Andersen Quartz vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3

A domestic charger and a commercial one walk onto a driveway

The Andersen Quartz costs £672. The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086. That £414 gap is wide enough to be interesting, but the real distance between these two is philosophical, not financial. One is a handsome box designed to sit on a cottage wall and blend in. The other is an industrial-grade unit that would be equally at home in a multi-storey car park. The question is whether your home needs the second kind.

• Andersen Quartz — £672. Design-led, eleven finishes, seven-year warranty, Intelligent Octopus Go integration. A domestic charger through and through.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086. Native three-phase 22kW, OCPP 2.0.1, MID-approved meter, MRCD Type B built in. Engineered for flexibility, not for aesthetics.

What £414 extra buys — and what it doesn't

On a standard UK single-phase supply, both chargers deliver roughly the same power: 7.2kW from the Quartz, approximately 7.4kW from the CTEK. Your car charges at the same speed either way. The CTEK's headline 22kW figure requires a three-phase supply — something fewer than 5% of UK homes have. If yours is single-phase, you are paying £414 more for hardware that idles at a third of its capacity.

The CTEK does bring things the Quartz cannot match. Its built-in MRCD Type B protection (30mA AC and 30mA DC) removes the need for an external Type B RCD, which can save £100–£200 on install. Its MID-approved energy meter is Eichrecht-compliant — relevant if you plan to bill visitors or employees, irrelevant if you just charge your own car. And its OCPP 2.0.1 support means it speaks the language of commercial charging networks, making it future-proof in ways a home user may never exploit.

What the CTEK does not bring is smart-tariff integration. There is no first-party app for scheduling around Octopus Intelligent Go or OVO Charge Anytime. You can route scheduling through Monta or another OCPP back-end, but that is a workaround, not a feature. The Quartz, by contrast, has direct Intelligent Octopus Go and OVO Charge Anytime integration built into the Andersen app. For anyone on a time-of-use tariff — and that is most EV owners who care about running costs — the cheaper charger is the smarter one.

The three-phase case for the CTEK

If you do have three-phase power, the arithmetic shifts. At 22kW, the CTEK will charge a 60kWh battery from 20% to 80% in roughly 1 hour 40 minutes. The Quartz, even with its optional three-phase upgrade (adding £195 to reach £867), matches that. But the CTEK's IK10 impact rating, dual Ethernet ports, and OCPP stack make it the more robust choice for a property that might see multiple users — a rental with a shared driveway, say, or a small business with a customer-facing parking space.

The CTEK is also OZEV-approved. For eligible renters and flat owners, the £500 grant brings its effective unit cost to £586 — suddenly only £86 below the Quartz's £672, and that is before the Quartz's own OZEV status remains unconfirmed. If you qualify for the grant and need three-phase charging, the CTEK's all-in cost becomes far more palatable.

For three-phase buyers who want an alternative comparison, the Zaptec Go 2 at £638 is worth a look — lighter, cheaper, and also OCPP-capable, though without the CTEK's built-in MID meter or Type B RCD.

Andersen Quartz on a single-phase home

The Quartz is 286 × 172 × 110 mm and weighs between 3.4 and 5.2 kg. The CTEK is 160 × 282 × 449 mm and weighs up to 24 kg. That weight difference tells you everything about their intended habitats. The Quartz comes in eleven standard finishes with optional Accoya and carbon inserts. It has IP65 ingress protection — a step above the CTEK's IP54 — meaning it handles exposed, rain-lashed walls with more confidence. Its seven-year warranty is two years longer than the CTEK's five.

For tariff-conscious charging, pairing the Quartz with Octopus Go at 8.5p/kWh (00:30–05:30) is straightforward through the Andersen app. For half-hourly optimisation on Octopus Agile, the Quartz is not the strongest option — an Ohme Home Pro at £539 handles that better. But for fixed off-peak windows, the Quartz does the job and looks good doing it.

Solar owners get an included CT clamp for basic solar diversion through Andersen's Adaptive Fuse feature. It is not as sophisticated as the myenergi Zappi GLO's dedicated solar modes, but it is included at no extra cost.

Which to buy

Buy the Andersen Quartz if:

• Your home is single-phase — the vast majority of UK homes
• You want direct smart-tariff integration with Intelligent Octopus Go or OVO Charge Anytime
• Aesthetics matter and you prefer a compact, customisable unit with a seven-year warranty

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have or are installing a three-phase supply and want native 22kW charging
• You need OCPP 2.0.1 and MID-approved metering for multi-user or billing scenarios
• You qualify for the £500 OZEV grant, which the CTEK supports and the Quartz may not

For the typical single-phase UK home, the Andersen Quartz is the better charger at the better price. The CTEK is a fine piece of engineering aimed at a narrow audience. If you are in that audience — three-phase supply, OCPP requirements, perhaps commercial use — it earns its £1,086. Everyone else should save the £414.