Andersen A3 vs Indra Smart PRO: design tax or install bargain?

A £396 gap, and almost none of it is electrical

These two chargers do the same job to the same standard. Both deliver 7.4kW single-phase. Both are tethered Type 2. Both are IP54, both are OZEV-approved, both are British-designed. On the wiring diagram they are twins.

The Andersen A3 costs £995. The Indra Smart PRO costs £599. The £396 gap between them buys you finish, a hidden cable, and four extra years of warranty. Nothing else. Whether that's worth it comes down to one question: will you, or your neighbours, actually see the thing?

The shortest version:

• Andersen A3 — the charger you buy when the wall matters. Anodised aluminium, 247 colour options, cable tucked inside the unit.
• Indra Smart PRO — the charger you buy when the install bill matters. SPD and CT clamp in the box, longer cable, three-year warranty.

When the Andersen A3 earns its £995

If the charger will live on a front elevation, beside a front door, or anywhere a prospective house-buyer will clock it, the Andersen A3 is the only unit on this site that treats the problem seriously. The hidden cable retracts inside the body when you unplug — no dangling loop, no tethered tail resting on the gravel. 247 colour and finish combinations means you can actually match it to a render, a brick, a wooden cladding. Seven years of warranty on top.

That's the honest case. The less honest one — that you're paying for smarter software or better hardware — doesn't hold. The A3's app is competent. Its connectivity is Wi-Fi only, where the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro and Cord Zero add 4G. Its cable is 5.5 metres with no longer option, so the mount position is not negotiable. If the A3 will live inside a garage or behind a side gate, you're buying jewellery for a dark room.

When the Indra Smart PRO is the cleverer buy

The Indra Smart PRO sticker price is £599, but that's not the number. In the box is a surge protection device that your electrician would otherwise add for £100–£150 in parts and labour. Also in the box: a CT clamp for solar diversion, typically £50–£100 extra elsewhere. Count those in and the effective outlay drops closer to £400 — into Easee One and Tesla Wall Connector country, with a 6-metre cable that's longer than either.

The feature set is grown-up: dynamic load balancing, RFID lock with per-card tracking, smart-tariff scheduling for Octopus Intelligent Go, OVO Charge Anytime, Octopus Go and EDF GoElectric. The app is plainer than Ohme's or Hypervolt's, and the installer network is smaller — both true. The V2G framing in the marketing is speculative; the Smart PRO itself doesn't do V2G today. Treat that as a maybe, not a reason to buy.

What the £396 doesn't buy

Neither of these is the cleverest charger in its price bracket. If tariff automation is your priority, the Ohme Home Pro at £535 beats both on app sophistication and integrations. If solar diversion is central, the myenergi Zappi GLO remains the reference, and the Ohme vs Zappi GLO comparison covers that debate properly. If you want three-phase 22kW, look at the Zaptec Go 2 — neither charger here offers it.

The A3's premium is almost entirely cosmetic. The Indra's value is almost entirely in the box contents. Frame each accordingly.

The verdict

Buy the Andersen A3 if:

• The charger is visible from the street and you care how the front of the house looks
• You want the longest warranty on the UK market — seven years
• You'd rather pay once for something built to outlast plastic-bodied rivals

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• Your electrician would otherwise bill an SPD — you're recovering £100–£150 of install cost
• You run solar and don't want to pay extra for a CT clamp
• You want a 6-metre cable for more mounting flexibility

If the wall doesn't matter, the Indra Smart PRO is the sensible buy, and the honest one. It does everything the Andersen A3 does electrically, saves £396, and hands your installer a shorter bill on the way out. The A3 is a lovely object — but it's an object you're buying for other people to see. Be sure someone is going to.