Which home charge point to fit, compared on the specifications that actually separate them

Each charger here is set out by what actually separates one from another: tethered or socketed, scheduling route, earthing method, power and price. Built for anyone who has ordered an electric car and needs to pick a unit before it arrives.

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What each column in the table tells you

A charger is largely a box that passes electricity from your consumer unit to your car, and most of them do that without incident. What separates one from another is a short list of specifics, and the table lists the same ones for every unit so you can line them up fairly.

Tethered or socketed

A tethered charger has its charging cable permanently attached. A socketed charger has a socket on the front, and you plug in whatever cable came with your car or that you buy separately. Tethered units are quicker to use each time; socketed units let you swap cables if the connector on your car ever changes.

Offline capability

This column tells you whether the charger keeps working if it loses its internet connection, whether that is a router outage, a broadband fault, or a weak signal where you park. A unit with offline capability falls back to charging at a fixed rate without a schedule or app control until the connection returns. One without it may stop charging altogether until it reconnects.

Scheduling route (charger or car)

Some chargers hold the off-peak schedule themselves and switch on and off at the times you set in their app. Others leave that job to the car, which tells the charger when to deliver power based on the car's own settings. Which one applies changes where you go to fix a schedule that stops working, and the difference is set out in full in the guide to charger-side and car-side scheduling.

EV tariff integrations

This column lists which off-peak electricity tariffs a charger connects to directly, pulling the off-peak window straight from the supplier. A charger with no integration for your tariff still works on that tariff. You just set the times yourself and keep them updated if the tariff changes.

Earthing method

Every charger needs a safe path for fault current to reach the ground, and the method your house uses for that is its earthing arrangement: TN-S, TN-C-S or TT, depending on how your network operator supplies your street. Some chargers need an earthing addition of their own to work safely on certain arrangements, which is one of the things an installer checks before fitting. The differences between the arrangements, and why they matter for a charger, are set out in the guide to earthing types and looped supplies.

Power and price

Power is the maximum rate at which the charger can deliver electricity, and a higher rate asks more of your home's electricity supply, which is one of the things a survey confirms before you commit to a unit. Price is the manufacturer's list price for the charger alone. It does not include the cable run, consumer-unit work, earthing or any of the other items that make up an installation quote.

Charger choice	Best for	What to check before fitting
Tethered charger	Driveways where the car parks in the same spot every day	The cable length is set by the manufacturer, so check it reaches your parking position before you order
Socketed charger	Households with more than one EV, or an uncertain parking spot	You supply your own cable, so its length and type are your choice.
Charger-side scheduling	Tariffs where the off-peak schedule is held in the charger	Ask the installer which device actually holds your schedule. A smart charger sold in Great Britain has to keep working smartly if you change energy supplier (Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/1467, read 29 September 2026)
Car-side scheduling	Drivers who prefer to set charging times from the vehicle itself	The charger delivers power on demand; the car's own charge limit and timer decide when it draws it
Offline-capable charger	A charging position with a weak or unreliable home network signal	Check what the charger still does with no connection, and what it needs the connection back for

Every charger sold in Great Britain has to meet the same smart charging rule, whatever its cable type or scheduling route (Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/1467, read 29 September 2026; the regulations do not cover Northern Ireland). This table compares the choices available.

What the smart charge point regulations require from your charger

A home charger sold or leased for private use in Great Britain has to meet the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021. These rules cover England, Scotland and Wales; they do not apply in Northern Ireland. The regulations require the charger to have smart functionality built in, meaning it can receive and act on signals about when electricity is cheaper, apply a default off-peak charging window on its own, and randomise the start of a charge by a short delay so that large numbers of chargers don't all switch on at the same minute.

Switching energy supplier

These requirements sit with the charger itself. When you move to a new supplier, the charger's default scheduling and its randomised delay keep working regardless, because the regulation attaches to the device. What can change is whether the charger can talk directly to your new supplier's own off-peak signal. That depends on which tariffs the charger has been built to integrate with, which is a separate question from whether it meets the regulation at all.

Working with no network connection

The regulations also require the charger to keep applying its default off-peak window and randomised delay if it loses its connection to the manufacturer's app or server. A charger that falls back to charging whenever it's plugged in, with no restriction at all once the network drops, is not behaving the way the rule intends. This is why offline behaviour is worth checking on its own, separately from whether the charger looks capable while the app is connected.

When comparing chargers on this point, it's worth checking:

Whether the charger still applies an off-peak window if the Wi-Fi or mobile signal at the property drops out
Whether moving to a new supplier needs anything done to the charger, or only a change to the tariff settings
Whether the off-peak schedule is held by the charger or by the car, since that changes what you're actually checking at the wall box

The last point is covered in more detail in the guide to charger-side and car-side scheduling, including what to check when an off-peak integration stops responding.

Questions about tethered cables, apps and offline charging

Should I choose a tethered or a socketed charger?

A tethered charger has the charging cable fixed to the unit, so you plug straight into the car. A socketed charger has no cable attached, and you bring your own cable each time you charge. Tethered units tend to cost a little more and suit a driveway where the same car charges most nights, while a socketed unit works better if more than one vehicle with a different socket type uses the charger.

Do I need to use the manufacturer's app?

Most home chargers will plug in and charge without the app. The app becomes relevant once you want to set an off-peak charging schedule, check your charging history, or update the unit's firmware. Some manufacturers also put their EV tariff integrations behind the app, and that's one of the specifications the comparison table records against each unit.

What happens if the manufacturer's server goes offline?

The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, which apply in Great Britain, require a charge point to default to a safe, off-peak-compliant charging pattern if it loses its network connection. What else a unit can still do without a connection varies: some keep plug-and-charge working as normal, others lose scheduling or app control until the connection returns. The comparison table lists each unit's offline capability as its own column so you can see which applies before you buy.

Does the charger need an internet connection to charge my car at all?

No. A home charger will deliver power to a plugged-in car with no internet connection present, because the regulations require that baseline to be met regardless of connectivity. What a connection adds is the ability to schedule charging around an off-peak window, send usage data to an app, and receive firmware updates. The offline column in the comparison table shows which of these a given unit keeps without a connection and which it loses.

What does 'scheduling route' mean in the comparison table?

It records whether the charging schedule is set and held by the charger or by the car. A charger-side schedule is set through the manufacturer's app or control panel and runs regardless of which car is plugged in. A car-side schedule is set in the vehicle and moves with the car between chargers, but it relies on the car remembering it rather than the wallbox holding it.

Does the charger need to know which energy tariff I'm on?

Only if you want it to charge automatically within your tariff's off-peak window. A charger with an EV tariff integration lets you link your account or postcode so the unit charges at the right hours without a timer set each night. Where that integration isn't listed for a unit, scheduling still works, but you or the car will need to set the window by hand.

Why does earthing method appear in a table about chargers?

Your earthing arrangement, the way your supply's protective earth reaches the property, decides which kind of charger can be fitted safely at your address. A TT earthing arrangement often calls for a charger with its own earth electrode or earth-fault protection built in, where a TN-C-S supply may not. The table records each unit's earthing method so you can rule some in or out before a survey confirms which arrangement your property has.