Pod Point Solo 3S vs Enphase IQ EV Charger 2

£999 installed vs £1,050 before the electrician arrives

These two chargers sit a nominal £51 apart on a price list, but that number is misleading. The Pod Point Solo 3S at £999 includes a standard installation — hardware, labour, certificate, the lot. The Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 at £1,050 is the unit alone; add a typical install of £900–£1,300 and the real outlay lands somewhere between £1,950 and £2,350.

That gap tells you almost everything. These chargers serve different buyers with different priorities:

• Pod Point Solo 3S — a turnkey install package for someone who wants a charger on the wall with minimal fuss. One phone call, one price, one warranty.
• Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 — a solar-ecosystem component for households already running Enphase microinverters and, ideally, an IQ Battery.

The Pod Point's real product is convenience

Pod Point does not sell you a charger. It sells you a finished job. You book online, a contractor from their network turns up, and the result is a 7.4 kW charger with a five-year warranty. The hardware is competent rather than clever — scheduled charging, adaptive load management, solar compatibility — but the app is basic and there is no tariff API linking it to Octopus Agile or Intelligent Go.

The trade-off is control. You cannot choose your installer. You cannot shop around for a cheaper quote. If your board needs upgrading or the cable run is long, Pod Point's price may rise — and you have no competing quote to weigh it against. For a straightforward single-phase install on a modern consumer unit, £999 is fair. For anything more complex, the captive pricing stings.

The Pod Point is OZEV-approved, so eligible renters and flat owners can claim the £500 grant — bringing the installed cost to £499. That is hard to argue with.

The Enphase only earns its keep inside an Enphase system

Strip away the ecosystem story and the Enphase is an 11 kg, 7.4 kW tethered charger with a 7.5-metre cable and an impressive spec sheet — MID-certified metering, OCPP 2.0.1, IP55/IK10, PEN fault detection built in. The build quality is serious. The cable is among the longest on the market, and 1A incremental current control lets it chase solar surplus from as little as 1.38 kW, adjusting roughly every 30 seconds.

None of that justifies a total cost approaching £2,000 unless the rest of your roof already speaks Enphase. With Enphase microinverters and an IQ Battery on site, the charger slots into a single app that orchestrates solar, storage and car charging with AI-led source selection. That integration is genuine and — for households deep in the Enphase world — worth paying for.

Without it, the maths collapse. The myenergi Zappi GLO does solar diversion at £599, works with any inverter brand, is OZEV-approved, and offers a 22 kW three-phase option the Enphase lacks. For tariff-responsive charging, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 has direct API links to Octopus tariffs that the Enphase does not. Both leave enough change from the Enphase's all-in price to buy a decent weekend away.

One further wrinkle: OZEV approval for the Enphase has not been confirmed. The £500 grant may not apply, which matters at this price point.

Five-metre cable vs seven-and-a-half

A small but practical point. The Pod Point's tethered version ships with 5 metres of cable; the Enphase gives you 7.5 metres. If your charge point sits far from where the car parks — a detached garage, say, or a driveway that wraps around the house — the extra 2.5 metres could save you a longer, costlier cable run at install. For most driveways, 5 metres is enough. For awkward ones, it is not.

The verdict

Buy the Pod Point Solo 3S if:

• You want a single price, a single call, and a charger on the wall without sourcing your own electrician.
• You are OZEV-eligible and want a £499 installed charger after the £500 grant.
• You do not need tariff API integration or deep solar optimisation.

Buy the Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 if:

• You already own Enphase microinverters and an IQ Battery and want single-app control of the whole system.
• The 7.5-metre cable solves a layout problem shorter cables cannot.
• You value MID-certified metering and OCPP 2.0.1 for future flexibility.

For the majority of buyers — those without an Enphase solar system already on the roof — the Pod Point is the obvious pick. It costs less fully installed than the Enphase costs as a box on a shelf. The hardware is unremarkable, but the proposition is clear: £999, done. If that convenience tax bothers you and you would rather choose your own installer, the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro at £625 or the Ohme Home Pro at £539 give you smarter chargers for less money, with the freedom to shop the labour separately. The Enphase earns its place only as a node in a larger Enphase energy system — and there, it earns it well.