RELATED: How much does it cost to repair an EV charger?
Three questions that settle it
What failed? Circuit faults, protective devices, contactors, connectors and cables are repairs. A main control board is usually a replacement, because on most domestic units the board is either not sold as a spare or priced close enough to a new charger that repair stops making sense.
Does the brand still exist? This one ends more repairs than any technical factor. No manufacturer means no parts, no firmware updates and no support. A unit from a company that has gone can sometimes be kept running, but nobody should be selling you a supported repair on it.
How old is it? Under three years, check the warranty before spending anything. Three to seven years, repair almost always wins. Beyond that, the calculation shifts, because you are weighing a repair against a unit that will need something else soon.
What replacement buys you that repair does not
Being honest about this matters, because “just repair it” is not always the right advice.
A charger from 2018 is a different product from one bought today. Newer units have built in open PEN protection, which older installations often achieved with a separate earth rod or not at all. Load management is standard rather than an add on. App control, scheduling and tariff integration are far better, and matched off peak tariffs are where the real running cost saving sits.
There is also the warranty. A new unit resets the clock with three years or more of cover.
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When repair is clearly right
The fault is in the circuit rather than the unit. The part is available and inexpensive. The charger is a current model from a brand still trading. It has not failed repeatedly. And you are happy with how it works.
Most faults land here. A charger that has thrown a breaker or worn a connector is not a charger at the end of its life.
When replacement is clearly right
The board has failed. The brand has gone. Water has reached the electronics. The unit has failed three times in two years. Or the repair quote is more than about half the cost of a new installed charger.
That last rule of thumb is worth holding loosely, because a cheap repair on a dead end unit can still be the wrong answer, and an expensive repair on a good charger can be the right one.
The case nobody mentions
If the diagnosis finds the original installation was wrong, undersized cable, the wrong protective device, or no open PEN protection on a TN-C-S supply, then that work needs doing whichever way you go.
In that situation the honest comparison is not repair against replacement. It is remedial work plus a repair, against remedial work plus a new charger. Any quote that leaves the remedial work out is not comparing like with like.
