The short version: the Zappi is for people with solar panels, and the Ohme is for people on a cheap overnight tariff. Both are good units and both are fitted regularly across Bridgend and the Vale. Choosing between them comes down to which of those two describes your house, not which is “better”.
myenergi Zappi — the solar one
The Zappi’s whole reason for existing is surplus generation. It watches what your solar panels are exporting and diverts it into the car instead of sending it back to the grid.
It does this through three modes:
- Eco+ — charges only from genuine surplus. If a cloud goes over, it pauses. Cheapest possible charging, slowest, and completely hands-off.
- Eco — tops up from surplus but keeps a minimum charge rate going from the grid so the session does not stall.
- Fast — ignores solar entirely and charges at full 7kW.
If you have panels, that is genuinely valuable and no amount of tariff cleverness replicates it. You are charging on electricity you have already generated.
It needs a CT clamp fitted at your incoming supply to work. That is not optional and it is not an upsell — without it the unit cannot see what is being exported and the eco modes do nothing. If a quote for a Zappi does not mention the clamp, ask why.
The trade-off: the Zappi’s tariff and scheduling side is fine but not class-leading. You can set charge windows, but it is not doing the clever supplier-integrated scheduling the Ohme does.
Ohme Home Pro — the tariff one
The Ohme comes at it from completely the other direction. It is not especially interested in your solar; it is interested in the price of electricity hour by hour.
It integrates directly with the supplier — most notably Octopus Intelligent — and schedules the charge into the cheapest slots overnight without you doing anything. You tell it when you need the car ready and what charge you want, and it works the rest out.
That matters more than it sounds. On a good overnight EV tariff the difference between charging at the right hours and the wrong ones is several times the unit rate. The Ohme gets that right automatically, every night, without you thinking about it.
It also has a screen on the unit, which sounds trivial until you want to know what is happening without getting your phone out.
The trade-off: with solar panels, the Ohme cannot use your surplus the way a Zappi can.
So which one
Get the Zappi if: you have solar panels, especially a decent-sized array, and you are home during the day often enough to actually charge off surplus.
Get the Ohme if: you have no solar, you are on or moving to a cheap overnight EV tariff, and you want the thing to sort itself out.
If you have solar and a cheap overnight tariff — which is increasingly common — it is genuinely close. The rule of thumb: the more of your driving you do in daylight hours from home, the more the Zappi’s surplus charging earns its place. If the car mostly sits on the drive overnight and goes out in the morning, the Ohme’s tariff scheduling wins.
What the installation decides, regardless of unit
People pick a charger first and worry about the installation second. It is usually the other way round that costs money.
- Your fuse board. It needs a spare way and modern RCD protection. Plenty of older boards around Bridgend, Barry and the valleys have neither, and that is a board change before anything else happens.
- Your main supply fuse. A lot of older properties are still on a 60 or 80 amp supply. That does not stop an install, but it does change what load balancing has to do.
- The cable run. The distance from the board to where the car parks is the single biggest variable in the price. Under five metres is usually straightforward; more than fifteen and it starts to add up.
- Where it is going. If it is on an exposed or coastal wall — and a lot of Porthcawl and Barry properties are — the enclosure, IP rating and terminations need specifying for salt air, or it corrodes early.
Aled checks the board and the supply fuse before quoting, which is why the price he gives is the price that stands.
The cost
Renovolt fits home EV chargers from £900 + VAT (£1,080 inc VAT), fully installed — survey, installation, certification and notification. A fuse-board check is included on every install.
If the board does need replacing first, that is from £700 + VAT (£840 inc VAT), and it is better to know that before you have bought a charger than after.
He fits Tesla, Ohme, Hypervolt, Zappi, Pod Point and BG Sync, and has no reason to push you at one over another — if you have already bought a unit, he will fit that.
In Bridgend? Local prices, what is included and how the install changes between the older terraces and the newer estates are on the EV charger installation in Bridgend page. For anything else on the electrics, see electrician in Bridgend.