NexBlue Point 2 vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3

> V2G boundary: A “V2G-ready” label or ISO 15118 support does not by itself provide bidirectional power conversion, export approval or a live energy service. Confirm the compatible car, genuinely bidirectional hardware, certified complete system, installer, service and network approval before assigning value to the claim. Read the UK V2G explainer.

£552 between a newcomer and a car-park refugee

The NexBlue Point 2 costs £534. The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086. That is a £552 gap — more than the price of some entire chargers on our index. Both are untethered, both carry five-year warranties, both support OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118. On paper, they share a surprising amount of DNA. In practice, they are aimed at different electrical supplies and different kinds of buyer.

• NexBlue Point 2 — £534, 7.4kW single-phase, 2.1 kg, built-in tariff automation and lifetime 4G. The lighter, smarter, cheaper option for the vast majority of UK homes.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086, up to 22kW on three-phase, 24 kg, MID-approved metering, built-in Type B RCD. A commercial-grade unit that happens to mount on a house wall.

The single-phase question the CTEK can't answer

On a standard UK single-phase supply, both chargers top out at 7.4kW. The CTEK's headline figure — 22kW at 32A across three phases — is irrelevant if your home doesn't have the supply to feed it. And fewer than 5% of UK homes do.

That means most buyers considering the CTEK are paying £1,086 for 7.4kW, plus install costs of £900–£1,300 (the unit is 24 kg and needs more labour). The NexBlue delivers the same 7.4kW for £534, with typical install costs of £400–£600. Total outlay on single-phase: roughly £934–£1,134 for the NexBlue versus £1,986–£2,386 for the CTEK. The arithmetic is not subtle.

Where the CTEK does earn its keep is on three-phase. If you have the supply — or you're upgrading for a heat pump and adding EV charging at the same time — 22kW cuts a full charge to roughly a third of the time. The built-in MID-approved meter also matters if you need Eichrecht-compliant billing, say for a shared driveway or workplace claim. The NexBlue has no answer to either of those requirements.

Smart tariffs: one has them, one doesn't

This is where the price gap stings the CTEK hardest. The NexBlue's EcoPilot integrates directly with Octopus Intelligent Go, Octopus Agile, and other time-of-use tariffs through the myNexBlue app. Plug in, walk away, let the charger chase the cheapest half-hours. On Agile — where rates can dip to 5p/kWh or lower overnight — that automation pays for itself within months.

The CTEK has no first-party app for tariff scheduling. No direct integration with Octopus, no OVO Charge Anytime support. You can bolt on Monta or another OCPP back-end, but that's an extra layer of configuration, and the experience is nowhere near as polished. For a charger costing £1,086, the absence of native smart-tariff control is a hard omission to forgive — especially when the £534 rival includes it.

Dynamic load balancing tells a similar story. The NexBlue ships with a CT clamp in the box. The CTEK requires the separate NANOGRID Air gateway. One more accessory, one more cost.

The brand-maturity trade-off

NexBlue is a newer name in UK homes. The hardware spec reads impressively — V2G-ready, OCPP 2.0.1, lifetime 4G eSIM, IK10 impact rating — but long-term reliability data simply doesn't exist yet. CTEK, by contrast, has decades in automotive electronics and battery management, even if the Chargestorm Connected 3 itself is a relatively recent product line. For buyers who weight brand track record heavily, that matters.

The five-year warranty on both units levels the field somewhat. And if brand maturity is the deciding factor but the CTEK's price feels excessive, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 or the Zaptec Go 2 at £638 offer proven names with proper smart-tariff integration — and the Zaptec also supports three-phase at 22kW. Readers weighing the CTEK against other three-phase options will find the Zaptec Go 2 vs CTEK comparison more pointed.

The verdict

Buy the NexBlue Point 2 if:

• Your home is single-phase — which is almost certainly the case
• You want tariff automation out of the box, particularly on Agile or Intelligent Go
• You'd rather spend £534 on the unit and keep the rest for installation

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have or are installing a three-phase supply and want 22kW charging
• You need MID-approved metering for billing or expense claims
• You're comfortable using Monta or another OCPP platform for scheduling

For the overwhelming majority of UK buyers — single-phase supply, one car, a smart tariff doing the heavy lifting — the NexBlue Point 2 is the better charger at less than half the price. The CTEK is a fine piece of engineering with no real audience in a single-phase home. If you have three phases, it deserves a look. If you don't, the £552 buys you nothing you can use.