Simpson & Partners Home 7 vs Rolec EVO

£293 and two different ideas about what a charger should be

The Simpson & Partners Home 7 costs £649. The Rolec EVO costs £356. Both are UK-manufactured, both are OZEV-approved, and both offer smart scheduling, solar compatibility, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The £293 gap is not about one being smart and the other dumb — it is about materials, aesthetics, and whether your home has three-phase power.

• Simpson & Partners Home 7 — anodised aluminium, premium finishes, tethered or untethered, 22kW three-phase option, 10-year enclosure warranty. The charger you mount where visitors can see it.
• Rolec EVO — compact, untethered only, 7.4kW single-phase, built-in RCD and PME fault detection, CT clamp included. The charger that quietly saves you money at every stage.

What the Rolec EVO's price hides

£356 is the unit price. The installed cost is where the Rolec pulls further ahead. It has built-in Type A RCD, 6mA DC protection, surge protection, and PME/PEN fault detection. On most UK installs, that eliminates the need for a separate PEN device or earth rod — a saving of £100–£250 in labour and parts. A typical Rolec EVO installation could land at £750–£950 all in. The Simpson & Partners Home 7, at £649 plus standard install costs of £400–£600, sits at £1,050–£1,250. The real-world gap between the two is often closer to £200–£400 once the sparks have packed up.

For grant-eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — the OZEV £500 covers the Rolec EVO's £356 unit price outright and chips into the install. That makes it one of the cheapest smart chargers to get on a wall in the UK today. The grant also applies to the Simpson & Partners Home 7, reducing its unit cost to £149, but the total outlay remains meaningfully higher.

When the Simpson & Partners Home 7 earns its keep

Three scenarios justify the premium. First: you want a tethered cable. The Rolec EVO is untethered only. If you prefer not to coil and uncoil a Type 2 lead every session, the Simpson & Partners gives you a 5-metre tethered option. Second: the charger is on the front of your house. Simpson & Partners offers Accoya wood and Cotswolds Green finishes — not quite at the level of the Andersen A3 (which costs £900), but a long way from a plain plastic box. If your drive faces the street and you care, the Simpson & Partners is the cheaper design-led option. Buyers weighing that angle specifically will find the Andersen A3 vs Simpson & Partners Home 7 comparison useful.

Third: you have three-phase supply. The Simpson & Partners supports 22kW on three-phase; the Rolec EVO is single-phase only, capped at 7.4kW. Fewer than 5% of UK homes have three-phase, but if yours does, the shortlist narrows fast.

Smart features and solar — closer than the price suggests

Both chargers support scheduled charging and work with off-peak tariffs like Octopus Go and EDF GoElectric via timer-based scheduling. The Simpson & Partners also supports Intelligent Octopus Go directly, which is a step up — the charger receives half-hourly slot assignments rather than relying on a fixed window. The Rolec EVO does not currently offer that API integration.

On solar, the Rolec is arguably the stronger proposition. Its Eco and Eco+ modes handle surplus diversion, and the CT clamp ships in the box. The Simpson & Partners is listed as solar-compatible, but the Rolec's dedicated modes and included hardware make it the more straightforward solar setup. Buyers whose solar system is the primary concern should also look at the myenergi Zappi GLO or the GivEnergy EV Charger.

The warranty question — read the small print

The Simpson & Partners quotes 10 years, which sounds dominant. It is — on the enclosure. The internal electronics carry a 3-year warranty. The Rolec EVO offers 5 years on everything. For most owners, the electronics are what fail; the aluminium box does not. The Rolec's 5-year full warranty is, in practice, the more reassuring cover.

Which to buy

Buy the Simpson & Partners Home 7 if:

• You want a tethered cable and do not want to handle a separate lead
• The charger will be visible from the street and finish matters to you
• You have three-phase supply and want 22kW charging

Buy the Rolec EVO if:

• You want the lowest total installed cost for a full-featured smart charger
• You have solar panels and want surplus diversion with no extra hardware to buy
• A 5-year full warranty matters more than a 10-year enclosure-only one

For a standard single-phase home with the charger in a garage or on a side wall, the Rolec EVO is the stronger buy. It costs £293 less before installation, saves another £100–£250 during it, and gives up nothing important on smart features. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 is a good charger with a specific audience — but the Rolec is the one that makes sense for more people.