EVEC VEC03 vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3

£349 against £1,086 — and they deliver the same kilowatts

On a single-phase supply — which is what the overwhelming majority of UK homes have — both the EVEC VEC03 and the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 top out at roughly 7.4kW. The EVEC costs £349. The CTEK costs £1,086. That is a £737 gap for the same charging speed on the same supply. The question is not which is the better charger in the abstract — the CTEK is better built, better warranted, and more capable — but whether any of that capability reaches your driveway.

• EVEC VEC03 — £349, run-out stock, built-in RCD and PEN protection, 5-metre tethered cable, three-year warranty. The cheapest compliant route onto a wall.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086, three-phase native at 22kW, Type B MRCD built in, MID-approved meter, IK10 impact rating, five-year warranty. Engineered for commercial sites; happens to be OZEV-approved for homes.

The three-phase question decides everything

The CTEK's entire proposition is 22kW on a 32A three-phase supply. That charges a typical 60kWh Tesla battery from 20% to 80% in roughly two and a half hours instead of five. If you already have three phases — or your DNO application is underway — the CTEK earns its keep. Its built-in Type B MRCD saves a further £100–£200 on the consumer unit, and the MID-approved meter means energy records are legally admissible if you ever need to bill a tenant or reclaim business mileage.

If you do not have three-phase power, none of that matters. You get 7.4kW from a £1,086 box. The Wallbox Pulsar Max does the same for £513 with a slicker app, and the EVEC does it for £349 with protection hardware already inside the enclosure. Paying £737 more for an IK10 impact rating and a meter you will never invoice against is hard to justify on a domestic driveway.

Three-phase buyers who want a second opinion should look at the Zaptec Go 2 at £638 — lighter, cheaper, and also 22kW-capable, though it lacks the CTEK's built-in Type B protection and MID meter. The Zaptec Go 2 vs CTEK comparison covers that trade-off in detail.

Neither charger talks to your tariff

This is the shared weakness. The EVEC VEC03 has no smart-tariff API — it is not on the Octopus Intelligent Go compatible list, and there is no OVO Charge Anytime hook. You can schedule a fixed window through the app or via OCPP with Monta, which is fine for a flat-rate off-peak tariff like Octopus Go (set 00:30–05:30, forget it). But the app's Wi-Fi reliability is the recurring customer complaint, and there is no 4G fallback — if your router drops overnight, so does your schedule.

The CTEK is no better on this front. Scheduling runs through Monta or another OCPP back-end. There is no first-party Octopus or OVO integration. It does support OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118, which are forward-looking protocols, but today neither translates into automatic tariff-chasing in a UK home.

If variable-rate optimisation is the priority — particularly on Octopus Agile, where rates shift every thirty minutes — neither charger belongs on your shortlist. The Ohme Home Pro at £539 handles that natively and pays back its premium over the EVEC within a year of Agile savings.

The EVEC's run-out problem

EVEC has replaced the VEC03 with the vecGO 2.0 (VEC03-N). The old model is still sold at £349, but it is run-out stock. That means uncertain long-term parts supply and a product page that actively steers you toward the replacement. The three-year warranty still applies, and the charger still works — but buying end-of-line hardware is a calculated bet. At £349, the stakes are low. At £1,086, the CTEK's five-year warranty and current production status feel more proportionate.

Grant-eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — can claim the £500 OZEV grant on either charger. For the EVEC, the grant covers the £349 unit outright and chips into the install. For the CTEK, it knocks the unit price to £586 before installation, which at £900–£1,300 typical still makes this a four-figure project.

The verdict

Buy the EVEC VEC03 if:

• You have a single-phase supply and want the cheapest OZEV-approved smart charger available
• You charge on a fixed off-peak window and do not need automatic tariff optimisation
• You accept run-out stock and a three-year warranty at £349

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have or are installing a three-phase supply and want 22kW home charging
• You need a MID-approved meter for billing, business mileage, or tenant recharging
• You value the five-year warranty and IK10 build quality for an exposed or shared location

For a single-phase home — which is most of them — the EVEC at £349 is the rational pick, warts and all. The CTEK is a fine piece of hardware solving a problem that fewer than 5% of UK households have. If you are in that 5%, it deserves serious consideration. Everyone else should spend the £737 difference on electricity.