Ohme ePod vs Cord Zero

£26 on the sticker, £150+ in reality

The Ohme ePod costs £499. The Cord Zero costs £473. That £26 gap is misleading — it ignores the cable the ePod doesn't come with. Add a decent Type 2 lead (£100–£200) and the real difference is closer to £125–£225 in the Cord Zero's favour. Both are OZEV-approved, both deliver 7.4 kW on single-phase, and both have 4G connectivity baked in. The question is whether the ePod's miniature form factor and Ohme's superior tariff brain justify the extra outlay.

• Ohme ePod — 1.48 kg, untethered, Ohme's full smart-tariff API, no cable in the box.
• Cord Zero — 5 kg tethered with a 5-metre cable, dual Wi-Fi + 4G, built-in safety suite that cuts install costs.

Connectivity: one radio or two

The ePod connects via 3G/4G only. No Wi-Fi option at all. If the mobile signal at your garage wall is strong, that is fine — and it sidesteps the common frustration of a home router that doesn't quite reach the driveway. But if the signal is weak, you have no fallback. The Cord Zero carries both Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) and 4G with automatic failover between them. Two radios are better than one, and this is the more resilient setup for most UK homes.

Check your signal before ordering either charger, but with the Cord Zero you have a second chance if one path drops.

Smart tariffs: Ohme's real advantage

This is where the ePod pulls its weight. Ohme's direct API integration with Octopus Intelligent Go means the charger and the supplier talk to each other in real time — Octopus can shift your charging into the cheapest half-hour slots automatically, and the ePod's price-cap setting lets you refuse any slot above a threshold you choose. The same integration works with British Gas. On Octopus Agile, where rates move every thirty minutes, Ohme's software is a generation ahead of anything Cord offers.

The Cord Zero supports schedule-based tariff charging — it will happily charge during the Octopus Go window at 8.5p/kWh or the EDF GoElectric window at 6.99p/kWh. For fixed off-peak windows, that is all you need. But it does not chase half-hourly pricing the way Ohme does. If you are on Agile, or plan to be, the ePod's brain is worth the premium. If you are on a simple off-peak tariff, the Cord Zero's scheduling does the same job for less money.

The hidden cost: cable and install

The ePod's £499 buys the charger and nothing else. A 5-metre Type 2 cable runs £100–£150; an 8-metre one, more. The Cord Zero at £473 includes a 5-metre tethered cable (an 8-metre version is available at £570). On top of that, the Cord Zero bundles an RCD, PEN fault detection, surge protection, and overvoltage protection inside the unit — components that otherwise sit in your consumer unit and cost your electrician time and parts. Cord estimates this saves £150–£250 on a typical install. The ePod includes PEN fault protection but not the full safety suite.

Add it up. The Cord Zero's total installed cost — charger, cable, and labour — is likely £200–£400 less than the ePod's. That is a substantial gap for two chargers that deliver the same 7.4 kW to your car.

The ePod's counterargument is size: 1.48 kg, 230 × 140 × 100 mm. It is comfortably the smallest smart charger on the UK market. If your mounting wall is inside a tight garage, or if you want the cable in the boot for destination charging rather than coiled on the wall, the untethered format earns its keep. For everyone else, a tethered cable you simply grab and plug in is more convenient day to day.

Warranty and app

Both carry a three-year warranty as standard. The Cord Zero currently ships with a promotional upgrade to five years — worth confirming at the time you buy, since promotions end. If five years matters to you and the offer has lapsed, the Wallbox Pulsar Max at £513 comes with five years as standard.

On app quality, the Ohme app is materially better — cleaner interface, deeper tariff controls, solar Boost and Solar Only modes via CT clamp. The Cord AI app is functional but unpolished. If you interact with your charger daily (adjusting price caps, monitoring solar diversion), the Ohme experience is noticeably smoother. If you set a schedule once and forget it, the app difference fades.

The verdict

Buy the Ohme ePod if:

• You are on Octopus Agile or want Ohme's direct API link to Intelligent Go
• Your mounting space is extremely tight or you want an untethered cable for destination use
• You have solar panels and want proper Boost / Solar Only modes

Buy the Cord Zero if:

• You want the lowest total installed cost — charger, cable, and labour included
• You prefer dual Wi-Fi + 4G failover rather than cellular only
• You charge on a fixed off-peak tariff and do not need half-hourly optimisation

For the majority of buyers — those on a straightforward off-peak tariff, with a normal driveway, and no particular need for the world's smallest charger — the Cord Zero is the more sensible purchase. It costs less to buy, less to install, and comes with everything in the box. The ePod is the specialist pick: Ohme's best software in the smallest possible package, at a price that only makes sense if you need exactly that.