, taxes included, then show the shortlist to your independent electrician and the committee.
- Confirm the agreed scope in writing before any work starts.
That loop costs about a week and often changes the ranking. It also builds the paper trail your society will want, as requesting charger permission from your RWA explains.
Common questions
How many quotes should I get for an apartment EV charger?
Three is usually enough. One tells you nothing, two often disagree without explaining why, and beyond three you spend more time coordinating site visits than you save. What matters more than the count is that all three priced the same written scope.
Why are two quotes for the same charger so different in price?
Usually because they assumed different cable runs, different earthing work or different protection devices, or because one included testing and making good and the other did not. Rebuild both as the same list of lines and the gap often explains itself. If it survives, ask the dearer contractor what they see at the site that the other does not.
Should the contractor supply the charger, or should I buy it myself?
Either can work, but keep the two decisions separate so you compare installation labour on its own. If the contractor supplies the unit, warranty and replacement sit with them, which is simpler when something fails. If you supply it, ask in writing whether they still warrant the installation around it. Either way, insist the quote names a model and rating.
What should I do if a quote has no line for earthing?
Ask why before assuming the worst. The answer may be that the contractor inspected the existing arrangement and judged it adequate, in which case ask them to put that in writing and record what they measured.
Do not settle it by comparing quotes. Earthing adequacy is for a licensed electrician who has inspected your building, and it affects everyone on that circuit. Treat an unexplained omission as an unpriced item, not a saving.
Can I ask a contractor to revise a quote without seeming difficult?
Yes, and many will expect it. Frame it as a format issue rather than a negotiation: say your society requires each cost itemised for approval, and send the same list of lines to everyone. A contractor who refuses a polite written request has told you something useful.