CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 vs Enphase IQ EV Charger 2

Two expensive chargers that only make sense inside their own ecosystems

The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086. The Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 costs £1,050. That £36 gap is the least interesting thing about this comparison. What matters is that both cost roughly double the UK mainstream — the Ohme Home Pro is £539, the Wallbox Pulsar Max is £513 — and each only justifies the premium if you have specific infrastructure behind the wall.

• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — three-phase native, 22kW, OCPP 2.0.1, built-in Type B MRCD and MID metering. A car-park unit that happens to fit on a house.
• Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 — 7.4kW single-phase, 7.5-metre tethered cable, solar-surplus charging from 1.38kW of excess PV. The fourth piece in an Enphase energy system.

The CTEK's argument: three phases and open protocols

The Chargestorm Connected 3 is built for three-phase supplies. On 32A three-phase it delivers 22kW — roughly three times the speed of a standard single-phase install. For the minority of UK homes with a three-phase supply (or those upgrading), that's a meaningful difference: a 60kWh battery from flat to full in under three hours rather than eight.

It also carries commercial-grade credentials. OCPP 1.6-J and 2.0.1 support means it isn't locked to any vendor back-end. ISO 15118 readiness. MID-approved, Eichrecht-compliant metering — relevant if you're reclaiming business mileage or billing a tenant. Built-in MRCD Type B protection saves your installer adding an external device, which can knock £100–£200 off the install bill.

The catch: no first-party smart-tariff integration. There's no Octopus, no OVO, no native scheduling app. You schedule via Monta or another OCPP platform. That works, but it's a step removed from the set-and-forget experience of an Ohme or a Hypervolt. On a single-phase supply, the CTEK delivers the same ~7.4kW as a Hypervolt Home 3 Pro at £625 — and that Hypervolt does talk to Intelligent Octopus Go. If you don't have three phases, the CTEK is hard to recommend. The Zaptec Go 2 at £638 is the more obvious three-phase alternative with a broader UK installer base.

The Enphase's argument: one app for panels, battery, and car

The IQ EV Charger 2 exists to complete an Enphase energy system. If you already have Enphase IQ microinverters and an IQ Battery, the charger slots in under the same app. Its solar-surplus mode can begin diverting to the car from as little as 1.38kW of excess generation, adjusting in 1A increments roughly every thirty seconds. AI-led source selection across solar, battery, and grid — that's the pitch, and inside the Enphase ecosystem it's a coherent one.

Outside that ecosystem, the case collapses. At £1,050, it's a 7.4kW tethered charger with no integration with Octopus Agile, Octopus Go, or OVO Charge Anytime. It has no three-phase option in the UK. Its OZEV approval is unconfirmed — which means that £500 grant may not apply, widening the cost gap against approved rivals. The myenergi Zappi GLO at £599 handles solar diversion with any inverter brand, is OZEV-approved, and offers a 22kW three-phase variant. For solar owners who aren't already locked into Enphase, the Zappi is the more versatile choice — and our solar charger guide covers the full field.

The grant question

The CTEK is OZEV-approved. For eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — the £500 grant brings the effective unit cost to £586. Still dear, but within range of mainstream three-phase options. The Enphase is not confirmed on the OZEV list. That's a £500 disadvantage that tips the arithmetic further against it for anyone who qualifies.

Which to buy

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have or are installing a three-phase supply and want 22kW charging at home
• You value open protocols (OCPP 2.0.1, ISO 15118) and don't want to be locked to a single vendor
• You need MID-certified metering for business mileage or tenant billing

Buy the Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 if:

• You already run Enphase IQ microinverters and an IQ Battery and want single-app control
• Solar-surplus charging from low thresholds (1.38kW) matters more to you than tariff optimisation
• You value the 7.5-metre tethered cable — among the longest on the UK market

For most buyers landing on this page, the honest answer is neither. If you have a single-phase supply and no Enphase solar, a charger at half the price — the Ohme Home Pro for tariff smarts, the Zappi GLO for solar diversion — does more for less. These two serve narrow, specific audiences. The CTEK serves its audience — three-phase, protocol-agnostic, commercially metered — with more conviction. That's the one to start with.