Nearly every home charger sold in the UK does the same basic job well. The real decisions are power rating, tethered vs untethered, and — by law, not by choice — how "smart" it has to be.
Power rating: 7kW is usually all you need
A 7.4kW charger is the practical standard for a typical single-phase UK home, and it's normally enough — most EVs plugged in overnight on a 7kW charger will be fully topped up long before morning. Faster 11kW and 22kW chargers normally need a three-phase electricity supply, which most UK houses simply don't have. Getting one installed specifically for home charging is expensive and rarely worth it: 7kW overnight already covers what almost anyone needs day to day.
Tethered vs untethered
- Tethered: the charging cable is permanently attached to the unit. Simpler day to day — pick it up and plug in, nothing to remember or store.
- Untethered: you use a separate cable, kept in the car or the house. A little tidier on the wall, and gives you the flexibility to carry a longer or different cable, but it's one more thing you can forget to bring.
Smart charging is a legal requirement, not a feature
Under the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations, every new home charger sold and installed in Great Britain (up to 22kW) has to support smart functionality — this isn't a premium option, it's baked into what's legally allowed to be sold. In practice that means:
- Scheduled charging — you can set it to only charge during specific hours, matched to a cheap overnight tariff.
- A randomised start delay of up to 10 minutes, by default, so thousands of chargers on a street don't all switch on at exactly the same second and spike local demand.
- A default off-peak schedule out of the box — typically midnight–8am on weekdays and midnight–11am on weekends — until you change it.
- Energy monitoring — usage data available through an app, for tracking what charging actually costs you.
What else is worth checking
- App quality — you'll use it more than the physical buttons on the unit; check reviews for the specific charger's app, not just the hardware.
- RFID or PIN access — worth having if your driveway or charging point is at all accessible to others.
- OZEV-approved installer — only relevant if you're claiming the OZEV grant, but worth confirming before you commit to a specific installer either way.
- Warranty length — typically 2–3 years on the unit itself; longer is better for something bolted to the outside of your house.
Every home charger installation also has to meet UK wiring regulations (BS 7671, Section 722) regardless of which charger you choose — that's the installer's responsibility to certify, not something you need to check yourself, but it's one more reason to use a properly qualified electrician rather than the cheapest quote.