EO Mini Pro 3 vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3: £536 apart, different planets

A compact home charger against a commercial-grade box — and £536 between them

These two units are not competitors in any conventional sense. The EO Mini Pro 3 costs £550, weighs about 2.5 kg, and fits on a wall where a paperback would. The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086, weighs up to 24 kg, and arrives with three-phase 22kW capability, a MID-approved energy meter, and the kind of impact rating you'd specify for a multi-storey car park.

• EO Mini Pro 3 — £550, 7.2kW, tethered, 5m cable, smart tariff presets, solar CT clamp included. The charger you buy when the wall is small and the supply is single-phase.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086, up to 22kW three-phase, untethered socket, OCPP 2.0.1, built-in Type B RCD. The charger you buy when the supply is three-phase and you want metering that would satisfy a fleet manager.

What single-phase buyers are paying for — and not using

On a standard UK single-phase supply, the CTEK delivers roughly 7.4kW. The EO delivers 7.2kW. That 0.2kW difference adds perhaps three minutes to a full overnight charge — irrelevant. The £536 premium buys three-phase circuitry, Eichrecht-compliant billing metering, and IK10 vandal resistance. On a domestic driveway with a 100A single-phase main, none of that earns its keep.

The CTEK's install costs compound the gap. Expect £900–£1,300 for a typical fit, partly because the unit weighs 24 kg and partly because its installer network in the UK is smaller than those of Ohme, Hypervolt, or EO. The EO sits in the standard £400–£600 bracket. Total outlay before any grant: roughly £950–£1,150 for the EO, £1,986–£2,386 for the CTEK. On single-phase, the EO is the obvious answer.

Smart tariff control — EO's quiet advantage

The EO ships with tariff presets for Octopus Go, EDF GoElectric, and others. Set the off-peak window, and it charges within it. Simple, reliable, done through the EO app.

The CTEK has no first-party tariff integration at all. No Octopus, no OVO, no EDF. Scheduling runs through a third-party OCPP platform — Monta is the usual choice — which means another app, another account, and no access to the automatic slot-shifting that Octopus Intelligent Go or OVO Charge Anytime provide. For anyone whose running costs depend on a smart tariff, that is a material gap.

British Gas customers get an additional angle: the EO's Hive Power+ variant credits back 25% of charging costs on the EV Power+ tariff. The CTEK offers nothing comparable.

When the CTEK earns its price

Three-phase supply. That is the answer, and it is the only answer that makes the arithmetic work. A home with three-phase power — or one being upgraded as part of a renovation — can pull the full 22kW from the CTEK. That cuts a 60kWh battery from roughly eight and a half hours at 7.2kW to under three hours. For households that need mid-day top-ups or run two EVs on tight schedules, the speed matters.

The built-in MRCD Type B protection saves £100–£200 on the consumer unit, because no external Type B device is needed. The MID-approved meter is useful if you claim mileage for business or need auditable records. And the five-year warranty — two years longer than the EO's three — offers some reassurance on a unit that costs this much.

If three-phase 22kW is the requirement, the CTEK's natural rival is the Zaptec Go 2 at £500, which also supports three-phase and carries OZEV approval. That comparison is closer in price and more productive for three-phase shoppers.

Which to buy

Buy the EO Mini Pro 3 if:

• Your home has single-phase supply — which covers the overwhelming majority of UK households
• You need the smallest possible unit for a narrow garage wall, pillar mount, or recessed spot
• You want tariff presets and solar diversion without configuring a third-party OCPP backend

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have three-phase power and want 22kW charging at home
• You need MID-approved metering for business mileage claims or multi-user billing
• You value built-in Type B RCD protection and a five-year warranty over upfront cost

For most readers arriving at this page, the EO Mini Pro 3 is the right charger. It costs £536 less, handles smart tariffs natively, includes a solar CT clamp, and fits on walls that would reject anything else. The CTEK is a fine piece of engineering — but it is engineering designed for a supply that fewer than 5% of UK homes possess. Unless three-phase power is already on your board, the EO does everything you need and leaves £536 in your pocket. Buyers who want more features without the size constraint should also look at the Ohme Home Pro at £535 or the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro at £690 — both offer deeper tariff integration and longer cables.