V1 Smart EV Charger

£459 for the socket version, £509 tethered: a 7.4kW box with app scheduling, RFID, adjustable power and PEN fault protection built in, so no earth rod. Both variants sit on the DfT's eligible-chargepoint list, as A5191VZ2 (socket) and A5191VZ3 (tethered), residential. Anker never prints the word OZEV on its UK site, and those model codes appear on no retail listing, so the approval is easy to miss.

One caveat worth stating up front: the two features Anker leads with — surplus-solar charging and dynamic load balancing — do not work out of the box. Both need a CT meter sold separately, either Anker's own SOLIX Smart Meter at £129 or a Shelly Pro 3EM, and either way an electrician has to fit the clamps at the consumer unit. The advertised charger is a £588 product, not a £459 one. If solar is why you're here, go to the Zappi GLO. Everyone else, stay.

Best for: Buyers who want scheduling, RFID and PEN fault protection in a £459 box, and have no interest in solar.

Installation

211 × 360 × 125 mm and 2.43 kg — tall, narrow, light. 7.4kW on a dedicated 32A single-phase circuit. PEN fault protection is built in, so the installer skips the earth rod. IK10, and an operating range of −30°C to 50°C wider than any British wall will ever ask for. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Ethernet: the last earns its keep in a garage where the router signal gives up at the door, and Bluetooth keeps the app working when the broadband drops.

One line in the spec table is worth reading twice. The tethered unit (A5191VZ3) is IP65; the cheaper socket unit (A5191VZ2) is IP55. Anker states the difference plainly in its own tables while leading its marketing with the higher figure, so choosing the socket version to save £50 quietly buys the lower ingress rating too. On a fully exposed wall, spend the £50 or add cover. Full walkthrough in our home charger install guide.

Tariff compatibility

Scheduling is manual. Set an off-peak window in the Anker app and the charger obeys it; there is no API link into any UK supplier. On a fixed two-rate tariff like Octopus Go, that is set once and forgotten. On Octopus Agile, where the price moves every half hour, it is the wrong charger — the Ohme Home Pro talks to the supplier directly and books the cheap slots without you. For the pattern across the market, see our smart-tariff chargers guide.

Price

Amazon is the cheaper counter: direct from Anker the same two units are £499 and £549, against list prices of £619 and £689, so the Amazon figures look promotional and may move. No seller bundles installation with the V1 — it is hardware only through every channel — so the £400–£600 above is the standard UK band for a straightforward fit, not a figure Anker publishes. The £500 OZEV grant reaches renters, flat owners and landlords, and only an OZEV-approved installer can claim it on your behalf, so the cheapest-looking route to a V1 — an Amazon box and your own local electrician — is exactly the route that forfeits the grant for the people entitled to it.

Against the field

Cheaper approved units exist. The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 is £362 untethered; the EVEC VEC03 is £369 tethered, with an RCD and PEN protection already inside. What the extra money buys is RFID, Ethernet, IK10 and the cold-weather range — not, as the marketing implies, working solar. Add the £129 meter and the field moves again: at £588 the Ohme Home Pro is £53 cheaper and automates a smart tariff with nothing else to buy, and the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro is £102 more with its CT clamp in the box and IP66 whichever variant you take. Against the Tesla Wall Connector (£478), the Anker is £19 less and grant-eligible where the Tesla isn't, which is worth precisely nothing unless you can claim. For solar it isn't close: the Zappi GLO, every time. More in our solar and EV charging guide.