Simpson & Partners Home 7 vs Rolec EVO: the £200 question

The £200 question

Two British-built chargers, £200 apart. The Rolec EVO at £449 is the pragmatist's pick — untethered, single-phase, loaded with the install-saving protections that quietly knock £150–£250 off the fitter's bill. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 at £649 is the considered upgrade — a ten-year enclosure warranty, anodised aluminium, a tethered option if you want one, and three-phase headroom if your supply allows it.

The shortest version:

• Rolec EVO — the quieter value buy. Built in Lincolnshire, untethered only, effective cost lower than the sticker suggests once install savings land.
• Simpson & Partners Home 7 — the design-led upgrade. Longer warranty, tethered or untethered, three-phase optional. You pay for the badge and the finish.

What does the Simpson & Partners' £200 premium actually buy?

Three things, really. A ten-year enclosure warranty against the Rolec's five. The choice of a tethered 5-metre cable, which the Rolec doesn't offer at all. And a three-phase 22kW variant for the fewer than 5% of UK homes with that supply — a genuine point of difference, since the Rolec is single-phase only.

What it doesn't buy is a more sophisticated charging brain. Both support smart-tariff scheduling, solar integration, and Wi-Fi. The Simpson's app works but, per the brand's own admission, isn't as polished as the class leaders. The Rolec's app is newer and still maturing through over-the-air updates. Neither will beat an Ohme Home Pro for tariff intelligence, and if half-hourly optimisation on Octopus Agile or Octopus Intelligent Go is your priority, both of these are the wrong charger.

The warranty gap deserves a careful read. Simpson & Partners' ten years covers the enclosure — the aluminium shell, the paintwork, the weather seals. The internal electronics, the bit that actually charges your car, carry three years. Rolec's five years is a single figure covering the whole unit. On a charger that lives outside in British weather for a decade, the Simpson's enclosure cover is useful — but it isn't a ten-year promise on the charger as a whole, and the marketing sometimes blurs that.

Where the Rolec EVO quietly wins

The install savings are the story. Built-in PME/PEN fault detection means no separate earth rod or PEN-protection device — that's £100–£250 off a typical job. Built-in Type A RCD and 6mA DC protection means the consumer unit side gets simpler too. Bundled CT clamp means no extra hardware for load balancing or solar. On a standard single-phase install, the Rolec EVO can land £200–£350 cheaper than the Simpson & Partners once the electrician's invoice is totted up — which more than inverts the sticker-price gap.

It also brings Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, Ethernet, OCPP 1.6J, and an IK10 impact rating — the highest on the market. The Red Dot Award is a footnote, but it tells you the design has been through more scrutiny than most budget chargers see. At £449 from a manufacturer with a decade of commercial EV-charging behind it, this is not a corner-cut product.

The caveats: untethered only, so you'll need your own Type 2 cable. No 4G fallback if your Wi-Fi drops. No screen on the unit. If any of those matter, the premium to step up is small — the VCHRGD Seven Pro at £432 is the closer-priced alternative with more features per pound, and the Cord Zero at £555 adds cellular.

Which to buy

Buy the Simpson & Partners Home 7 if:

• You have three-phase supply and want 22kW
• You want a tethered 5-metre cable
• The ten-year enclosure warranty and premium finish earn their keep for you

Buy the Rolec EVO if:

• You're on standard single-phase and happy with untethered
• You want the lowest total installed cost without cutting corners
• Solar surplus charging with a bundled CT clamp matters

For the typical UK buyer — single-phase supply, untethered is fine, budget matters — the Rolec EVO is the wall-mounted answer. The £200 saved, plus another £150-odd off install, is roughly the cost of three years of off-peak electricity on Octopus Go. If you want the Simpson & Partners' badge, save for the Andersen A3 instead and get the broader finish range you're paying for. If you want the Simpson & Partners' three-phase, you already know who you are.