Does my EV charger need a special curcuit breaker?

That's a qualified YES.

All new circuits in your house must be wired up with a protection device variously described as a safety switch, residual current device or earth leakage circuit breaker. These devices monitor current flowing in the circuit and will trip off if they see any imbalance over 30mA, because leakage to earth might mean electricity escaping somewhere is passing through you the customer.

EV chargers have special requirements because they are charging a battery with direct current. Standards call for the circuit to trip if 30mA AC leakage is detected, however they also specify 6mA DC leakage, in case there is a malfunction which injects DC from the battery back into the grid.

The answer is a Type B RCD must be installed, and this can be a $400+ expense.



However many car chargers already have this DC leakage monitoring built into the EVSE wall box itself. If this is the case, you still need a garden variety RCD to protect the supply cable, but the car charger takes responsibility for DC leakage protection.

As shown in the image below, when the Australian supplier lifts website content from the UK without adding local nomenclature, it can be contradicting and confusing for electricians and customers alike.