Andersen A3 vs GivEnergy EV Charger: design or battery?

Design on the wall, or a battery in the cupboard

Two chargers that share almost nothing except a Type 2 connector. The Andersen A3 is £995 — a piece of wall-mounted industrial design with a hidden cable and 247 finish options. The GivEnergy EV Charger is £478 and exists to talk to a home battery. The £517 gap buys you one or the other; neither is the "better charger" in any universal sense.

• Andersen A3 — the charger you buy because you'll see it every day.
• GivEnergy EV Charger — the charger you buy because there's a battery in the utility room.

Is the Andersen's £517 premium worth it?

Answer this honestly: is the charger visible? From the street, the drive, the kitchen window? If yes, the Andersen A3 earns its keep. The hidden cable system — the cable retracts into the body when you're not charging — is unique at this price, and the anodised aluminium front looks like furniture rather than a utility box. Seven-year warranty, too, which is the longest on the UK market.

If the charger lives in a garage nobody looks at, the calculation collapses. You're paying £517 for finish that no one sees. The software is competent but not class-leading — smart-tariff scheduling for Octopus Intelligent Go and OVO Charge Anytime, Wi-Fi only, no 4G backup. For the same electrical job with better software, the Ohme Home Pro is £460 cheaper. For a closer look at that trade, the Ohme vs Andersen comparison covers the ground.

One practical note: the hidden cable is 5.5 metres and there is no longer option. The Andersen has to be mounted within reasonable reach of the car's charge port. If your parking spot is awkward, this matters more than finish.

When the GivEnergy earns its £478

The GivEnergy EV Charger has one argument, and it is a good one: it can pull stored energy from a home battery into the car. Most chargers with "solar mode" only divert live generation — surplus from panels in real time. GivEnergy's charger can draw from a battery that was filled overnight at Octopus Intelligent Go rates of 7p/kWh, then discharge that into the car during the day. It works with GivEnergy's own batteries and compatible third-party units.

If you have a home battery, that capability is rare and real. If you don't, the charger is a basic £478 tethered unit with a monitoring portal, scheduled charging and RFID access. Competent — the IP65 rating is better than the Andersen's IP54 — but unremarkable. At the same price, the Tesla Wall Connector is slicker for a Tesla owner. Below it, the Easee One is £405 and the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 is £362. The app next to an Ohme Home Pro feels like a generation behind.

So the GivEnergy question is a question about your house: is there a battery, or will there be one? If yes, buy it. If no, almost any other charger in this price band makes more sense.

The verdict

Buy the Andersen A3 if:

• The charger is visible from the street or a window you use daily
• Finish, materials and a seven-year warranty matter more to you than software
• You're on a simple tariff like Octopus Intelligent Go and don't need live half-hourly optimisation

Buy the GivEnergy EV Charger if:

• You have a GivEnergy or compatible home battery
• You want to charge the car from stored cheap overnight electricity, not only live solar
• £478 is your budget and you value whole-home energy monitoring

If forced to put one on a wall without knowing the house, it would be the GivEnergy — because its £478 is honest money for a capable charger, and the Andersen's £995 is only justified when its design is on display. That's a specific test most buyers can answer in five seconds. Answer it first, then choose.