So, what’s the BEST charger currently on sale in the UK? Well What Wallcharger Awards has spent the best part of a month evaluating wall chargers and it has been no easy task.
Below we have detailed the winners of the 12 categories and they are detailed on the video below.
The What Wallcharger? Awards are in partnership with Kerbocharge and Click Mechanic. Our judging panel comprises members of the What Wallcharger? team as well as Kerbocharge’s co-founder Michael Goulden and Click Mechanic’s Operations Director Ali Coleman.
Every category received score from each judge. Those with the highest scores in each category was the winner and the charger with the highest score taking all the categories into account gets the Best Charger Award.
Judges particularly liked the three-mode charging functionality: Pure Value, Pure Green and Pure Speed. The EVIOS app works extremely well and does all the things you should expect when smart charging. It allows you to schedule charge times and stop when you need to. It also details charging history and allows you to download that history.
The Award for Best Tariff Integration goes to Ohme Home Pro. Judges were particularly impressed with the functionality that allows you to take advantage of the EV off-peak charging tariffs (Octopus Agile, Intelligent Octopus, Octopus Go and Ovo Anytime for example). This makes the Home Pro an extremely attractive option. It also has the capability to charge when the grid is supplying the most sustainable energy sources – and the buttons on the front are useful if you don’t want to go into the app.
The Andersen is hard to beat in terms of its stylish design the fact that you can spec it up with all manner of combinations to suit your home. The look is amazing – modern, fresh and stylish – and the materials used are high quality. We also liked the convenience lighting that illuminates the area below your charge point and the fact that the cable can be stored neatly. Overall the Andersen A3 was chosen because it not only has form, it has function.
The What Wallcharger? Award for Build Quality goes to the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro. The certifications tell us it has hit extremely high benchmarks in terms of protection against water and impacts and it also meets the latest standard in EV charger cyber security regulations. It is built to stand the test of time and, to prove the point, a five-year warranty is available, which suggests Hypervolt has faith in its product.
The Award for Reliability goes to the Sevadis Maxi Charger. It took top honours in this category because there’s one stat that you just can’t ignore… it has a 99% reliability rating, which is hard to argue with, and… there’s an extended warranty that’ll give you six years cover. That gives you peace of mind that it won’t pack up after a couple of months.
The Award for Solar Integration goes to the myenergi Zappi. The Zappi solar integration function allows you to power your vehicle using 100% free clean energy. MyEnergi has been a leading light with this technology and it’s a company that is encouraging full energy independence. The Zappi is also a fantastic charger in its own right and owners have nothing but praise for this very efficient unit.
The Award Best Connectivity goes to the Intelli EV EV7S 2, which incorporates WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet. You can use a RFID charge key and you can switch to public charging if need be. It’s a reasonably priced unit and you can interchange the front panel to change the overall look to wood, piano black or carbon fibre, or, if you can personalise the panel yourself with your own design.
The What Wallcharger Award for Innovation goes to the NexBlue Edge because of its unconventional looks and innovative approach not only with regards to design but also what’s under the skin. The NexBlue Edge does look different with its skewiff socket placing and stealth bomber-style casing but it’s not without merit. It also features a backplate and design that could enable a fitting in minutes rather than hours, and that could be a real gamechanger for EV owners.
Its Trust Pilot rating of 4.5 gives an idea of how well this company operates on behalf of its customers. The What Wallcharger? review says that ‘Installation should be painless”, and it seems we were right judging from those comments. Also, when we called the customer helpline we got through in seconds. Can’t say fairer than that.
The tech spec is impressive and that that represents great value. The purchase price is competitive and substantially cheaper than rivals that offer pretty much the same thing with equivalent capability. The fact that’s it’s solar compatible also makes it particularly attractive.
As a company Ohme is totally committed to ensuring its chargers get the best possible tariffs at a time when everyone is watching their pennies. The ePod is £50 than its sibling, the Home Pro, but if your priority is to save cash on electricity bills, then you might as well save on the purchase price too. This is an excellent all-round charger and if you opt for one of these, you won’t go far wrong.
The Best Charger Award goes to the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro because of its all-round ability. Its reliability, app, functionality, design make the the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro hard to beat.
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