Simpson & Partners Home 7 vs Indra Smart LUX

£103 apart, two different arguments

Both chargers are British-made, both sit outside the usual shortlist of household names, and both reward buyers who look past the obvious. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 costs £649 and leads with materials — anodised aluminium, optional Accoya wood or Cotswolds Green finishes, and a 10-year enclosure warranty. The Indra Smart LUX costs £546 and leads with engineering — 78 mm deep, IP67 waterproofing, IK10 impact resistance, and tariff integration that claims over 1,000 suppliers.

• Simpson & Partners Home 7 — the one you buy for the enclosure, the finish options, or a three-phase supply.
• Indra Smart LUX — the one you buy for protection ratings, slim profile, and deeper smart-tariff coverage.

The warranty headline needs a footnote

Ten years is the longest enclosure warranty on any UK home charger. It sounds decisive — and for the aluminium shell, it is. But the internal electronics carry only three years of cover, the same as the Indra Smart LUX. If a relay or a board fails in year four, the Simpson's decade-long promise does not help. The Indra offers an optional five-year extension for £100, which brings its electronics cover to five years for a total outlay of £646 — still £3 less than the Simpson at its standard three.

This matters because the bits most likely to fail are inside, not outside. An aluminium enclosure will outlast either warranty with minimal fuss. The question is whether the Simpson's premium finish — and it is handsome — justifies paying £103 more for the same electronics coverage.

Smart features and tariff depth

The Simpson & Partners Home 7 handles scheduled charging and works with Intelligent Octopus Go, Octopus Go, and EDF GoElectric. That covers the most popular fixed-window EV tariffs. But its app is functional rather than polished, and it does not claim the half-hourly slot-chasing that variable tariffs demand.

The Indra Smart LUX goes further. Its claimed 1,000-plus tariff integrations include half-hourly scheduling for rates like Octopus Agile, where the price moves every 30 minutes. It also includes solar PV diversion via a CT clamp — no extra hardware — and dynamic load balancing. On a variable tariff, the Indra is doing more work for less money. On a simple fixed-window tariff like Octopus Go, the gap narrows, because a basic timer does the same job.

One caveat on the Indra: Wi-Fi is standard, but 4G connectivity costs roughly £250 extra. The Ohme Home Pro includes a SIM at £539. If your Wi-Fi does not reach the driveway, factor that cost in — it changes the arithmetic entirely.

Physical presence on the wall

The Simpson is 350 × 200 × 110 mm and weighs about 5.5 kg. It is not large, but it is designed to be noticed — the finish options exist because this is a charger meant for the front of the house. If kerb appeal matters, the Simpson competes with the Andersen A3 at £251 less, and that comparison has its own page.

The Indra is 201 × 306 × 78 mm and 3.6 kg. At 78 mm deep it barely protrudes from the wall. IP67 means it can survive temporary submersion — overkill for a garage wall, reassuring for an exposed coastal installation. IK10 means it resists 20-joule impacts, the highest rating in the residential charger market. It also includes a built-in SPD and PEN fault detection, which can trim £150 or more from a typical install bill. Combined with its lower install estimate (£300–£500 versus £400–£600 for the Simpson), the total fitted cost gap may be wider than the £103 unit-price difference suggests.

The Simpson offers both tethered and untethered versions — useful if you share a charger between vehicles with different cables, or prefer a cleaner wall when the car is away. The Indra is tethered only, with a 6-metre cable as standard and a longer 10-metre option at extra cost.

Which to buy

Buy the Simpson & Partners Home 7 if:

• You have a three-phase supply and want the 22 kW option at this price
• Front-of-house appearance matters and you want a premium finish
• You need an untethered socket for multiple vehicles or cable tidiness

Buy the Indra Smart LUX if:

• You want the slimmest, toughest charger available for a UK home
• You are on — or moving to — a variable tariff like Octopus Agile
• You have solar panels and want PV diversion without extra hardware

For the majority of single-phase homes on a smart tariff, the Indra Smart LUX does more for £103 less. Its protection ratings and built-in SPD reduce both long-term risk and installation cost. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 is the better charger for three-phase owners and anyone who treats the charger as part of the house's exterior design — but that is a narrower audience. At £546, the Indra is the more considered spend.