Indra Smart PRO vs Andersen Quartz

£277 buys you a colour chart and four extra warranty years

The Indra Smart PRO costs £395. The Andersen Quartz costs £672. Both tether a Type 2 cable, both include a CT clamp for solar diversion, both talk to at least a couple of smart tariffs. The £277 gap is not explained by charging speed — the Indra is marginally quicker at 7.4kW versus 7.2kW. It is explained almost entirely by build quality, warranty length, and the Andersen's eleven-finish palette.

• Indra Smart PRO — £395, 7.4kW, 3-year warranty, surge protection included, OZEV-approved. The budget-conscious pick with hidden savings on install day.
• Andersen Quartz — £672, 7.2kW, 7-year warranty, IP65, eleven finishes. The charger you buy when you want something that looks deliberate on the wall.

What the Indra's price tag hides

The headline figure is £395, but the Indra ships with a surge protection device in the box. Most chargers do not. An SPD fitted by your installer typically adds £100–£150 to the bill; the Indra removes that line entirely. The included CT clamp saves another £50–£100 versus chargers that sell it as an accessory. Factor those in and the effective unit cost drifts towards £150–£250 — comfortably the cheapest smart charger you can put on a UK wall once install extras are accounted for.

The 6-metre cable is generous, longer than the Ohme Home Pro's 5 m and the Quartz's standard 5.5 m. Dynamic load balancing is built in. RFID locking with per-card tracking is there if you share a driveway. None of this is glamorous, but all of it is practical.

The trade-offs: a 3-year warranty (half the Quartz's), an app that does the job without flourish, and IP54 weatherproofing — adequate for a sheltered wall, less reassuring on an exposed gable. If your charger will face the prevailing rain, that rating matters.

When the Quartz earns its £277

The Andersen Quartz exists because some people will see a charger on their wall every time they pull into the drive. Eleven standard finishes — plus optional Accoya wood and carbon-fibre inserts — mean it can match brickwork, render, or cladding without looking like a white plastic box. At 286 × 172 × 110 mm, it is compact enough to sit beside a front door without drawing stares.

Beyond aesthetics, the seven-year warranty is the structural argument. Over the lifetime of a charger that runs daily, four extra years of cover has real value. IP65 means full protection against water jets — a step above the Indra's IP54 and relevant if the unit sits on a wall with no overhang. PEN fault detection is built in, removing the need for an earth rod — a small but welcome saving on install day.

Smart tariff support improved in late 2025 with Intelligent Octopus Go integration, and OVO Charge Anytime works too. It is not, however, a tariff-chasing charger in the way the Ohme Home Pro is. Half-hourly tariffs like Octopus Agile still favour the Ohme's slot-by-slot optimisation. If Agile is your tariff, neither charger here is the right answer — see the Ohme Home Pro vs Andersen Quartz comparison instead.

One caution: the Quartz's OZEV approval is not confirmed on the current eligible-chargepoint list. Renters and flat owners banking on the £500 grant should verify status before ordering. The Indra Smart PRO is OZEV-approved.

The grant question

For eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — the £500 OZEV grant covers the Indra's £395 unit price outright and chips into the install cost too. That makes the Indra one of the most affordable routes to a smart charger on a UK wall, full stop. The Quartz, with its unconfirmed OZEV status, cannot promise the same. Even if it were approved, the grant would reduce the Quartz to £172 — still a charger you are buying partly for the way it looks.

The verdict

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• You want the lowest all-in cost once SPD and CT clamp savings are counted
• You are OZEV-eligible and want the grant to cover the unit and part of the install
• You need a 6-metre cable and dynamic load balancing without paying extra

Buy the Andersen Quartz if:

• Finish and colour matching matter — you want the charger to look like it belongs
• A seven-year warranty and IP65 weatherproofing justify the premium for your install location
• You are not relying on the OZEV grant

For most buyers, the Indra Smart PRO is the right charger. It charges marginally faster, costs £277 less, and bundles accessories that quietly shrink the install bill. The Quartz is a fine product — well-built, handsome, backed by a long warranty — but £277 is a lot to spend on kerb appeal. Unless your wall demands it, keep the money.