Indra Smart PRO vs NexBlue Point 2

The £139 question — and the longer one behind it

The Indra Smart PRO costs £395. The NexBlue Point 2 costs £534. That £139 gap is wide enough to matter and narrow enough to tempt — especially when the NexBlue's spec sheet reads like something from a charger twice its price. V2G-ready hardware, OCPP 2.0.1, lifetime 4G, a five-year warranty. On paper, the NexBlue is doing more for less than almost anything else in the catalogue.

The Indra's counter-argument is quieter but harder to dismiss: it costs less to buy and less to install, because the surge protection device ships in the box.

• Indra Smart PRO — £395, tethered with a 6-metre cable, SPD and CT clamp included. The charger that shrinks your electrician's invoice.
• NexBlue Point 2 — £534, untethered socket only, V2G-ready with ISO 15118 and built-in 4G. The charger that bets you will want bi-directional power before 2030.

What the Indra actually saves you

The headline price is £395, but the effective cost is lower. A surge protection device — required by regulation if one isn't already fitted — typically adds £100–£150 to an install. The Indra ships one in the box. The CT clamp for solar diversion and dynamic load balancing is also included, saving another £50–£100 that competitors often charge as an accessory. Factor those in and the Indra's real landed cost sits somewhere around £150–£250 for the unit itself, with the rest baked into parts your electrician would have bought anyway.

The NexBlue includes its own CT clamp for load balancing and solar, but does not bundle an SPD. So the install bill will be higher — perhaps not dramatically, but enough to stretch the real gap between the two chargers beyond the £139 sticker difference.

For grant-eligible buyers (renters and flat owners), the £500 OZEV grant covers the Indra's £395 unit price outright and chips into the install costs. The NexBlue's £534 is nearly covered too, leaving only £34 on the unit — but you still face the SPD cost on top.

The NexBlue's long game

Everything interesting about the NexBlue Point 2 is forward-looking. ISO 15118 Plug & Charge. OCPP 2.0.1 — the latest protocol, which most chargers in this price range do not support. V2G-ready bi-directional hardware. A lifetime 4G eSIM that means the charger stays connected even if your home Wi-Fi drops. OTA updates to add features that do not exist yet.

None of this changes how the charger works today. Right now, it charges at 7.4kW on a single phase, just like the Indra. V2G services in the UK remain thin on the ground, and the list of vehicles that can actually push power back through a Type 2 socket is short. The NexBlue is a bet — a reasonable one, backed by real hardware — that the grid and the car industry will catch up within the charger's lifetime.

The five-year warranty helps that bet. The Indra offers three years. If you plan to keep the charger on the wall for a decade, two extra years of cover is meaningful. Whether NexBlue, a newer brand with a smaller UK footprint, will be around to honour that warranty is a question nobody can answer yet. Indra, by contrast, is a British manufacturer with a longer track record in the EV hardware space.

Tethered versus untethered — and why it matters here

The Indra Smart PRO is tethered: a 6-metre Type 2 cable permanently attached. You walk to the wall, grab the plug, connect. The NexBlue Point 2 is untethered: a socket, no cable included. You supply your own, which means an extra £50–£150 for a decent 5-metre Type 2 lead, pushing the NexBlue's total cost closer to £600–£700 once installed.

If you share a charger between two vehicles with different connectors — unlikely with Teslas, but possible in a two-car household — untethered offers flexibility. For everyone else, tethered is simply more convenient. No coiling a muddy cable back into the boot. No forgetting it at a public charger. The Indra's 6-metre reach is generous enough for most driveways.

Buyers set on an untethered format at a lower price should look at the Ohme ePod at £499, which pairs Ohme's strong tariff automation with a socket design — though it lacks the NexBlue's V2G hardware. The comparison between the Ohme ePod and the NexBlue is worth reading if the untethered form factor is non-negotiable.

Smart tariff performance

Both chargers integrate with time-of-use tariffs. The Indra supports Intelligent Go, Octopus Go, OVO Charge Anytime, and EDF GoElectric. The NexBlue's EcoPilot handles Intelligent Go, Octopus Agile, and other variable tariffs. Neither matches the Ohme Home Pro for depth of tariff integration — Ohme's direct API links to suppliers remain the benchmark — but both are competent enough for scheduled off-peak charging at 8p or 8.5p/kWh.

If tariff automation is the priority and you are choosing between these two, the difference is marginal. If it is the priority, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 — just £5 more than the NexBlue — is the stronger pick. The Ohme vs Indra comparison covers that angle in detail.

Which to buy

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• You want the lowest total cost including installation — the bundled SPD and CT clamp are hard to beat at £395
• A tethered 6-metre cable suits your setup
• You prefer a manufacturer with an established UK presence

Buy the NexBlue Point 2 if:

• V2G-ready hardware and OCPP 2.0.1 matter to you now, not in three years when you would replace the charger anyway
• You want a five-year warranty and lifetime 4G connectivity
• You specifically need an untethered socket

For most buyers fitting a charger in 2026, the Indra Smart PRO is the more pragmatic choice. It does the same daily job for £139 less, saves further on install, and leaves the V2G question for a future upgrade when the technology is proven rather than promised. The NexBlue is not overpriced for what it offers — it is simply offering things most households cannot use yet.