Going electric is really two decisions, not one. First: should you get an EV at all, and how do you pay for it? Second — the bit people rush — how will you charge it? Get the charging decision wrong and you either overspend on kit you don't need, or you save £400 up front and then lose far more paying premium public-charging rates for years. This guide walks you through both, in the right order.
First, the car: buy, lease or finance?
You don't need to own an EV outright to benefit. The three common routes each suit different people:
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) keeps monthly payments low by deferring a big "balloon" payment to the end — you then hand the car back, pay the balloon to keep it, or roll into a new deal. It suits people who like changing cars every 3–4 years and want to sidestep the risk of where used-EV values land. Personal Contract Hire (leasing) is pure rental: fixed monthly cost, hand it back at the end, no resale worry — often the cheapest way into a newer EV, and salary-sacrifice schemes through an employer can make it dramatically cheaper still by taking payments before tax. Buying outright or on a loan (HP) costs most up front but least overall, and the car is yours.
Whichever route you pick, the running-cost case is the same and it's strong: charged at home on a cheap overnight tariff, an EV can cost around 2–3p per mile in electricity versus roughly 13–16p per mile in petrol. That gap is exactly why the charging decision below matters so much — it's where the savings live.
The one thing that changes everything
Do you have off-street parking — a driveway, garage or allocated bay where you can run a cable to the car? If yes, home charging is open to you and it's transformative. If no, you'll lean on public charging, and the maths is very different. The tool below starts there.
The decision tool
Answer each question. It takes about a minute and ends on your recommended setup.
Ohme Home Pro
Our Top 5 pick for smart-tariff users. Tariff intelligence is built into the charger — it pulls in your Intelligent Octopus Go rates, schedules to the cheapest half-hours automatically, and adds a price cap and carbon-aware charging. It's the unit Octopus most often points people toward.
- Setup: fitted 7 kW smart charger + Intelligent Octopus Go (~7p/kWh overnight, roughly 2–3p per mile).
- Why this one: best-in-class IOG integration, genuinely excellent app, tethered and tidy.
- Trade-off: solar surplus diversion is weaker than a Zappi — if you have panels, look at #2 instead.
- Rough cost: ~£950 installed.
myenergi Zappi
The pick for solar homes and anyone wanting a joined-up, home-automation-friendly setup. Nothing on the Top 5 diverts surplus solar into the car as well, or links charging, hot water and battery together as neatly — and it still runs happily on Intelligent Octopus Go.
- Setup: fitted 7 kW smart charger + Intelligent Octopus Go, with solar surplus diversion on top.
- Why this one: best-in-class solar self-consumption; the myenergi ecosystem (Zappi, Eddi, Libbi) ties charging, hot water and battery together and hooks into smart-home platforms.
- Trade-off: tariff scheduling isn't quite as slick as Ohme's, and it sits at the premium end.
- Rough cost: ~£1,000–1,200 installed.
Hypervolt Home 3 Pro
The Top 5 pick for tech and design — the best app and the nicest box on the wall, with very good tariff support for Intelligent Octopus Go.
- Setup: fitted 7 kW smart charger + Intelligent Octopus Go (~7p/kWh overnight).
- Why this one: polished software, attractive hardware, tethered or untethered.
- Trade-off: premium pricing; solar diversion is good but not quite Zappi-grade, and a shorter field track record.
- Rough cost: ~£950–1,200 installed.
Indra Smart Pro
The value champion on our Top 5, and the most interesting bet on the future. Welsh-made, keenly priced (unit around £499), with strong solar and Intelligent Octopus Go support — and Indra is working closely with Octopus's Kraken platform on vehicle-to-home charging.
- Setup: fitted 7 kW smart charger + Intelligent Octopus Go, excellent value.
- Why this one: lowest sensible price, UK-made, clearest path toward selling power back later.
- Trade-off: smaller installer network; V2H is still trial-only in 2026 — buy for the smart charging today, treat V2H as a bonus.
- Rough cost: ~£900 installed (unit ~£499).
Easee One
The Top 5 pick when you're tight on space or charging two cars. Tiny and elegant, with excellent dynamic load balancing — the natural choice where several chargers share one supply. Intelligent Octopus Go compatible.
- Setup: fitted 7 kW smart charger + Intelligent Octopus Go; auto-detects the network type with integrated protection.
- Why this one: compact, great for multi-charger driveways, strong load management.
- Trade-off: untethered only, solar diversion is basic — and worth knowing Easee had a 2023 safety dispute in Sweden (UK units now meet BS 7671).
- Rough cost: ~£800–1,000 installed.
Standard 7 kW home charger
A fitted 7 kW smart charger on your normal electricity tariff (or a simple Economy 7 night rate). You get fast, convenient home charging without changing supplier — you can always add a smart EV tariff later to unlock the cheapest rates.
- Cost to run: your standard day rate (~25–30p/kWh), or cheaper on an Economy 7 overnight window.
- Speed: same fast ~25–30 miles per hour as Type A — the charger hardware is the same.
- Needs: off-street parking. No tariff switch required.
- Upgrade path: the charger is already "smart", so moving to Intelligent Octopus Go later is just a tariff change — no new kit.
"Granny" charger (3-pin, 2.3 kW)
A portable cable that plugs into a normal 13A socket. Cheap up front (often supplied with the car) and fine if you drive very little or need a stop-gap — but slow, and not a good everyday solution for higher mileage.
- Cost to buy: low — no installation needed. Charges on whatever your household rate is.
- Speed: only ~8 miles of range per hour — a near-empty battery can take 24 hours+ to fill.
- Watch out: use a dedicated outdoor-rated socket on its own circuit; don't run it off extension leads. As a portable device it sits outside the smart-charger rules.
- Better later: if your mileage climbs, upgrade to a fitted 7 kW unit (Type A or B).
Public charging (+ a granny cable as backup)
Without off-street parking you can't fit a home charger, so you'll rely on the public network — rapid chargers for quick top-ups and slower "destination" chargers at supermarkets, gyms and workplaces.
- Cost to run: higher — public rapid charging is typically 45–80p/kWh, so the home-charging savings mostly don't apply. Factor this into whether an EV works for you yet.
- Grant help: from April 2026, renters and flat owners can get up to £500 per socket toward a charger if they later gain a private space or via on-street schemes — worth checking your council's plans.
- Backup: keep a granny cable for the rare occasion you can reach a normal socket.
- Tip: a workplace or nearby destination charger you use regularly can replace much of the home-charging benefit.
The whole map at a glance
Prefer to see every path at once? Here's the same logic as a flow diagram.
7 kW smart charger
+ smart EV tariff
7 kW smart charger
standard tariff
simplest cheap-charging
solar / home automation
best app & design
value & V2H future
compact / two cars
Side by side
| Setup | Best for | Charge speed | Running cost | Install |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type A Smart + tariff | Most drivers with a driveway who want lowest cost | ~25–30 mi/hr | ~7p/kWh | Fitted 7 kW unit |
| Type B Smart, no tariff | Driveway owners who don't want to switch supplier | ~25–30 mi/hr | ~25–30p/kWh | Fitted 7 kW unit |
| Type C Granny | Very low mileage, renters, or a backup cable | ~8 mi/hr | Household rate | None — plug in |
If it's Type A: the five chargers, ranked
Every one of these runs on Intelligent Octopus Go. Pick by what your home does — full write-ups in our Top 5 home chargers.
| Charger | Best for | Solar divert | ~Installed | Tethered? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Ohme Home Pro | Simplest cheap-charging (IOG benchmark) | OK | ~£950 | Tethered |
| 2 · myenergi Zappi | Solar & home automation | Excellent | ~£1,000–1,200 | Both |
| 3 · Hypervolt Home 3 Pro | Best app & design | Good | ~£950–1,200 | Both |
| 4 · Indra Smart Pro | Value & V2H future | Good | ~£900 | Both |
| 5 · Easee One | Compact / two cars | Basic | ~£800–1,000 | Untethered |
Before you buy a fitted charger
Use an OZEV-approved installer, and if you're a renter or flat owner check the £500-per-socket grant first — you must be approved before installation. Homeowners with a private driveway no longer qualify for that residential grant, but the running-cost savings from a smart tariff pay a 7 kW charger back quickly on their own.
The short version: if you've got a driveway and drive a normal amount, fit a 7 kW smart charger — Type A if you'll switch to a smart tariff, Type B if not (and you can upgrade later). Only drop to a granny charger if your mileage is genuinely tiny, and lean on public charging if you can't park off-street. Buy for the setup you'll actually use, and the wrong-charger trap disappears.