Skip to main content
Teslacharger

№ 26 · Bidirectional flagship — UK pre-registration · 2026 review

Wallbox

Quasar 2

3.8 / 5 · independently reviewed · 3 years (Wallbox standard; UK terms unconfirmed) warranty

No £500 grantLast updated

The first mainstream bidirectional home unit to reach a UK product page — and, on that same page, still a waiting list. Buy it if you have (or are about to have) a compatible car and a V2G tariff that pays the hardware back. Otherwise the money goes further on an AC wallbox plus a home battery, and the Zaptec Go 2 or NexBlue Point 2 hold the V2G-ready position without the bidirectional price tag.

Unit only

£6100

Installed from

£6600

After OZEV

£6600

Not eligible

Buy from Wallbox(opens in new window)
Wallbox Quasar 2 — product shot

Power (bidirectional)

Up to 12.8 kW (DC)

Connector

CCS2, 5m tethered

Dimensions

747 × 368 × 135 mm

Weight

~20 kg (44 lb NA variant; UK figure unconfirmed)

IP Rating

IP55 / IK10

Connectivity

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G (optional), RFID

What we loved

  • PlusTrue bidirectional DC: V2H backup and V2G export, not just AC charging
  • PlusUp to 12.8 kW in both directions via CCS2
  • PlusIP55 / IK10, rated for outdoor mounting
  • PlusWorks with the Kia EV9, the headline V2H car — more manufacturers expected
  • PlusThe reference product for UK V2G early adopters

What we didn't

  • MinusRoughly £6,100 unit-only; installed total likely £7,600+
  • MinusUK availability is pre-registration ("keep me updated") as of April 2026, not open order
  • MinusBidirectional car list is short; most UK EVs can't use the feature today
  • MinusNeeds DNO G99 approval for export; 30–60 working-day lead time, possible G100 cap
  • MinusInstallation is materially more involved than an AC wallbox; fewer installers qualified
  • Minus£500 OZEV grant doesn't apply to bidirectional DC units
  • Minus3-year warranty — shorter than several AC units at a fraction of the price

The first mainstream bidirectional home unit to reach a UK product page — and, on that same page, still a waiting list. Buy it if you have (or are about to have) a compatible car and a V2G tariff that pays the hardware back. Otherwise the money goes further on an AC wallbox plus a home battery, and the Zaptec Go 2 or NexBlue Point 2 hold the V2G-ready position without the bidirectional price tag.

From the 2026 Teslacharger review

Wallbox's bidirectional flagship, roughly £6,100 before installation — about twelve times the price of a Tesla Wall Connector, and, on the UK Wallbox site in April 2026, still a "keep me updated" form rather than a buy button. A European list price of €7,188 has been widely reported; no UK GBP price is published at time of writing.

What you are paying for is DC, in both directions. A normal home wallbox is AC: your car's onboard charger turns mains into battery. The Quasar 2 bypasses the car's charger and talks directly to the battery pack, which is the only way current EVs can push energy back out to the house or the grid. That is vehicle-to-home, and, on a supporting tariff, vehicle-to-grid. The list of cars that will actually do this is short and moves slowly. Kia's EV9 is the headline — the bundle announced with Wallbox is US-first, limited initially to seven states. Wallbox's UK page says only that "bidirectional functionalities are only permitted with certain EV manufacturers, and more expected to enable bidirectionality with Quasar 2 in the near future". Assume, today, that very few UK buyers have a compatible car. Our V2G explainer covers why.

Best for: Kia EV9 owners on an export-capable tariff who want the first mainstream bidirectional unit, and are comfortable being early.

Installation

Larger and heavier than an AC wallbox: 747 × 368 × 135 mm, around 20 kg (the published 44 lb figure is for the North American variant; UK weight unconfirmed). IP55 and IK10, rated for outdoor mounting. CCS2 tethered cable, 5 metres. That is the easy part.

The hard part is export. Any V2G or V2H install that pushes more than 3.68 kW back across the meter needs G99 approval from your DNO before the work goes in, and the Quasar 2 peaks at 12.8 kW. G99 applications typically take 30–60 working days; in constrained parts of the network the DNO can cap export under G100, or refuse it. Installation has to be done by an installer familiar with bidirectional hardware — a standard AC-wallbox electrician will not, as a rule, have done one of these. Expect an installed total well above a normal wallbox, and a longer project. Our home charger install guide covers the AC baseline; this sits several rungs above it.

Tariff compatibility

Only worth it on a V2G tariff. In the UK today that means Octopus Power Pack, which launched in beta in February 2024 and has since been offered chiefly as a full bundle — leased car, Zaptec Pro bidirectional charger, tariff — at a fixed monthly fee. A standalone Quasar-2-plus-Power-Pack route is technically possible where the car is on Octopus's compatible list, but the economics are made by the bundle. See our 2026 charging tariff guide for the wider picture. On a normal fixed-rate tariff like Octopus Go the bidirectional hardware is unused, and a £478 Tesla Wall Connector will serve you better.

Price

ElementCost
Unit~£6,100 (European list; UK GBP unconfirmed)
Typical installation£1,500–£3,000+ (DNO G99 application, specialist installer)
Installed, total£7,600–£9,100+

The £500 OZEV grant doesn't apply: the current scheme targets renters and flat owners on standard smart chargers, and bidirectional DC units aren't on the approved-products list. Treat the grant as unavailable until an installer confirms otherwise.

Against the field

There isn't much of a field yet. Among shipping UK units, the Zaptec Go 2 is V2G-*ready* but AC-only, meaning it's certified to export when the cars and protocols catch up but can't do it today. The Tesla Wall Connector has no publicly announced bidirectional path. Enphase's forthcoming DC IQ Bidirectional EV Charger — a separate product from the IQ EV Charger 2 already reviewed here — is targeting volume production in Q4 2026 with UK grid compliance baked in — a credible alternative, but also a future one. The Quasar 2 is the flagship because it is close to alone, not because it has beaten anything.

You might also consider

Three alternatives worth a look.

We'll sort the installation

Get Installation Quotes