EV Chargers for Business in QLD: Workplace, Fleet and Customer Charging
Most EV charging advice is written for a single charger in a home garage. A business has a different problem. It might need chargers for a fleet of utes and vans, a few spots for staff, or a charger customers can use while they’re in the cafe or on the gym floor. Each of those changes how many chargers you need, how fast they need to be, and whether your switchboard and supply can carry them. Working that out is where a commercial EV charger installation starts.
This guide covers the Energex rules for connecting chargers in South East Queensland, how to work out what your site can handle, safe placement, and the tax and grant position as at October 2026. If you’re charging at home, our EV charger installation requirements guide is the better starting point.
Start with who is charging, and for how long
The most common mistake we see is buying chargers on headline speed. What matters is how long each car is parked and how far it needs to go before it moves again. A fleet ute parked overnight needs far less power per hour than a customer who stops for 40 minutes.
| Who’s charging | Usual parking time | What usually suits |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet vehicles back at base overnight | 8 to 14 hours | Several moderate-speed chargers with load sharing, so the whole fleet charges by morning without overloading the supply |
| Staff during the working day | 6 to 9 hours | 7kW-class chargers, managed together, often with access control so only staff can use them |
| Customers or guests (cafes, gyms, accommodation) | 30 minutes to overnight | Faster chargers for short stays, or a smaller number of 7kW chargers for overnight guests |
| Residents in a unit block | Overnight | A body corporate decision first. See our apartment EV charger guide |
Charger speed also depends on the car. A car that can only accept 7kW on AC won’t charge any faster on a 22kW charger. Our comparison of 7kW vs 22kW chargers explains how to match the two.
What Energex requires before a charger is connected
In South East Queensland, Energex sets the rules for connecting chargers to its network. According to its EV charging and connections page for electrical contractors:
- Your electrician handles the network side. If a charger goes on a controlled load tariff, for example, they lodge the request with Energex through its contractor portal.
- The 20-amp managed connection rule has gone. From 21 February 2024, single-phase chargers rated above 20 amps at premises supplied at 100 amps per phase or less had to be a managed connection. Energex withdrew that rule (clause 8.14.4(b) of the Queensland Electricity Connection Manual) from 1 October 2026 and has stopped taking new applications for the managed options. Existing managed connections carry on as they are.
- Three-phase sites still have to balance the load. Single-phase chargers on a three-phase site must meet the phase balancing requirements in clause 8.4 of the connection manual, so chargers get spread across the phases.
- A controlled load tariff is still an option. Energex says a dedicated charger can be connected to an eligible controlled load tariff, subject to your retailer’s eligibility rules.
Check your site’s capacity before you buy chargers
Every charger adds a large, long-running load. On a site that already runs air conditioning, cool rooms, kitchen equipment or machinery, that can push the supply or the main switchboard past what it was designed for. A proper load assessment comes before any charger is chosen. It looks at:
- Your supply size and current maximum demand, from the switchboard and, where available, the meter data.
- The condition and spare space in the switchboard. Older boards often need work before new circuits can go in. Our switchboard inspections and upgrades service covers this.
- When the chargers will run. Overnight fleet charging sits outside the business’s daytime peak. Staff charging during the day sits on top of it.
- Cable routes and distances from the board to the car spaces, which affect cable size and cost.
If you want more than one or two chargers, load management is usually the answer rather than a bigger supply. From our experience, a group of chargers that shares a set amount of power between them, and turns down when the building is busy, lets a site run far more chargers than its spare capacity would otherwise allow. A supply upgrade through Energex is possible, but it adds time and cost, so it’s worth ruling out first.
Safe placement and installation
The Queensland Fire Department says charging equipment should be installed by a qualified electrician to AS/NZS 3000, and that only leads and sockets made for EV charging should be used. For workplaces and car parks, the Australian Building Codes Board’s advisory note on EVs in buildings notes that EVs have a lower likelihood of being involved in a fire than petrol or diesel cars, but battery fires behave differently. Its recommendations include:
- Keep chargers away from exit paths, so a vehicle fire doesn’t block the way out.
- Fit a clearly signed master isolation switch so the chargers can be shut off quickly in an emergency.
- Protect chargers with bollards where cars could hit them.
- Use smart chargers that carry the RCM mark, showing they meet Australian electrical safety requirements.
- With 5 or more chargers, add placards at the chargers and the site entrance, and invite the fire brigade for a pre-incident visit.
Safety switch protection matters too. Queensland has banned the installation of Type AC RCDs since 30 April 2023, according to the Electrical Safety Office. Whether a charger needs a Type A or Type B RCD depends on whether it has DC fault detection built in, which your electrician checks against the charger’s specifications. Our guide to RCDs and RCBOs covers the basics.
Don’t run fleet charging off general power points
- Extension leads across car parks or footpaths are a trip hazard and a damage risk
- Standard power points aren’t designed for hours of continuous high load every day
- Power boards and double adapters under a charging car can overheat
A single car on an ordinary power point is covered in our guide to charging from a normal power point. For a business with several vehicles, it isn’t a long-term setup.
Tax and grants: where things stand in October 2026
We’re electricians, not accountants, so treat this as a starting point to take to your adviser.
- FBT exemption for electric cars. The ATO exempts eligible zero or low emissions cars (battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell) first held and used on or after 1 July 2022, where luxury car tax has never been payable. The ATO lists the fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold at $91,661 for 2026–27.
- Plug-in hybrids no longer qualify from 1 April 2025, apart from limited carry-over arrangements.
- Charging costs. For cars charged at an employee’s home, the ATO publishes a shortcut EV home charging rate of 5.47 cents per kilometre for the FBT year ending 31 March 2027. Costs from commercial charging stations are treated separately.
- Grants. Queensland’s EV Charging Infrastructure Scheme closed in February 2023 with no further rounds planned. The federal DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream is open until 30 April 2027, but only to licensed motor dealers, their associated service centres and qualifying automotive repairers. We couldn’t find a charger grant open to general businesses at the time of writing.
New buildings and fit-outs
If you’re building new, charging may already be part of the job. Under the National Construction Code 2022, clause J9D4 requires car parks in many new commercial and apartment buildings to be EV-ready, with dedicated distribution boards sized for future chargers. For offices and shops, that’s capacity for 10% of spaces. Queensland applied the NCC 2022 EV charging provisions from 1 October 2023. The Queensland Government has delayed NCC 2025 until 1 May 2027.
If you’re leasing rather than building, check the lease before you install anything. Our guides to electrical checks before signing a commercial lease and commercial fit-out electrical work cover who usually pays for what.
Business charging on the southern Gold Coast
The questions we get vary by area. Trade and service businesses in Burleigh Heads and Currumbin Waters are mostly asking about overnight fleet charging. Offices and medical practices in Robina and Varsity Lakes want staff charging. Accommodation and hospitality in Broadbeach, Palm Beach and Coolangatta want chargers guests can use overnight. For outdoor chargers near the beach, salt air is a real factor: enclosures, glands and terminals need to suit a coastal site.
Once installed, chargers belong in your regular maintenance routine alongside your other equipment. Our preventative maintenance programmes can include them, and strata sites can talk to our strata and body corporate electricians.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Energex approval to install EV chargers at my business?
Your electrician deals with Energex for you. The old rule that single-phase chargers over 20 amps had to be a managed connection was withdrawn from 1 October 2026. On a three-phase site, chargers still have to be spread across the phases to meet Energex’s phase balancing rules.
How many EV chargers can my business install?
It depends on your supply size, existing maximum demand, switchboard capacity and when the chargers will run. A load assessment answers this. Load management, where chargers share a set amount of power and turn down when the building is busy, often lets a site run more chargers than its spare capacity alone would allow.
Should a business choose 7kW or 22kW chargers?
Match the charger to how long cars are parked and what the cars can accept. Fleet vehicles parked overnight and staff parked all day are usually well served by 7kW chargers. Faster chargers suit short customer stays. A car limited to 7kW on AC won’t charge faster on a 22kW unit.
Are electric company cars exempt from FBT?
The ATO exempts eligible battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell cars first held and used on or after 1 July 2022, where luxury car tax has never been payable. The fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold is $91,661 for 2026-27. Plug-in hybrids stopped qualifying from 1 April 2025, with limited carry-over rules. Check with your accountant.
Is there a grant for business EV chargers in Queensland?
Not for general businesses at the time of writing, as far as we could find. Queensland’s EV Charging Infrastructure Scheme closed in February 2023 with no further rounds planned. The federal DRIVEN Charger Rebate Stream is open until 30 April 2027, but only to licensed motor dealers, their service centres and qualifying automotive repairers.
Can staff just plug their cars into a normal power point at work?
For occasional top-ups it can work, but it isn’t a good long-term setup for a business. Standard power points aren’t designed for hours of continuous high load every day, and leads across car parks create trip and damage risks. Dedicated chargers on their own circuits are safer and easier to manage.
What safety features should a workplace charger install include?
The Queensland Fire Department says chargers should be installed by a qualified electrician to AS/NZS 3000. The ABCB’s advisory note recommends keeping chargers away from exit paths, a signed master isolation switch, impact bollards and RCM-marked smart chargers, plus placards and a fire brigade visit for sites with 5 or more chargers.
Do new commercial buildings have to be EV-ready?
Under NCC 2022 clause J9D4, car parks in many new commercial and apartment buildings must have dedicated distribution boards sized for future EV chargers. For offices and shops, that is capacity for 10% of car spaces. Queensland applied the NCC 2022 EV charging provisions from 1 October 2023. It covers new buildings, not existing ones.
Want to know how many chargers your site can handle? Call us. We’ll assess the switchboard and supply on site and give you a fixed price before anything starts.