Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 vs Enphase IQ EV Charger 2

£650 and an ecosystem between them

The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 costs £400. The Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 costs £1,050. Both deliver 7.4kW on single-phase. Both have a 7.5-metre tethered cable, IP-rated enclosures, built-in PEN fault protection, and solar diversion. The gap is £650 — a figure that buys a decent holiday, or nearly the entire install cost of the cheaper charger.

• Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 — £400, OZEV-approved, solar diversion via CT clamp, schedule-based tariff control. The budget pick that covers the fundamentals.
• Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 — £1,050, not confirmed OZEV-approved, granular 1A solar chase from 1.38kW surplus, tight integration with Enphase microinverters and IQ Battery. A system component, not a standalone charger.

The solar question — and whether the Enphase answers it better

Both chargers divert solar surplus to your car. The Sync Energy uses a CT clamp and its SolarCharge mode; it works. The Enphase goes further: 1A incremental current adjustments roughly every 30 seconds, a minimum threshold of just 1.38kW of excess PV, and — if you have an IQ Battery — AI-led source selection that decides whether your car draws from panels, battery, or grid. That last feature is the Enphase's genuine argument for existing.

But it only works inside the Enphase ecosystem. You need Enphase IQ microinverters and an IQ Gateway on site. Add an IQ Battery and you get the full orchestration. Without those, the Enphase is a £1,050 charger doing the same 7.4kW solar diversion that the Sync Energy manages for £400. The myenergi Zappi GLO at £599 does it better than either as a standalone solar charger, with a longer track record and OZEV approval. Solar buyers without Enphase hardware should look at our best EV charger for solar guide instead.

Tariff integration — neither charger's strength

The Sync Energy offers TariffSense scheduling. On a fixed-window tariff like Octopus Go — 8.5p/kWh between 00:30 and 05:30 — you set the schedule once and it runs. That is adequate. On Octopus Agile, where rates shift every half hour, TariffSense cannot follow them.

The Enphase is worse here. It has no direct API integration with any UK smart tariff — not Intelligent Go, not Agile, not EDF GoElectric. For a £1,050 charger, that is a notable absence. If tariff optimisation matters to you, neither of these is the right answer. The Ohme Home Pro at £539 handles Agile's half-hourly chase natively and costs half the Enphase.

The grant, the install, and the total bill

The Sync Energy is OZEV-approved. For eligible renters and flat owners, the £500 grant covers the £400 unit outright and chips into the install. Typical install runs £300–£600, so the all-in cost after the grant could be as low as a few hundred pounds. That is hard to argue with.

The Enphase's OZEV status is not confirmed. Plan on paying the full £1,050 plus install — and Enphase installs typically run £900–£1,300, reflecting the complexity of integrating with an existing Enphase system. Total outlay: somewhere around £2,000–£2,350. The Sync Energy, after the grant, might come in under £500 all-in. The gap is not subtle.

Warranty tilts the other way: five years on the Enphase, three on the Sync Energy. The Enphase also carries MID-certified Class-B metering (±1% accuracy), OCPP 2.0.1, and ISO 15118 hardware readiness — forward-looking specs that the Sync Energy does not match. Whether those matter today, on a 7.4kW single-phase domestic charger, is another question.

The Sync Energy's caveats

Wi-Fi reliability has drawn mixed reports from users. If the charger sits far from the router, specify the 4G variant — or use the Ethernet port. The app, which moved platforms away from Monta, is functional but less polished than the Enphase app or the Ohme Home Pro's. The installer network is smaller than Ohme's or Tesla's. None of these are disqualifying at £400, but they are worth knowing.

Which to buy

Buy the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 if:

• You want solar diversion and smart scheduling for £400 — or less after the OZEV grant
• You do not own Enphase solar hardware
• You are on a fixed-window tariff and need a charger that schedules reliably, not one that chases half-hourly rates

Buy the Enphase IQ EV Charger 2 if:

• You already run Enphase microinverters and an IQ Battery, and single-app control over panels, storage, and car charging matters to you
• The 1A granular solar chase from 1.38kW surplus is a meaningful upgrade for your array size
• You value the five-year warranty and MID-certified metering, and the £1,050 price is acceptable within a broader Enphase investment

For most people reading this page, the Sync Energy is the answer. It does the core job — smart charging, solar diversion, 7.5-metre cable, built-in PEN protection — for £650 less. The Enphase is a fine piece of hardware locked behind an ecosystem requirement and a price that only makes sense as the fourth or fifth node in an Enphase home. If that describes your home, it earns its place. If it does not, save the £650.