Ohme Home Pro vs Cord Zero

The £66 between two 4G chargers

The Ohme Home Pro costs £539. The Cord Zero costs £473. Both deliver 7.4 kW on single-phase, both have a built-in 4G SIM for when Wi-Fi gives up at the garage wall, and both handle scheduled off-peak charging without drama. The £66 gap is not about hardware capability — it is almost entirely about what the software does with your tariff data.

• Ohme Home Pro — the tariff-chaser. Direct API integration with Octopus and British Gas; the charger decides which half-hours are cheapest and fills the battery accordingly.
• Cord Zero — the pragmatic installer's favourite. Built-in RCD, PEN fault detection, and surge protection that typically shave £150–£250 off install labour. Schedule-based tariff support, not rate-chasing.

Where the Ohme earns its premium

The Ohme's party trick is its supplier API link. On Octopus Agile, where prices shift every 30 minutes, the charger watches the market and charges during the cheapest slots — often around 5p/kWh overnight. The Cord Zero can be told when to charge but not which half-hours to pick; you set a window and hope for the best. On Agile, that distinction is worth real money — potentially £50–£80 a year for an average-mileage Tesla driver, which wipes out the £66 difference before winter.

On Octopus Intelligent Go, the Ohme is one of only two chargers officially recommended by Octopus (the Tesla Wall Connector being the other, via Tesla's own API). The Cord Zero supports Intelligent Go through scheduling, but it cannot receive the dynamic slot assignments that Intelligent Go sends to approved devices. If Intelligent Go is your tariff — or will be — the Ohme is the correct choice.

On simpler tariffs with a fixed off-peak window — Octopus Go at 8.5p/kWh from 00:30–05:30, EDF GoElectric at 6.99p/kWh from 23:00–06:00 — the Ohme's intelligence is surplus to requirements. A timer does the job. The Cord Zero sets a schedule, charges in the window, and costs £66 less.

The Cord Zero's hidden saving

Sticker price is only half the maths. The Cord Zero bundles an RCD, PEN fault detection, and surge protection inside the unit. Most other chargers — the Ohme included — require these to be fitted in the consumer unit during installation. That bundled safety suite typically saves £150–£250 in electrician labour and parts, depending on the state of your existing board. Factor that in and the Cord Zero's total installed cost can be £200–£300 less than the Ohme's, not just £66.

There is also the warranty. Both chargers carry three years as standard, but the Cord Zero currently ships with a free upgrade to five years. If that promotion is still running when you order, it is a meaningful edge — two extra years of cover for the cheaper unit. The Ohme's three-year term is firm.

The trade-off is app quality. The Cord AI app is functional: it schedules, it monitors energy, it works. But it feels a generation behind the Ohme app's per-session cost breakdowns, colour display sync, and granular tariff analytics. If you are the sort of person who checks charging costs over breakfast, the Ohme's software is noticeably more satisfying to use. If you plug in and forget — and most people should — the Cord's app does everything required.

Connectivity and weatherproofing

Both chargers offer 4G with a built-in SIM, which matters more than most buyers expect — Wi-Fi regularly fails to reach driveways and detached garages. The Cord Zero adds automatic failover between Wi-Fi and 4G, a detail that edges it ahead for reliability in patchy-signal areas.

Weatherproofing favours the Ohme: IP65 versus the Cord Zero's IP54. On an exposed, south-facing wall taking direct rain, the Ohme is the safer long-term bet. Under a carport or in a garage, the difference is academic. The Cord Zero counters with IK08 impact resistance — better suited to tight driveways where a wing mirror might catch it.

Which to buy

Buy the Ohme Home Pro if:

• You are on Octopus Agile or Intelligent Go, where rate-chasing pays for the premium
• You want the best app experience and per-session cost tracking
• Your charger will sit on a fully exposed wall and you want IP65 protection

Buy the Cord Zero if:

• You charge on a fixed off-peak tariff and a schedule is all you need
• You want the lowest total installed cost — the built-in safety suite saves more than the £66 gap
• The current five-year warranty promotion is still available, giving you two extra years of cover

For the majority of Tesla owners on a straightforward off-peak tariff, the Cord Zero is the more sensible purchase. The install savings alone make it the cheaper path to the wall, and the five-year warranty — while promotional — is a tangible bonus. The Ohme Home Pro earns its £66 only when your tariff rewards half-hourly flexibility. On Agile or Intelligent Go, it pays for itself. On anything simpler, it is £66 of intelligence with nothing to think about.