Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 vs CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3

> V2G boundary: A “V2G-ready” label or ISO 15118 support does not by itself provide bidirectional power conversion, export approval or a live energy service. Confirm the compatible car, genuinely bidirectional hardware, certified complete system, installer, service and network approval before assigning value to the claim. Read the UK V2G explainer.

£686 between a home charger and a car-park unit

The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 costs £400. The CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 costs £1,086. That is a £686 gap — wider than the price of many complete chargers on our index. The reason it exists is simple: the CTEK is three-phase commercial hardware that happens to be sold to domestic buyers, while the Sync is a domestic charger designed to be exactly that.

• Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 — £400, 7.4kW single-phase, built-in PEN protection, TariffSense scheduling, solar diversion, 7.5-metre cable. A budget charger with a surprisingly long feature list.
• CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 — £1,086, up to 22kW on three-phase, MID-approved meter, OCPP 2.0.1, built-in Type B MRCD. Engineered for sites that need billing-grade data — and bolted to a house wall only when that house has three phases.

What the CTEK's price buys — and what it doesn't

The CTEK weighs up to 24 kg. It carries a MID-approved, Eichrecht-compliant energy meter — the sort required for public or workplace billing. It has OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118 plug-and-charge readiness, dual Ethernet ports, and a built-in MRCD Type B that saves the installer fitting a separate one (typically £150–£200 in parts). Its five-year warranty is two years longer than the Sync's three.

All of that matters in a specific context: a three-phase property, perhaps one with a second EV or a need to reclaim charging costs precisely. In that setting, 22kW charging roughly triples single-phase speed, and the metering hardware earns its keep.

On a single-phase supply — which covers the overwhelming majority of UK homes — the CTEK delivers the same ~7.4kW as the Sync. The MID meter still works, but billing-grade accuracy is irrelevant to someone charging their own car. The OCPP 2.0.1 support is forward-looking, yet today it connects to the same Monta back-end that the Sync can also use via OCPP 1.6J. And the three-phase circuitry sits idle, £686 of capability with nowhere to go.

Smart tariffs: the Sync's quiet advantage

The CTEK has no first-party app for tariff scheduling. No direct Octopus Intelligent Go integration. No OVO Charge Anytime support. Scheduling runs through a third-party OCPP platform — functional, but a layer of indirection that most home buyers would rather avoid.

The Sync Energy, by contrast, offers TariffSense scheduling through its own app and supports Intelligent Octopus Go directly. On Octopus Go at 8.5p/kWh, a simple schedule in the Sync app handles the 00:30–05:30 window without fuss. On Intelligent Go at 8p/kWh, the charger coordinates with Octopus to spread charging across the full off-peak period. Neither requires Monta, nor a gateway dongle, nor an OCPP back-end configuration.

For Octopus Agile — where rates shift every 30 minutes — neither charger can chase half-hourly prices autonomously. That job belongs to the Ohme Home Pro at £539. But for fixed-window tariffs, the Sync is the more integrated of this pair by a clear margin. If smart-tariff charging matters to you on a single-phase supply, the Sync is the better tool. The comparison with Ohme is covered in our Ohme Home Pro vs Sync Energy page.

The CTEK's real competition

The honest comparison for the CTEK is not the Sync. It is the Zaptec Go 2 at £638 — another three-phase-capable, OCPP-supporting unit aimed at multi-dwelling and fleet-adjacent use. The Zaptec is lighter, £448 cheaper, V2G-ready, and has a broader UK installer network. The CTEK counters with its MID meter and built-in Type B MRCD. That is a legitimate trade-off — for the three-phase buyer. Our Zaptec Go 2 vs CTEK comparison covers it in detail.

The OZEV grant and install costs

Both chargers are OZEV-approved. For eligible renters and flat owners, the £500 grant covers the Sync's £400 unit price outright and puts the remainder toward install costs. For the CTEK, the grant reduces the unit to £586 — still £186 more than the Sync before installation. And CTEK install costs run £900–£1,300 typically, against £300–£600 for the Sync. The total outlay gap, grant applied, can easily reach £1,000.

The verdict

Buy the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 if:

• Your home has a single-phase supply — which is almost certainly the case
• You want built-in tariff scheduling without configuring a third-party OCPP platform
• You want to spend as little as possible on a smart charger that includes solar diversion and PEN fault protection

Buy the CTEK Chargestorm Connected 3 if:

• You have or are installing a three-phase supply and want 22kW charging
• You need MID-approved metering — for workplace reimbursement, landlord billing, or fleet use
• You value a five-year warranty and built-in Type B MRCD enough to absorb the premium

For most readers of this page — single-phase, one car, a smart tariff — the Sync at £400 is the obvious choice. The CTEK is a fine piece of hardware aimed at a different buyer entirely. If that buyer is you, you already know it.