Type “ev charger installation philippines reddit” into Google and you will land on the same handful of threads: a buyer asking whether the ₱25,000 the casa quoted for a “free” BYD wall charger is a rip-off, a townhouse owner asking if their panel can take it, a condo dweller asking where on earth to charge. The advice in those threads is a mix of excellent, half-right and dangerous, and the three are hard to tell apart unless you install these for a living. We do, so here is our honest read of the most-upvoted claims, with links to the threads so you can check for yourself.
“₱25k from the casa is overpriced”
Mostly right. In the r/CarsPH thread, quotes ranged from ₱6,000 (a friend’s electrician, owner bought materials) to ₱25,000 (the dealership), with most independent installers landing at ₱14,000–₱20,000 for a standard 7kW install. That spread is real, and the dealership price is at the top of it. But the cheaper quotes are not always the same job. A proper 7kW installation includes a dedicated 40A breaker, a Type A RCBO (not the ordinary RCCB in most Filipino homes), #8 THHN copper from the panel, a grounding rod if the house has none, conduit or moulding, and a commissioning test with your car plugged in. When a quote is ₱9,000 for labour and you bought the materials, ask which of those items got skipped. We wrote a full breakdown of what is and is not in a quote in the hidden costs of EV charger installation.
“Certified electricians aren’t trained for DC, and an MCB won’t protect you”
Half right, and the half that is wrong matters. A commenter argued that wall chargers are “DC appliances” and that Philippine electricians only know AC. That is a mix-up: a 7kW home wall charger is an AC device. The 220V AC from your panel goes through the charger to the car, and the car’s own onboard charger converts it to DC for the battery. Your electrician does not need DC training. What they do need to know is that an EV can leak a small DC fault current back onto the AC line, which an ordinary Type AC RCCB can be blinded by. So the commenter’s real point stands: use a Type A RCD (or a charger with built-in 6mA DC detection, which BYD, Tesla and most modern units have) plus a dedicated MCB. A licensed electrician who has done EV work will know this; one who “has been doing it for years” on aircon and outlets may not. That is the question to ask, not whether they know DC.
“A wall charger is like running 2–3 aircons for 7 hours”
Wrong on the number, right on the idea. A 7kW charger draws about 32A continuously. A 2HP inverter aircon draws roughly 6–8A, so the comparison overshoots by a lot. But the poster who corrected it also made the point that matters: a charger is a continuous load for six to eight hours, unlike anything else in a Filipino home. Wire that is “okay” for an aircon that cycles on and off will heat up under a charger that never cycles. This is why we size cable for the continuous rating and why the “stuff melted or caught fire because the wiring was too thin” stories in the older r/CarsPH threads keep appearing. See electrical requirements for home EV charging.
“Using your own electrician voids the BYD warranty”
Partly right, and worth getting in writing. Several commenters said the dealership warned that a third-party install voids the one-year warranty on the charger. Note what that covers: the charger unit, not the car. Dealers generally want an installer they can vouch for, because a charger fault caused by a bad install is not a manufacturing defect. If you go outside the casa, ask the dealer in writing what documentation they will accept for a warranty claim, then make sure your installer gives you a bill of materials, photos of the panel work, and a commissioning report. We issue all three on every job, precisely so this argument never comes up. Read our BYD wall charger installation process for what that looks like.
“Just use the portable charger on a normal outlet”
Right for a while, wrong as a plan. Owners in the r/phcars townhouse thread report happily topping up overnight with the 2kW portable charger on a three-prong outlet. That works, and it is a fine bridge. But most household outlets share a 20A breaker with other loads, and a 16A charger on that circuit trips it or, worse, quietly overheats a cheap outlet. If you are going to use the portable charger for more than a few weeks, have a dedicated outlet run on its own breaker. That is a ₱4,000–₱6,000 job and it is the one “cheap” option we actually recommend. Details in granny charger vs wall charger.
“Don’t buy an EV if you can’t charge at home”
Right. This is the most repeated advice on Reddit and it is correct. Mall chargers are free at some SM branches and unreliable everywhere. Condo owners in the r/Gulong thread have managed it with admin approval or a mobile charging van, but it is a hassle. If you are in a condo, the path is admin approval first, then a metered install; we cover how in EV charger installation for condos and the new DOE 5% parking rule is about to make that conversation easier.
The legit check Reddit keeps telling you to do
The best comment in the ₱25k thread was four words: “research the installer (reviews etc)”. Here is how to do that in five minutes, for us or anyone else:
- Ask for the DOE accreditation number and check it on the DOE EV industry portal. MOEV’s is DOE-EUMB-ANA-20250708001, verifiable at evindustry.ph.
- Ask for the electrician’s license before the visit, not after.
- Ask what RCD type they will fit. If the answer is “the normal one”, keep looking.
- Ask for a written quote with a bill of materials and compare the materials line by line, not the total.
- Look at completed jobs, not stock photos. Ours are on the projects page, and the reviews are on Google.
If you have a question from a Reddit thread you would rather ask a licensed installer directly, message us. We answer whether or not you book, because the more correct information there is out there, the fewer melted outlets we get called to fix.
Is MOEV legit? A quick legit check
If you found us through Reddit or a Facebook EV owners group and want to do a legit check before letting anyone near your electrical panel — good, you should. MOEV Solutions is a DOE-accredited EVCS Service, Supplier and Operator (Cert. DOE-EUMB-ANA-20250708001, National Accreditation Level), our installers are licensed electricians, and you can see real completed jobs on our projects page and our Google reviews. Ask us for the certificate and the electrician’s license before work starts — we send them every time. If you have a question from a Reddit thread you want answered by an actual installer, message us.