Ohme ePod vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3: £677 apart, different planets

£677 and a phase apart

These two chargers share a socket — both untethered, both Type 2 — and almost nothing else. The Ohme ePod costs £409, weighs 1.48 kg, and talks directly to your energy supplier. The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086, weighs up to 24 kg, and is built like something you would bolt to the wall of a small car park. The £677 gap is not a premium for polish. It is the cost of three-phase capability and commercial-grade internals that most domestic buyers will never use.

• Ohme ePod — £409, smart-tariff native, 7.4kW single-phase only. The brains of the Ohme Home Pro in a unit the size of a paperback.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086, three-phase 22kW, OCPP 2.0.1, MID-approved meter, no direct tariff integration.

Smart tariffs: where the ePod earns its keep

The ePod carries the same tariff API as the Ohme Home Pro. Pair it with Intelligent Octopus Go and the charger and supplier negotiate half-hourly slots at 7p/kWh — no manual timers, no app fiddling. It also links directly to OVO Charge Anytime and British Gas Electric Drivers. On Octopus Agile, it chases the cheapest 30-minute windows automatically.

The CTEK has none of this. It speaks OCPP fluently, so a platform like Monta can layer scheduling on top, but that is a workaround rather than a native feature. If your goal is to charge cheaply on a time-of-use tariff — and that is most people's goal — the ePod does it out of the box for £677 less.

When the CTEK makes sense

Strip away the tariff question and the CTEK is a different class of object. Three-phase 22kW charging, if your supply supports it, fills a 77 kWh battery in roughly three and a half hours instead of eleven. The built-in MRCD Type B means your installer does not need to source a separate DC fault device — a part that can add £100–£200 to other installations. The MID-approved energy meter is Eichrecht-compliant, which matters if you ever need auditable billing — a shared driveway, a holiday let, a small business with a fleet car.

OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118 readiness also point forward. If vehicle-to-grid or plug-and-charge protocols arrive in earnest, the CTEK is ready. The ePod, locked to Ohme's own back-end, is not.

But these are niche advantages. Fewer than 5% of UK homes have a three-phase supply. If yours is single-phase — and statistically it is — you are paying £1,086 for hardware capped at the same 7.4kW the ePod delivers for £409. The Zaptec Go 2 at £500 offers a more proportionate three-phase option for those planning a supply upgrade, with a smaller price tag and a growing installer network.

Installation and total cost

The ePod's install typically runs £300–£600. You will also need a Type 2 cable — budget £100–£200 for a decent one. All in, a realistic total sits around £850–£1,200 installed. The OZEV grant, available to eligible renters and flat owners, covers the ePod's £409 unit price outright and chips into the install.

The CTEK's install runs £900–£1,300, reflecting the heavier unit, the potential for three-phase wiring, and the smaller pool of CTEK-accredited installers in the UK. Total installed cost: roughly £2,000–£2,400. The £500 OZEV grant, where eligible, brings the unit to £586 before install — still more than double the ePod's installed price in many cases.

Warranty favours the CTEK: five years against three. That matters more on a £1,086 unit than a £409 one, but it is worth noting the ePod's three-year term is the shortest among Ohme's range.

The verdict

Buy the Ohme ePod if:

• Your home is single-phase — which is almost all UK homes
• You want automatic smart-tariff charging with Octopus, OVO or British Gas
• You want the lowest total cost for a genuinely smart untethered charger

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have or are installing a three-phase supply and want 22kW home charging
• You need auditable, MID-approved metering for billing or business use
• You value OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118 readiness over tariff convenience today

For a typical UK household on a single-phase supply and a time-of-use tariff, the ePod is the better charger by a wide margin. It is cheaper, smarter where it counts, and easier to install. The CTEK is a fine piece of engineering aimed at a narrow audience — three-phase homes, small commercial setups, future-proofers willing to pay now for protocols that may pay off later. If that is not you, the £677 is better spent elsewhere. If you would prefer a tethered Ohme with a built-in cable and display, the Ohme Home Pro at £535 is the natural step up — our head-to-head of the two Ohmes covers the difference.