NexBlue Point 2 vs VCHRGD Seven Pro: the £98 question

The £98 question

Two newer brands, both priced below the established names, both with CT clamps in the box. The VCHRGD Seven Pro is £432 with a 7.5-metre tethered cable. The NexBlue Point 2 is £530, untethered, and futureproofed in ways the VCHRGD isn't. The £98 gap is real money — and it buys a specific set of things, not a general sense of "better".

• VCHRGD Seven Pro — the features-per-pound pick. Tethered, solar-capable, cheaper than a Tesla Wall Connector.
• NexBlue Point 2 — the futureproofing bet. V2G-ready silicon, OCPP 2.0.1, lifetime 4G, for £98 more.

What the £98 actually buys

Strip away the marketing and the NexBlue's premium pays for three concrete things: ISO 15118 and V2G-ready hardware, OCPP 2.0.1 (the current version of the open protocol), and a built-in 4G eSIM with lifetime-free connectivity. That last one matters more than it sounds — if your home Wi-Fi drops out, a charger that falls back to 4G keeps its tariff automation running. The VCHRGD Seven Pro has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with 4G as an optional extra.

V2G is the headline, and also the asterisk. Bi-directional charging is still rare in UK homes — there are only a handful of vehicles and tariffs that actually support export today. If you're buying for 2026, the V2G hardware sits idle. If you're buying for the car you'll own in 2029, the NexBlue Point 2 is one of the few sub-£600 chargers that has the silicon in place. The Indra Smart PRO and Zaptec Go 2 are the other credible V2G-ready options at this price. It's a bet on when, not if.

What the VCHRGD gets right

At £432, the VCHRGD Seven Pro undercuts the Tesla Wall Connector by £46 and includes more in the box: tethered 7.5-metre cable, two RFID cards, a cable lock, and a CT clamp for solar and load balancing. Two solar modes — Solar Export and Solar Only — put it in sensible territory for anyone with a roof array, even if the Zappi GLO remains the more sophisticated solar charger for those who'll pay the £318 difference.

The honest weakness is the platform. Powerverse is a third-party app, and your smart-tariff features depend on its continued development. It integrates with Octopus Intelligent Go today, which covers most of what UK EV owners actually use. On Octopus Agile, where rates shift every half hour, both chargers can chase prices — the NexBlue via EcoPilot, the VCHRGD via Powerverse. Neither is as battle-tested as Ohme's integration, but both work.

Warranty and brand risk

The NexBlue Point 2 comes with five years; the VCHRGD Seven Pro with three. Both are new brands. Neither has the UK installed base of Ohme, Tesla, or myenergi, and reliability data for both will only be meaningful in a year or two. If that uncertainty unsettles you, the Ohme Home Pro at £535 or the Simpson & Partners Home 7 with its ten-year warranty are the safer bets — but you pay more, and in the Simpson's case, substantially more.

Given the comparison is between two newer brands, the five-year warranty on the NexBlue is a genuine tilt in its favour. If the VCHRGD unit fails in year four, you're paying for the replacement.

Which to buy

Buy the NexBlue Point 2 if:

• You want V2G-ready hardware without a future swap
• Lifetime 4G connectivity matters (weak Wi-Fi, or belt-and-braces reliability)
• A five-year warranty reassures you about a newer brand

Buy the VCHRGD Seven Pro if:

• You want tethered, and the 7.5-metre cable suits your driveway
• £98 saved is £98 saved — you'd rather not pay for V2G you won't use for years
• You're on Octopus Intelligent Go and don't need anything exotic

If forced to choose one for a wall today, the VCHRGD Seven Pro. V2G is a 2028 problem for most households, and £98 is real. But the NexBlue Point 2 is the more interesting charger — the one that's still relevant in five years when bi-directional charging stops being a spec-sheet curiosity. Solar-heavy buyers should read the Zappi GLO vs NexBlue Point 2 comparison before committing; the Zappi's Eco+ remains the better solar engine if that's the primary use case.