Easee One vs Ohme ePod

The £10 that changes everything

Two small, light, untethered chargers — both under 1.5 kg, both IP54, both single-phase 7.4 kW. The Easee One costs £489. The Ohme ePod costs £499. A £10 gap. You could lose that down the back of a sofa. Yet these two boxes think about electricity in fundamentally different ways, and the right choice depends on a single question: do you want your charger to talk to your energy supplier, or not?

• Easee One — the install-friendly option. Built-in Type B RCD and open-PEN detection trim the electrician's bill. Manual scheduling only.
• Ohme ePod — the tariff-aware option. Direct API links to Octopus, British Gas, and others. Solar modes included. No Wi-Fi — cellular only.

Smart tariffs make the Ohme ePod's case

The Easee One has an app, a schedule, and a lifetime 4G eSIM. It will charge your car at the time you tell it to. That is the extent of its intelligence. You pick a window — say 00:30 to 05:30 for Octopus Go — and it obeys.

The Ohme ePod does something the Easee cannot: it reads your tariff's half-hourly rates and moves charging into the cheapest slots itself. On Octopus Intelligent Go, at 8p/kWh across a six-hour off-peak window, the ePod coordinates directly with Octopus to spread sessions into surplus grid capacity. On Octopus Agile, where prices shift every thirty minutes, the difference is stark — the ePod chases 5p/kWh troughs the Easee will never see. Over a year of typical UK mileage, that automated rate-chasing easily reclaims the £10 premium. Often many times over.

If you are on a fixed-rate tariff with no off-peak window, neither charger's smarts matter much. But then the question becomes: why spend £489 or £499 at all, when a Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 does the basic job for £400?

The Easee's install advantage is real — but narrowing

The Easee One's strongest card has always been what is inside the box rather than what is inside the app. Its integrated Type B RCD and open-PEN detection mean the electrician does not need to add those components at the consumer unit. That typically saves £100–£200 on install labour — a material saving that can make the Easee the cheaper charger all-in, despite the £489 sticker.

The Ohme ePod includes PEN fault protection, which helps, but may still require additional board work depending on your existing setup. Its quoted install range is £300–£600 versus the Easee's £400–£600 — the low end is lower, but the ceiling is the same. On a modern consumer unit with spare ways and a Type B RCD already fitted, the Easee's install advantage evaporates. On an older board, it can be worth every penny.

Both chargers are OZEV-approved, so grant-eligible renters and flat owners can claim the £500 OZEV grant — which covers the unit price of either charger outright and contributes to install costs too.

Connectivity: one gamble each

The Easee One offers Wi-Fi with a lifetime 4G eSIM as backup. If your garage Wi-Fi drops, the eSIM takes over. Solid.

The Ohme ePod has a built-in 3G/4G multi-network SIM — and nothing else. No Wi-Fi at all. If the cellular signal at your mounting position is weak, the charger is deaf. Check signal strength before you order. This is not a minor caveat; it is the ePod's single biggest practical risk.

The Easee's dual-connectivity approach is more resilient. For garages in mobile dead spots or behind thick walls, it is the safer pick.

Which to buy

Buy the Easee One if:

• Your consumer unit is old or full, and the built-in RCD will save you £100–£200 on install
• Your mounting position has poor mobile signal and you need Wi-Fi as the primary connection
• You are on a flat-rate tariff and do not need tariff integration

Buy the Ohme ePod if:

• You are on, or plan to move to, a smart tariff — Intelligent Go, Agile, or British Gas EV Power
• You want solar diversion via CT clamp without buying a separate unit like the Zappi GLO
• You have decent mobile signal at the wall and do not mind the cable being an extra purchase

For most buyers choosing between these two, the ePod is the £10 better spent. Tariff-aware charging is not a novelty — it is where the running-cost savings actually live, month after month. The Easee's install savings are genuine but one-off; the Ohme's tariff savings compound. If you want the same Ohme brain with a tethered cable and a display, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 is worth the step up — and the comparison between those two Ohme models spells out exactly when.