SolaX Smart EV Charger G2
X1-HAC-7P-E.

SolaX builds solar inverters, and this is a solar company's charger: three PV-surplus modes, a CT clamp in the box, and no line at all into a UK smart tariff. That last part is the caveat to settle before anything else. SolaX appears on none of Octopus's compatible-charger lists, so on Intelligent Octopus Go the tariff cannot schedule the charger. For most cars, that ends the discussion.

For a Tesla it doesn't. Intelligent Go schedules through the car's own API, not through the wallbox, so the box on the wall is allowed to be dumb: a Model 3 on a £323 SolaX charges in the same 11:30pm–5:30am window, at the same 7p/kWh, as one on a £535 Ohme Home Pro. The Ohme can negotiate extra off-peak slots out of Octopus during the day and the SolaX cannot, which is a difference you will rarely notice if you charge overnight. Plug a car Octopus can't talk to into this charger, though, and the cheap rate has nothing to talk to either. Then £323 is a false economy.

One more thing to check before ordering, because it is the kind of mistake that gets found on install day. The "-E" is not a trim level. SolaX's manual is explicit: models named with "-E" carry PEN fault protection and are specified for TN-C-S (PME) supplies, while the near-identically-titled X1-HAC-7P — no suffix — is the variant for TN-S, TT and IT. Retailers stock both at roughly the same price under near-identical titles, and almost none explain the difference. On a TT (earth-rod) supply, common in rural and older housing, the -E is the wrong box.

Best for: Tesla owners on Intelligent Octopus Go, and solar households who'd rather not pay Zappi money.

Installation

5 kg, 390 × 206 × 139 mm, on a dedicated 32A single-phase circuit, with a 6.5-metre tethered cable — longer than the Ohme's 5 m, shorter than the Tesla's 7.3 m. IP65 on this tethered version; the untethered X1-HAC-7S-E is IP54, which is a genuine difference on an exposed wall rather than a documentation slip. IK10 shell, −30°C to 50°C.

The single-phase CT clamp is a packing-list item, not an upsell, and an RFID card comes with it. What does not come with it is the RCD: the 30 mA AC and 6 mA DC residual current monitoring is on-board, but SolaX's own manual still lists a Type A RCBO under "additionally required materials", so the installer fits protection at the consumer unit as usual. PEN fault protection is built into the -E, which at least removes the earth rod on a TN-C-S supply.

Solar is where the design effort went. Green charges from PV surplus alone, ECO tops that up from the grid, Fast ignores solar and pulls rated power. None of it requires a SolaX inverter: the charger reads grid data from an inverter if there is one, then a meter, then the bundled CT clamp, in that order. The exception is in the manual — with a non-communicating inverter under a zero-injection requirement, Green and ECO "may not work normally". Full walkthrough in our install guide.

Tariff compatibility

There is a scheduler, and that is all there is. On a fixed two-rate tariff like Octopus Go, set the off-peak window once in the SolaX app and leave it — nothing is lost, because there is nothing to automate. On Octopus Agile, where prices move every half hour, it is the wrong charger: the Ohme Home Pro reads tomorrow's prices and books the cheap slots itself. And on Intelligent Octopus Go, a Tesla routes around the problem entirely. For the wider pattern, see our smart-tariff chargers guide.

Price

No SolaX seller publishes an installation price — it ships from solar and electrical wholesalers as hardware, so the band above is our standard estimate for a straightforward fit, not a figure anyone has quoted. Eligible for the £500 OZEV grant if you rent or own a flat.

Against the field

The EVEC VEC03 at £369 is the unit this most directly displaces: the SolaX is £46 less, with a longer cable, a settled IP65 where EVEC's own paperwork disagrees with itself, and a CT clamp in the box that EVEC sells separately. Against the Tesla Wall Connector at £478: £155 less, and OZEV-approved where the Tesla isn't — but the Tesla is the better-made unit, with the longer cable and an app you already have. Against the Ohme Home Pro at £535: £212 less, and on Intelligent Go with a Tesla the Ohme's advantage largely evaporates; put any other car on the drive and it returns in full. For solar, the Zappi GLO at £750 is still the more refined diverter, and more than twice the price. More in our solar and EV charging guide.

The caution nobody can currently resolve: this charger sells through solar and electrical trade wholesalers rather than the retail channel, and there is no independent long-term UK record of what owning one is like. The hardware is verifiable. The app, the cloud and the third year are not.