An EV charger survey should capture the supply (phases, cut-out fuse rating, existing maximum demand), the earthing arrangement, the consumer unit's condition and spare capacity, the cable route, the charger position and parking, and signal for smart features. AI can turn your photos and notes into two summaries, but you verify every reading.
Surveys go wrong in the gap between the doorstep and the office: a photo nobody labelled, a rating read from the wrong label, a cable length taken off a plan. A checklist closes those gaps, and an AI step helps only if it drafts from what you recorded and nothing else. The consumer unit, as used here, is the fuse board or breaker panel; earthing is what some call grounding.
Supply and load: the numbers that decide how simple the job is
Start with the supply, because everything else follows from the headroom it leaves. Six items, each with why it matters and how to verify it.
| Item | Why it matters | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Phases (single or three) | Sets which charger speeds are possible | Count the live conductors at the cut-out and meter tails (single-phase has one live and one neutral); photograph the cut-out label |
| Cut-out fuse rating | The supply fuse sets the headroom, and the consumer unit's main switch can be rated higher | Read the fuse label itself, photograph it, and write down the number and where you read it |
| Existing maximum demand | Installer guidance says a charger counts at its full rating, with no diversity | Calculate by the method you work to or measure over time, and record which you did and the figure |
| Planned extra loads | A heat pump, solar, a battery or a second EV can change the design | Ask directly and write the answers into the survey |
| Load management | Thin headroom can still work if charging is limited | Decide after the sum and record the reason |
| Network operator route | Whether it must be asked before the work or told afterwards depends on total demand and local rules | Record the figures that decide it and who will make the contact |
The headroom sum is short: supply rating, minus existing maximum demand, minus the charger at full rating, minus any planned loads. A typical home charger of about 7.4 kW on 230 V draws 32 A. The sum is simple, and the usual mistake is in its first number, which is why the second row of the table says to read the fuse and not the board.
Earthing and protection: record facts, leave the design alone
| Item | Why it matters | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Earthing arrangement (TN-S, TN-C-S often called PME, or TT) | Section 722 of BS 7671 restricts using a PME earth for a charging point that serves a vehicle outdoors unless one of its listed protective measures is applied, so the design depends on knowing which arrangement you have | Inspect the cut-out and meter tails, measure the external earth fault loop impedance, and ask the network operator if in doubt |
| Possible earth electrode position | A TT electrode is one of the options where PME is a problem | Note where an electrode could go and what is nearby, including bonded pipework, and photograph the area |
| Main protective bonding | The existing installation has to be in good order before a new circuit joins it | Inspect and photograph the clamps where gas and water enter |
| Protection against DC leakage | Guides describe a charger with built-in 6 mA DC detection plus a Type A RCD, a Type B RCD, or a separate detection device | Read the charger's instructions, record the model and which route it takes, and do not assume |
None of this is the survey's decision. The survey records what exists and what the charger offers. The design (PEN fault detection, a TT electrode, the RCD type) belongs to the installer, and an AI summary must write "to be decided" instead of choosing. That boundary is what whether ChatGPT can answer electrical code questions safely explores in more depth.
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Buy nowConsumer unit: what to read and what to photograph
| Item | Why it matters | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Make, model, age and enclosure material | An old or damaged unit may need replacing before a new circuit goes in | Photograph the front with the cover closed, then the inside with the cover off (installer only) |
| Spare ways and space | A new, dedicated circuit needs a protective device of its own | Count the ways, note blanks, and record which are free |
| Existing RCD protection and type | Shapes the protection plan and the risk of nuisance tripping | Read the labels and test with your tester once the cover is off |
| Condition | Heat damage, water ingress, loose or discoloured terminations, missing blanks or damaged cables will affect the new work | Photograph each defect with a note on where it is |
| Continuous loading conditions | Manufacturers may set conditions for extended loading on boards | Check the unit's data and record the ratings |
| Circuit schedule, labels and paperwork | An unlabelled board with no certificates means more testing before you can confirm the existing installation will take the addition | Photograph the schedule and ask the customer for any certificates |
The condition row is where surveys and inspections meet. If you find defects that affect the new circuit, write them up in the same words you would use on an inspection report, because the customer will ask for a price to put them right. The same habit of faithful wording is what the electrical installation certificate tutorial asks of AI at the certification stage.
Cable run: measure the route, not the distance
| Item | Why it matters | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Route from the consumer unit to the charger | Length drives cable size and cost, and a straight-line distance is always short | Walk the real path with a tape or laser measure, note each turn, and add an allowance at both ends |
| Method for each section | Surface clips, trunking, burial or a roof void change the cable type, protection and labour; external runs need extra mechanical protection | Write the method beside each measured segment |
| Wall construction and penetrations | Core drilling needs the wall type and thickness, and penetrations have to be sealed | Photograph both sides of the proposed hole and measure the thickness at a reveal |
| Obstructions | Drains, pipes, windows, doors and other cables get in the way | Photograph them and mark them on a sketch |
| Groundworks for a post-mounted unit | Surface type, services and ducting add cost | Photograph the surface and ask the customer about known services |
Record each segment separately, such as "garage roof void 14.0 m, outside wall 4.5 m, allowances 1.5 m at each end", and let the total be a sum you can re-add later. Cable size and voltage drop are design calculations, so the survey supplies lengths and methods and leaves the sizes to you.
Parking, charger position and signal
| Item | Why it matters | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Where the car parks and where its charge port is | A tethered cable has a fixed reach, and the port position moves the best spot for the unit | Ask for the make and model, and photograph the space, ideally with the car in it |
| Mounting surface and exposure | Weather, knocks and lighting affect the unit and whether a post is needed | Photograph the surface and note any impact risk |
| Permissions | Landlord or shared-parking consent can stop a job after the work is priced | Ask who owns the wall and the space and record the answer |
| Signal for smart features | Connected chargers and load management often need Wi-Fi or mobile coverage; Mitti's template lists mobile coverage among its checks | Check phone signal and router position at the charger spot |
| Customer needs | Tariff, solar, expected mileage and a second vehicle change what to propose | Ask, and write the answers in the customer's words |
Photo requests: what the customer sends and what you take
Ask the customer for photos before the visit, but only of what is safe to see. Never ask anyone to take a cover off. A request message you can send as a text or email reads like this.
Hi [first name], to plan your EV charger survey, could you send six photos? 1) the outside of your fuse board with the door closed; 2) the label on the meter or cut-out box; 3) the parking space; 4) the wall where you would like the charger; 5) the outside route from the fuse board to that wall; 6) where your Wi-Fi router sits. Please don't open anything. Thanks, [your name]On site, take a fixed series in a fixed order: consumer unit front, consumer unit inside, the cut-out fuse label, the meter tails, the earth terminal and bonding clamps, each route segment, the wall penetration from both sides, the charger position, the parking space and a screenshot of the phone signal. Number them as you go. File names help you, but an assistant will not use them: image tools do not read file names or metadata, so the numbered list of captions goes into the prompt itself.
Turning site notes and numbered photos into two summaries
The assistant's job is to organise what you recorded, flag what is missing and write a plain-English version for the customer. It is not to survey the house. These instructions keep it in that lane, and the survey notes and numbered photo captions go underneath.
You summarise an EV charger site survey for an installer. Use only the SURVEY NOTES and the PHOTO LIST below.
Quote any reading you take from a photo in quotation marks and say which photo. If a value is not stated or not legible, write MISSING.
Do not infer supply type, phases, earthing, ratings or distances from how things look. Do not recommend a design, a charger model or a price.
OUTPUT
1) INSTALLER SUMMARY as a table: item, finding, source (note or photo number), confidence.
2) OPEN QUESTIONS the installer must answer before design.
3) CUSTOMER SUMMARY in plain English, under 180 words: what we found, what we still need to confirm, what the customer should do before the install. No prices, no promises.
SURVEY NOTES: [paste your notes or voice transcript]
PHOTO LIST: [Photo 1: cut-out fuse label; Photo 2: consumer unit front; Photo 3: consumer unit inside; and so on]An integral garage, an 80 A fuse and a heat pump to come
Every figure below is invented for illustration. The house is a three-bedroom home with a single-phase supply. Photo 1 shows the cut-out fuse label reading 80 A, and the consumer unit's own main switch reads 100 A. The consumer unit sits in a utility room at the back of the house: eight ways, all used, a plastic enclosure, some labels missing, and a slight discolouration at one terminal in Photo 4. Earthing has not been confirmed with the network operator, so it is treated as PME for now. The charger is to go on the outside of the garage, at the front, by the driveway.
The route runs through the roof void above the garage for 14.0 m, down and out through the garage wall with one core hole, then 4.5 m along the outside wall. With 1.5 m allowed at each end, that is 14.0 + 4.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 21.5 m. Wi-Fi shows one bar at the charger position, though mobile signal is fine.
Now the load sum, using the fuse and not the board. The calculated existing maximum demand is 41 A. Add the charger at its full 32 A and the total is 73 A against an 80 A supply, which leaves 7 A. The customer also plans a heat pump in two years with a 16 A circuit, which would take the total to 89 A, or 9 A over the fuse rating. The survey does not solve that. It records it, and the design then settles between charging controls and a supply upgrade. Had the sum started from the 100 A main switch, the headroom would have looked like 27 A, and 11 A with the heat pump, and the problem would have stayed invisible until after the install.
Where the first AI summary misread the survey
Imagine the first draft from those notes. It reads well and contains six faults, each the kind of slip that survives a quick skim.
- The wrong supply rating. It wrote "Supply: 100 A", taken from the consumer unit's main switch, while Photo 1 shows the cut-out fuse at 80 A. Re-reading the photo caught it, and the prompt's rule that readings are quoted with a photo number is what made the re-read quick.
- Three-phase by miscount. It called the supply "probably three-phase" after counting three cables in the meter tails photo: live, neutral and an earth conductor. A single-phase supply has one live conductor. Your own count and the cut-out label decide phases, and the prompt forbids inferring them.
- A route of 8.9 m. It read the dictated "fourteen point nought" as 1.4. Re-adding the segments caught it: 1.4 + 4.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 is 8.9, not the 21.5 m on the notes.
- Earthing stated as fact. It wrote "Earthing: PME, no issues". Nothing in the notes says there are no issues, and PME was an assumption. The fix is "unconfirmed, treated as PME until the network operator says otherwise".
- A distance from a photograph. It said the charger spot was "approximately 3 m from the garage door", though nobody measured it. Vision tools return spatial estimates that are only approximate, so the line was deleted.
- A contradicted customer summary. It told the customer the consumer unit was "in good condition", while the installer notes record a discoloured terminal. The customer summary must come from the same facts as the installer summary, and it now says one connection needs a close check.
The corrected customer summary, under 180 words:
Hello [first name], thanks for having us round. Here is what we found. Your home has a single-phase supply with an 80 A main fuse. We worked out your usual peak use, and a 7 kW charger fits within the supply today with a small margin. If you add a heat pump later, the supply may not cope with both at full power unless charging is controlled, which we can talk through. Your fuse board is full, and one connection shows a mark we need to check closely, so a new or additional board may be needed; we will confirm after testing. The cable would run about 21.5 metres, mostly through the garage roof space and along one outside wall, with one hole through the garage wall. The Wi-Fi is weak where the charger would go, so we will advise on a signal option. Please keep access to the fuse board clear on the day. This summary is not a quote or a final design; we will send a fixed price once these points are confirmed.
Six checks on readings, sums and promises before sending
- Every reading in the installer summary has a photo number, and you have looked at the label yourself.
- The route segments add up to the total on the notes.
- The load sum starts from the cut-out fuse rating, and the figures match your calculation.
- Each MISSING is either filled in or listed under open questions.
- The customer summary contains no price, no charger model, no promise and no design decision.
- Nothing says "compliant", "safe" or "no issues" unless your own test results say so.
Those six take about ten minutes. They also give you something to point to if a customer later asks why a job needed a new board: the summary, the photo numbers and the sums are all in one place. For how the survey connects to quoting and job software, EV charger installer apps and software beyond quotes is the natural next read, and the electrician quote template covers turning findings into a priced scope with exclusions.
Where the checklist can live
A paper checklist works, but a form on a phone stops items being skipped and keeps photos attached to the right line. Mitti, formerly SafetyCulture, keeps a public library of templates that includes an EV charge point pre-installation survey. Its page describes sections for supply and maximum demand, earthing arrangements, proposed loads, charger and cabling, photos and client sign-off, and its checklist covers hazardous zones and mobile coverage for connected equipment. Items such as bay marking, signage and agreed capacity suggest it was written for larger sites, so expect to trim it for a domestic job. Its pricing page lists a free plan for up to 10 seats with five active templates, and Premium at $24 a seat a month billed annually or $29 billed monthly, as of November 2026.
The sitesurvey.app page describes offline capture of photos, forms, measurements and video, spoken notes with live voice-to-text, and reports built from the captured data. Its AI summaries can run on your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key, and it offers an AI form builder. It does not mention EV charger templates, so you would build your own form from the tables above. Whichever tool you pick, the safeguards in this tutorial still apply: numbered photo captions, quoted readings, MISSING instead of guesses, and a person checking the sums.
When the same survey habits are needed for a different install, the solar version is in the solar site survey checklist, which shares the photo-first workflow but has its own items.
EV charger survey questions installers ask about AI
Can AI work out the supply and earthing from photos?
It can read text that is legible in a photo, such as a cut-out fuse label, but it should not decide the supply type or earthing arrangement. Those come from measurements and the network operator, and the design is yours. Treat anything the assistant infers rather than reads as a question to answer on site, and have it quote what it read so you can check the label yourself.
Should customers send photos before the survey?
Yes, but only of what is safe to see: the outside of the consumer unit with its cover closed, the meter and cut-out label, the parking space, the likely cable route and the router. Never ask a customer to remove a cover. The photos help you plan the visit and bring the right kit; they do not replace the survey.
Which AI tool should summarise survey notes?
Any assistant that accepts photos and text will do the drafting, and the safeguards matter more than the brand. Use a business plan that does not train on your content by default, label photos in the prompt because file names and metadata are not read, and have a person check every reading against the original. A survey app with built-in summaries can save copying if it fits your forms.
Does the summary replace the design or the certificate?
No. The summary records what you found and what is missing. Design decisions, calculations, testing and certification are yours, and the customer summary should say that the final design and price depend on your confirmation. Never let an assistant produce load or cable-size figures that you have not calculated yourself.
Further reads
- AI Automation for Contractors: Qualify, Book and Confirm Site Visits — Qualify, book and confirm the visit before the survey happens.
- How to Use Google AI Form Builder for a Builder's Site Visit Checklist — Turn a checklist into a form with Google's AI form builder.
- AI Electrical Quoting Software: Build Three-Option Upgrade Packages — Build three-option upgrade packages from survey findings.
- Can AI Write RAMS for Electrical Work? Who Must Sign It Off — Risk assessments for electrical work and who signs them off.
- Electrical Permit Application: Track Permits and Inspection Dates With AI — Track permit and notification dates once the survey is done.
- AI App for Electricians: Do You Need One or Is ChatGPT Enough? — Whether a dedicated app is needed or a chat assistant is enough.
- EPC Assessor Software: What to Check First, and Where AI Helps — Check scheme approval, approved-list status and update speed before you pay, then use AI for client emails and wording, never for lodgement.
- Air Conditioning Installation Business: Survey Notes to Quote With AI — Turn air conditioning survey notes into a structured record, unit options and install scope lines with AI; the engineer keeps sizing and refrigerant decisions.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: installer guidance from trade publications on EV charge point installation (earthing, RCD and DC detection, maximum demand, cable routes, consumer unit checks); Mitti's pricing page and public EV charge point pre-installation survey template; sitesurvey.app's published features; Anthropic and OpenAI documentation on image inputs.