U.S. Department of Energy recently presented a comparison of installation costs for different types of charging stations.
Data for this graph comes from two projects run in 2011-2013:
- EV Project (ECOtality)
- ChargePoint America (ChargePoint)
At that time, Blink chargers installed by ECOtality were up to 60 kW with two CHAdeMO plugs, but only one car could be charged at a time (the second connected would charge after the first one stopped, unlike Tesla Superchargers, which has power sharing implemented for every two terminals).
In the case of AC Level 2 (J1772) charging stations, installation cost were from a few hundred to several thousands or even over $10,000 for some publicly available points (probably with all the connectivity and payments). Such high installation costs of J1772 makes the whole project pointless on the economic side, we believe.
Sadly, there is no data for 2015, but for sure it should be somewhat less expensive to install charging points as more places (and persons) are in the business of doing it. As for the EVSEs themselves, they are significantly less expensive (some of them at lower power level even don't need installation because they are equipped with a plug). The average person probably will also take care to keep costs to a minimum, much lower than companies engaged in public projects. If the location is difficult and requires a lot of work/parts/etc. the cost could surge.
"The EV Project and the ChargePoint America project were conducted for the Department of Energy by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). From 2011-2013 the project installed nearly 17,000 alternating current (AC) Level 2 charging stations for residential and commercial use and over 100 dual-port direct current (DC) fast chargers in 22 regions across the United States.
Results from this study show that DC fast charger installations were by far the most expensive, ranging from $8,500 to $50,000 per installation, though it is important to note that the DC fast chargers installed had dual ports as opposed to the single port level 2 charging stations. The cost for public level 2 charger installations ranged from about $600 to $12,660. Residential installations had the lowest average installation cost with a mean of $1,354 though individual installation costs ranged from just a few hundred dollars to as much as $8,000. The cost of installation varies greatly depending on the electrical requirements at the site and other factors such as permit and inspection fees."
Installation Costs of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (INL Study):
Type of Charging Station Minimum Maximum Mean Residential Level 2 A few hundred dollars $8,000 $1,354 Workplace Level 2 $624 $5,960 $2,223 Public Level 2 $600 $12,660 $3,108 Blink DC Fast Charger $8,500 $50,000 $22,626
Source: U.S. Department of Energy