Rolec EVO vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3: £637 apart, worlds apart

£637 and a phase apart

The Rolec EVO costs £449. The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086. That is a £637 gap — wider than any difference in daily charging experience for a single-phase household. These two chargers are not competitors in the usual sense. They are designed for different electrical supplies, different use cases, and different buyers. The comparison exists because both are untethered, both carry five-year warranties, and both land on shortlists when people search for OCPP-compatible smart chargers. The editorial job is to stop the wrong person buying the wrong one.

• Rolec EVO — £449, single-phase 7.4kW, built in Lincolnshire, with solar diversion and built-in RCD/PME protection. The budget-smart pick for most homes.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086, three-phase native at 22kW, MID-approved meter, OCPP 2.0.1, ISO 15118. Commercial-grade hardware for a domestic wall.

Why the CTEK costs what it costs

The price tag is not padding. The Chargestorm Connected 3 carries a built-in MRCD Type B — rated at 30mA AC *and* 30mA DC — which eliminates the need for an external Type B RCD board (typically £150–£300 fitted). It has a MID-approved, Eichrecht-compliant energy meter, the kind used for billing accuracy in commercial settings. It supports OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118 plug-and-charge. And it delivers 22kW on three-phase supply — roughly three times the speed of any single-phase charger.

None of that matters if your home has a single-phase supply. And fewer than 5% of UK homes have three-phase. On single-phase, the CTEK delivers the same ~7.4kW as the Rolec EVO. You are paying £637 more for hardware that idles at a third of its capacity, inside a unit that weighs 24kg — eight times the Rolec's 3kg. The MID meter is impressive, but unless you are reclaiming business mileage or billing tenants per kWh, a standard energy monitor does the job.

The Rolec EVO's quiet advantage on install costs

The Rolec EVO bundles a CT clamp for dynamic load balancing, a Type A RCD with 6mA DC protection, surge protection, and PME/PEN fault detection — all inside a 3kg box. On most installations, that saves £150–£250 in parts and labour that would otherwise go on a separate PEN device or earth rod and an RCD board. Factor that in and the effective installed cost of the Rolec drops well below most chargers at its price point, including the Easee One at £405 or the VCHRGD Seven Pro at £432.

For OZEV-eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — the £500 grant covers the Rolec's £449 unit price outright and chips into the install. The CTEK drops to £586 after the grant, but install costs run £900–£1,300 thanks to the heavier unit and potential sub-main work — so the total outlay remains steep.

Smart tariffs: neither charger is the best here

Both chargers support charge scheduling, but neither integrates directly with Octopus Intelligent Go or OVO Charge Anytime. The Rolec EVO uses its own app; the CTEK relies on third-party OCPP platforms like Monta. Both can be set to charge during fixed off-peak windows — Octopus Go at 8.5p/kWh between 00:30 and 05:30, say — but neither will chase half-hourly rates on Octopus Agile or accept Intelligent Go's API-driven slot allocation.

If smart-tariff optimisation matters to you more than anything else, neither of these is the right charger. The Ohme Home Pro at £535 handles Agile and Intelligent Go natively. That is a separate question, and a separate comparison — the Ohme Home Pro vs Rolec EVO page covers it properly.

The Rolec's solar credentials

The Rolec EVO supports Eco and Eco+ surplus-solar modes with the included CT clamp. Eco+ charges only on solar surplus; Eco blends grid and solar to maintain a minimum charge rate. For a household with panels and a single-phase supply, this is a credible solar diversion setup at £449 — less than half the price of the myenergi Zappi GLO at £750.

The CTEK supports dynamic load balancing via its NANOGRID system, but the NANOGRID Air gateway is a separate purchase. Solar diversion is not a stated feature in the same way. If solar integration is the priority, the Rolec is the stronger proposition at this pairing's price points.

The verdict

Buy the Rolec EVO if:

• Your home has single-phase supply — which is almost every UK home
• You want the lowest total installed cost, with RCD, PME detection, and CT clamp included
• You have solar panels and want surplus-diversion charging without spending £750

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have three-phase supply and want 22kW home charging
• You need a MID-approved meter for business billing or tenant recharging
• You value OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118 readiness for future-proofing

For the single-phase household — which is nearly all of you — the Rolec EVO at £449 is the better charger. Not because the CTEK is bad. It is a serious piece of engineering. But £637 buys capability that a single-phase home cannot use. The Rolec does what is needed, saves money on install, and weighs less than a bag of shopping. Put the £637 towards electricity.