Home EV charger guide: which one to buy, what it costs and how to charge for pennies

Why a home charger pays for itself

Public rapid charging in Manchester costs 70p to 85p per kWh. A home EV tariff overnight is 7p to 9p. A typical EV doing 8,000 miles a year uses around 2,000 kWh, so the difference is over £1,200 a year. If you would otherwise rely on public rapid chargers, a £900 home charger pays for itself inside the first year.

A 7.4kW charger adds about 30 miles of range per hour, so a full overnight charge covers almost any car. Three-phase 22kW chargers are rarely worth it at home because most houses only have a single-phase supply.

Which charger should you buy?

We fit all of them and have no brand loyalty. Our honest shortlist for 2026:

• –Ohme ePod or Home Pro: best with Octopus Intelligent Go and similar tariffs, the charger and the tariff talk to each other so you just plug in
• –Hypervolt Home 3 Pro: British-designed, reliable app, good looking, solar-aware
• –myenergi Zappi: the one to have if you own or plan solar panels, diverts excess generation to the car
• –Easee One: the neatest and smallest unit if looks matter, a little pricier
• –Andersen A2: the premium option, hides the cable, fits a period property

What installation costs and what is included

A standard install, with the charger within ten metres of the fuse board and a straightforward cable route, is £700 for a customer-supplied charger. Supplied and fitted, an Ohme or Hypervolt is from £949 and a Zappi from £1,149. Every install includes a dedicated circuit with its own RCBO, Type 2 surge protection, the correct earthing arrangement, app setup, scheduling to your tariff, the EIC, Building Control notification and the DNO notification.

Longer cable runs, going under a path or through a garage add a little. We tell you from the photos before we quote.

Do you need a new fuse board first?

Around a third of the homes we visit do. Either there is no spare way, the board is plastic with no RCD, or the main fuse and tails are too small for an extra 32 amp load. We tell you from a photo of the board and the meter and if a new board is needed we do both in one visit for £1,099 upwards, which is cheaper than two visits and gives you one certificate.

Most homes in Manchester have a 60 or 80 amp main fuse, which is fine for a 7kW charger with load management switched on. The charger backs off automatically if the house is drawing heavily.

Grants, planning and the DNO

At the time of writing, the government EV chargepoint grant (formerly the OZEV grant) of up to £350 is available to people who rent a property or own a flat with dedicated off-street parking, and to landlords. Owner-occupiers of houses are no longer eligible. If you qualify we handle the claim. A wall-mounted charger on a house needs no planning permission; listed buildings and some flats do.

Every charger must be notified to the Distribution Network Operator, which in Manchester is Electricity North West. We do this as part of the job. It costs you nothing and takes us ten minutes.

Questions people also ask