Is it worth it or even possible to set up as an EV charge point installer?

[needanotherjob]

Looking for some candid advice.

Covid has left my industry in tatters, I'm an Airline pilot. I still have a job, just, but for how much longer? I'm keen to get ahead of being skint and jobless and retrain/refresh my knowledge etc.

Before pilot, I spent some time fitting kitchens and bathrooms and as part of that work, I did a Part P certification and was registered with Elecsa. The most "complex" work I ever did was consumer unit swap, test and certification.

My bright idea is to re-do part p domestic installer and EV charge qualification, buy some new test kit, register with a scheme provider and generate a second income.

However, having read the latest requirements it appears the route to get myself to that point has got a bit harder ( more barriers to entry, and quite rightly to protect the public, raise the standards in the industry etc ).

So is it worth my while bothering or is it even possible, given that I've got no recent experience and the last time I did this sort of work was 2007?

There just seems to be a bit of catch 22 to making progress.

I presently work 2 weeks on 2 weeks off for the airline ( although the 2 weeks on have been "standby" for months ) so I can't follow a normal route of apprenticeship/on-the-job-training, unless there's someone who'd be prepared to work with a daft part-time pattern. Plus I want to be my own boss.

I don't care what it costs in terms of training, kit, scheme membership etc. I'm more worried about the long term and having a decent profession and feeding my family etc.

Any advice welcome.

Cheers
needanotherjob

 

[Dustydazzler]

I don’t see why not

 

[littlespark]

I just done the NICEIC training on ev chargers…. And although it’s going to be a very busy time, there are many hoops to jump through.
I’m going to see about joining a cps this summer, the only way I can fit them and offer the ozev grants. Also need to be registered with one or more of the manufacturers.
The tutor did explain the importance of RTFM when it comes to chargers.

I’ll tell you what that means later.

 

[DPG]

I just done the NICEIC training on ev chargers…. And although it’s going to be a very busy time, there are many hoops to jump through.
I’m going to see about joining a cps this summer, the only way I can fit them and offer the ozev grants. Also need to be registered with one or more of the manufacturers.
The tutor did explain the importance of RTFM when it comes to chargers.

I’ll tell you what that means later.

I'm sure he'll have read the manual for the plane. Hope so anyway ?

 

[Strima]

There's a lot of competition out the installing EVCPs and large companies take a profit hit on the installation works to pick up remedials needed to allegedly bring the installation up to standard before the install the EVCP.

I would advise against having only one type of workstream as a sole trader.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Late to the party on this one but setting up just as an ev charger installer would be hard.. you would need several if not 10s of thousands of money for cashflow.
average good quality Ev charger is say around £600 then 10 of them is £6k plus other materials, without offering the ozev grant you wont get the job in 99% of the time as customer wants the £350 .
You then wait anything upto 90 or more days for that £350.
OZEV currently owe me several thousand pounds, I have good cash flow and reserves so doesnt really affect me. you will have to pay suppliers before getting the grants.
Pretty much all the small sparks firms who now focus on EV chargers migrated from other works to focus on this rather than jump in. the national outfits work on numbers and the quality of work is awful