As the Andersen A2 brochure explains to the reader, this unit is carefully designed, and beautifully made, with an uncompromising commitment to quality and style. It is a charge point worth driving home to and it’s hard to disagree. It’s lovely to look at, has all the features you need, has solar compatibility, but… you will pay a premium on the initial outlay.
It’s the leader in the field on both counts. The look is amazing – modern, fresh and stylish – and the materials used are high quality. It’s also carefully designed so that you don’t see the cable: the compartment stores the plug neatly and the magnetic lid lifts up allowing easy access, which means that it has form as well as function. As a tethered unit (the cable is fixed), it is the best in the business in terms of design and usability.
Is it easy to use?
It’s the Apple of wallchargers. Looks great, it moves the dial in this sector and it doesn’t compromise on usability or functionality. Using the Andersen Konnect+ smart charging technology you can use your surplus local generated solar or wind energy to charge your electric vehicle to reduce your costs. Of course, it’s all done through an app but it does have an LED on the front of the unit to indicate charging status, while interior lighting offers assistance for night-time use. The app does all the things you should expect from a decent charger: it tells you how much energy you are using in your charging session and how much you have spent. You can also minimise your charging costs by using smart scheduling. The Anderson A2 also enables charging access for family and friends even when you’re not there and the app allows you to remotely lock and unlock your charge point. It’s a smart charger so you can set charging sessions as you wish so you get the best possible off-peak tariff from your supplier. The app logs your costs and charging sessions and you can override if you wish.
What else do you need to know?
It uses a Type 2 adapter and there’s choice of the 7kW single phase (which is standard for home use) unit or the more belt-and-braces 3-Phase, 22kW for faster charging. There’s in-built PEN protection and load balancing, which will stop overloading and fuses blowing. It uses an Evoflek charging cable, which sounds fancy, but it is lightweight and flexible, and that makes it easy to store. The Evoflek cables are made of solid aluminium and stainless steel and are available in different lengths: 5.5 metres and 8.5 metres for the 7kW unit or 6.5 metres for the 22kW version. The Andersen A2 also gives you the opportunity to personalise by choosing between four shades of wood fascias, which are made from Accoya timber more commonly put to the test in bridge building or on a ship’s deck, and nine metal covers that come in variety of different colours. There’s also a limited-edition carbon effect, which looks very impressive. In all there’s 126 combinations to choose from. Lastly, you get great customer service and walk-through installation advice. The Andersen website details a dedicated support centre and you can book consultation on how you get your unit fitted where its representatives will talk you through all the stages of the installation.
In life you get what you pay for and with the Andersen A2, you do pay a premium. There are, of course, cheaper units – you can get the same functionality for less – but if style is important to you, yep, it’s worth the extra. Although it’s a smart charger that can charge when your tariff is lowest (at night-time), it doesn’t however, offer access to the absolute cheapest off-peak tariffs. The A2 can link to five tariffs that offer rates of around 10p kWh, however. It’s true that with a couple of tariffs you will only get the full benefit if your vehicle is so equipped to communicate, but this does cover more than 60% of EV models out there.
It is a cliché, but this is the Rolls-Royce of chargers, and inevitably, you will pay extra to enjoy that privilege. Of course, the initial outlay is a toss-up: there are cheaper chargers that arguably perform just as well and can select the absolute cheapest tariffs, which this does not. However, the fact that you can store away the cable tidily and, that you can use your surplus locally generated solar or wind energy to charge your electric vehicle to effectively get payback along with the pleasure you’ll get from having a stylish charger on your home, could well justify that additional spend.
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