GivEnergy EV Charger vs Rolec EVO

The £88 gap — and the home battery question behind it

The GivEnergy EV Charger costs £444. The Rolec EVO costs £356. That £88 difference is the visible gap. The invisible one is larger: the GivEnergy's entire proposition rests on whether you own a home battery. If you do, it can draw stored cheap-rate electricity into the car — a rare trick. If you don't, you are paying £88 more for a charger with a shorter warranty, a thinner feature set, and no install-cost advantage.

• GivEnergy EV Charger — £444, tethered, 7kW, 3-year warranty. The battery-storage specialist. Without a battery, it is ordinary.
• Rolec EVO — £356, untethered, 7.4kW, 5-year warranty. Built-in RCD, PME detection, and CT clamp. Saves money at install as well as at purchase.

Why the Rolec EVO costs less and installs cheaper

The Rolec EVO arrives with built-in Type A RCD, 6mA DC protection, surge protection, and PME/PEN fault detection. A CT clamp sits in the box too. That collection of components — which an electrician would otherwise source and wire separately — typically shaves £150–£250 off the install bill. So the effective gap between these two chargers is not £88. It is more like £240–£340 once the sparks have packed up.

Both chargers are OZEV-approved, so eligible renters and flat owners can claim the £500 grant. At £356, the Rolec's unit price is covered outright by the grant, with the remainder contributing toward install. The GivEnergy at £444 is also covered, though with less left over.

The Rolec's 5-year warranty — from a manufacturer that has been building commercial EV chargers in Boston, Lincolnshire for over a decade — is two years longer than the GivEnergy's 3-year cover. For a piece of outdoor electrical equipment, that matters.

When the GivEnergy earns its price

Battery-to-EV charging is not a gimmick — it is a genuinely useful energy flow, just a narrow one. If you have a GivEnergy home battery (or a compatible third-party unit), the charger can pull stored electricity into the car. The typical use case: charge the battery overnight on Octopus Go at 8.5p/kWh, then feed that stored energy to the car whenever you plug in — even during peak hours. Most chargers can only divert live solar; the GivEnergy can also divert stored energy. That is the difference.

The GivEnergy monitoring portal ties it together, showing battery state, solar generation, and EV draw in one place. For a household already running a GivEnergy battery and inverter, the charger slots into an existing ecosystem with minimal friction.

But strip the battery away and the picture changes. The GivEnergy's app is basic next to the Ohme Home Pro or the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro. Its tariff integration is schedule-based only — no live API link to your supplier. The 5-metre tethered cable is adequate, not generous. At £444 without a battery behind it, you are paying for a feature you cannot use. Solar-only buyers wanting surplus diversion would do better with the Rolec's Eco+ mode or, if budget allows, the myenergi Zappi GLO — see the Zappi GLO vs GivEnergy comparison for more on that.

Tethered versus untethered — a practical fork

The GivEnergy is tethered-only; the Rolec is untethered-only. Neither offers the other format. If you want a cable permanently attached to the wall, the GivEnergy provides one (5 metres, Type 2). If you prefer to keep a cable in the boot — tidier on the wall, easier if you share the charger between vehicles with different connectors — the Rolec suits.

Untethered does mean buying a separate Type 2 cable (£60–£120 for a decent one), which nibbles into the Rolec's price advantage. Even so, the maths still favours the Rolec once install savings are counted.

One trade-off: the Rolec has no cable-lock mechanism. The Cord Zero and VCHRGD Seven Pro both offer that. If your charger faces a public pavement, it is a consideration.

The verdict

Buy the GivEnergy EV Charger if:

• You already own a GivEnergy or compatible home battery and want battery-to-EV charging
• You prefer a tethered cable attached to the unit
• You are building a full GivEnergy energy ecosystem and value single-portal monitoring

Buy the Rolec EVO if:

• You want the lowest total cost — purchase price plus install
• A 5-year warranty from a UK manufacturer matters to you
• You have solar panels and want Eco/Eco+ surplus diversion with a CT clamp included

For most buyers — those without a home battery — the Rolec EVO is the better charger at the lower price. It does more out of the box, costs less to install, and carries a longer warranty. The GivEnergy is a specialist tool that earns its keep in one specific setup. If that setup is yours, it is worth every penny of the £88 premium. If it is not, the Rolec is the one to put on the wall.