Ohme Home Pro vs Indra Smart PRO: the £64 question

The £64 question

Two British-friendly 7.4kW chargers, both tethered, both OZEV-approved, both single-phase. The Ohme Home Pro is £535. The Indra Smart PRO is £599 — £64 more. On the face of it, the Ohme is the obvious pick: cheaper, higher user rating, best-in-class tariff integration. But the Indra's £64 premium buys things the Ohme doesn't, and for a particular kind of install it quietly wins on total cost.

The shortest version:

• Ohme Home Pro — the charger that talks directly to Octopus, OVO and British Gas. Cheaper unit, smarter software.
• Indra Smart PRO — the charger that comes with the bits your electrician would otherwise add to the bill. Surge protection in the box, CT clamp in the box, 6-metre cable.

Where the £64 actually goes

The Indra's headline extra is the surge protection device. SPDs are increasingly specified by electricians under the latest wiring regs, and when they're added at install they run £100–£150 in parts and labour. Indra puts one in the box. The CT clamp for solar diverting is also included — that's another £50–£100 saved if you have panels or plan to.

Tally it honestly and the Indra's effective price, on an install that needs an SPD, sits below the Ohme's. The Tesla Wall Connector at £478 and the Easee One at £405 both still undercut it, but neither includes an SPD either. If your installer has already quoted you for one, ask them to re-quote with an Indra. The maths changes.

If your install doesn't need an SPD — older property, existing protection on the consumer unit, installer not fussed — the bundle collapses to a CT clamp you may not use, and the Ohme is the better buy.

Where the Ohme earns the premium back

On any variable tariff, the Ohme does something the Indra does not: it speaks directly to your supplier's API. On Octopus Intelligent Go, the charger and Octopus negotiate the 7p/kWh slots between themselves. You plug in, set a target, walk away. The Indra handles Intelligent Go too — Indra is on the supported list — but its app is plainer and its integration less polished. Users on forums generally describe Ohme as "set and forget" and Indra as "works, mostly".

On Octopus Agile, where rates shift every half hour and occasionally go negative, the Ohme's direct integration is a bigger deal still. On a flat-rate tariff, neither charger has much to prove, and the £64 collapses to a matter of taste.

Warranties are level at three years, which is behind Rolec EVO at five and Simpson & Partners Home 7 at ten. If warranty length is what you're optimising for, neither of these is the answer.

Cable, app, and the small things

The Indra's 6-metre cable is a real advantage over the Ohme's 5 metres, especially if the charger wall and the charging port don't line up neatly. Ohme charges extra for the 8-metre version; if you need the reach and don't want to pay Ohme's premium, the Indra gets you there for nothing.

The Ohme's colour display and per-session cost tracking are the better kit on paper. The Indra's RFID lock with per-card tracking is useful if you share the driveway — less so if you don't. The Ohme has a 4G SIM included for three years, which matters if your Wi-Fi is weak at the other end of the garage; the Indra is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth only.

Solar buyers should look at the Ohme vs Zappi GLO comparison before settling here — the myenergi Zappi GLO is the genuine solar specialist, and the Ohme's diverting is competent rather than class-leading.

The verdict

Buy the Ohme Home Pro if:

• You're on, or heading to, Octopus Intelligent Go or Agile
• Your install doesn't need a surge protection device added
• Wi-Fi is patchy and you want the built-in 4G

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• Your electrician has quoted an SPD on top of the install
• You need six metres of cable, not five
• You want a British-made unit and can live with a plainer app

For most buyers on a smart tariff, the Ohme is the charger to put on the wall — £64 cheaper, better software, and the tariff integration earns its keep for the life of the car. The Indra is the right answer for a specific install: the one where the SPD was going on the bill anyway. Ask your installer the question before you order.