Rolling out EV charging infrastructure generates a specific and repeating set of drawings. Whether you are installing a single rapid charger or building a national network of charging hubs, each site moves through the same drawing stages — from initial layout and lease documentation through to the as-built record at handover.
This guide sets out the CAD drawings an EV charging project typically needs, what each one is for, and where they sit in the site lifecycle.
Site layout and general arrangement drawings
The site layout drawing is the foundation of the package. It shows the positions of the chargers, the parking bays serving them, vehicle access and circulation, the location of electrical equipment such as feeder pillars and any substation, and the routing of cables and containment across the site.
For a charging hub with multiple units, the general arrangement drawing is what every other discipline works from. It is also the drawing that landlords, planners and operators use to understand and agree what is being built.
Lease plans
Most EV charging sites are on leased land — a retail car park, a forecourt, a commercial site. The lease plan defines the area being leased to the charging operator: the equipment footprint, the bays, the access routes, and the demised boundary.
Lease plans need to be accurate and clearly presented because they form part of a legal agreement between the landlord and the operator. They are typically one of the earliest drawings produced, because the lease has to be agreed before installation can proceed.
Electrical schematics and single-line diagrams
The electrical documentation for an EV charging site shows how power is distributed from the supply to each charger. The single-line diagram represents the distribution arrangement — the incoming supply, metering, protection, distribution board, and the connection to each charging unit.
These drawings are produced from the electrical design. The design itself — load calculations, protection coordination, cable sizing, and the DNO connection — is carried out by the electrical engineer. The CAD work turns that design into clear, issue-ready schematic drawings.
Cable routing drawings
Cable routing drawings show the physical path of cables from the supply position to each charger — the containment, trenching, and duct routes across the site. On a site with chargers spread across a large car park, cable routing is a significant part of both the design and the installation cost, and an accurate routing drawing is essential for the groundworks contractor.
Civils and groundworks drawings
EV chargers need foundations, and the associated equipment — feeder pillars, substations, distribution equipment — needs bases and ducting. Civils drawings cover charger plinths and foundations, equipment bases, duct routes and trenching, and any drainage or reinstatement details required.
On forecourt and car park sites, the civils package also has to account for the existing surface, drainage and services, which is where an accurate site survey becomes important.
As-built drawings
At completion, each site needs an as-built record showing what was actually installed — the final charger positions, the actual cable routes, the electrical arrangement as commissioned, and any changes made during installation. For an operator running a growing network, the as-built records are the operational and maintenance reference for the whole estate, and they matter increasingly as sites are maintained, expanded and upgraded over time.
3D renders and visualisations
While not a technical drawing, the 3D render is an increasingly important part of the EV charging package. A photorealistic render of a proposed hub is used for planning applications, for presentations to landlords and investors, and for stakeholder engagement — showing what the site will look like before a single charger is installed.
For new-build hubs and prominent forecourt sites in particular, a good render can be the difference between a planning committee or a landlord approving a scheme or hesitating over it.
Producing the package efficiently
The characteristic of EV charging drawing work is repetition at scale. A rollout is not one site, it is many, each needing the same set of drawings to the same standard. The firms that manage this well treat it as a programme: a consistent drawing standard applied across every site, a shared register tracking the status of the whole estate, and a drawing production capacity that scales with the rollout rather than bottlenecking it.
Outsource CAD produces the full CAD and render package for EV charging infrastructure — site layouts, lease plans, electrical schematics, cable routing, civils, as-builts and renders — working from your electrical design and site information. Multi-site infrastructure is our background. Call +44 28 9009 8876 or email info@outsourcecad.com.
