You are closer than you think. If you are a qualified electrician, the gap is charging-specific certification rather than a career change, and employers in this market are short enough of people that many will fund it.
The harder question is not how to get in. It is which part to aim at, because the routes diverge quickly and the one most people fall into is the slowest.
What do I actually need to add?
Charging-specific certification in addition to your existing qualification. The exact scheme varies by country, and in most European markets the pattern is the same: a qualified electrician plus a charging certification, sometimes plus manufacturer-specific training for particular hardware.
That certification is increasingly the binding constraint in this sector rather than experience. There are far more qualified electricians than there are qualified electricians certified for charging, which is why the pool employers can actually hire from is small.
That works in your favour. Employers competing for a small certified pool have a strong incentive to fund certification for someone who is otherwise right. Ask. A business that will not is telling you something about how it treats development generally.
Which part of the sector should I aim at?
Three routes, and they are not equal.
Domestic and home installation is the easiest entry and the closest to what you already do. It is also where you compete with solar and heat pump installers for the same work, and where progression is slowest.
Commercial, depot and workplace is a step up in scale and complexity, and the buyer is different: fleet or facilities rather than an energy team. It pays better and the work is steadier because it comes with contracts.
High-power DC and rapid charging is where the scarcity actually is. Plenty of electricians can install. A much smaller group has taken a rapid unit through commissioning to energisation on a live site. In megawatt charging that group is measured in dozens across a whole country, because the hardware only started arriving in volume this year.
If you are choosing deliberately, aim at the third and accept a slower start.
What actually gets you hired faster?
Say what you have energised, not what you have worked on. “Commissioned 150kW DC on live sites” puts you in a different group from “worked on EV charging projects”, and only one of those tells an employer which group.
Say how far you will travel, early. Field and commissioning work is dispersed by design. Somebody who covers a region is worth materially more than somebody tied to one town, and volunteering it moves you up the list.
Do not hide the domestic background. Employers in this market are hiring from outside the sector constantly and know they have to. What they want to know is that you can work without the process and supervision a large contractor gave you.
Where does it lead?
Faster than in conventional contracting, because the sector is young enough that the route up is short.
Field service leads into commissioning leadership. Commissioning leads into project delivery. Anyone who understands the grid connection process ends up unusually valuable, because in most markets that capability has no job title and employers cannot find it by searching.
Germany is the exception that shows the direction: there the role exists by name, Netzanschlussmanager, and operators advertise it directly. In other markets the same work sits inside general project roles, which means the people who can do it are under-recognised and usually underpaid.
Is the work actually there?
Yes, and the shape of it is changing in a way that favours you.
Across UK charging vendors measured in September 2026, the largest block of open roles was operations, service and asset management at 35%, with field and installation trades behind at 17%. The installed base is now big enough that keeping it alive is the growth area. Service engineers are harder to find than the people who put the chargers in.
That is steadier work than a build programme, because it scales with how many units are live rather than how many are being installed.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to leave domestic work entirely? No, and many people run both for a while. The transition usually completes when the charging work becomes steady enough to be worth the specialisation.
Will an employer pay for the certification? Often, in a market this short. It is a fair question to ask at first interview.
Is it worth moving for? Compare against the whole electrical trade in your area rather than against other charging firms, because that is who you are really competing with for work and pay.
Looking at roles in this market? Explore open roles, or talk to us about what is actually moving where you are.
Sources
- Vacancy analysis across 439 exhibiting companies at Solar and Storage Live UK, measured 22 September 2026
- Net Zero Evolution market intelligence across 13 EV charging markets, reviewed monthly