Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 vs EVEC VEC03: £7 apart, different compromises

The cheapest corner of the market

The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 at £362 and the EVEC VEC03 at £369 sit within £7 of each other — the two lowest-priced smart chargers you can buy in the UK right now. Both are OZEV-approved, both deliver 7.4 kW on a single-phase supply, and both carry a three-year warranty. The difference is in what each one includes in the box and how reliably the software behind it works.

• Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 — £362, 7.5-metre cable, solar diversion included, TariffSense scheduling, nine fascia colours.
• EVEC VEC03 — £369, 5-metre cable, built-in Type A RCD with DC leakage detection, OCPP 1.6J back-end flexibility.

The cable matters more than you think

Two and a half metres is a substantial difference when your charge port is on the wrong side of the car or your consumer unit sits at the far end of the garage. The Sync Energy's 7.5-metre tethered cable is the longest on any UK home charger — longer even than the Tesla Wall Connector's 7.3 m. The EVEC's 5-metre cable is the shortest tethered option in this price bracket. If your parking arrangement is anything less than ideal — shared drive, rear charge port, charger mounted away from the bay — the Sync Energy removes a problem the EVEC creates.

For buyers who'd rather use their own cable entirely, note that the Sync Energy also sells an untethered (socketed) variant at £362, while the EVEC is tethered only.

Solar diversion: included vs extra

The Sync Energy ships with SolarCharge — solar diversion via a CT clamp included in the price. The EVEC VEC03 supports solar integration, but the CT clamp is sold separately, adding cost and a step to the install. If you have panels or plan to add them, the Sync Energy is the more complete package from day one. For a more sophisticated solar setup — particularly with battery storage — the myenergi Zappi GLO or GivEnergy EV Charger are purpose-built for that job, but they cost considerably more.

The EVEC's install advantage — and its limits

The EVEC VEC03's headline trick is its built-in Type A RCD (30 mA) with 6 mA DC leakage detection and PEN fault protection. In practice, this can shave roughly £100 off the installation bill because your electrician doesn't need to fit a separate RCD or earth rod. That's a genuine saving — and it means the EVEC's total cost of ownership can dip below the Sync Energy's despite the £7 higher unit price.

But the saving only holds if your consumer unit would otherwise need those components. Many modern boards already have suitable protection, in which case the EVEC's internal RCD is redundant. Ask your installer before assuming the discount applies.

The Sync Energy also includes built-in PEN fault protection, which typically removes the need for a separate earth rod — so part of the EVEC's install advantage is matched.

Software: neither is polished, but one is worse

Both chargers rely on schedule-based tariff management rather than a direct supplier API. Neither appears on the Intelligent Octopus Go compatible list. Neither hooks into OVO Charge Anytime. On a simple two-rate tariff like Octopus Go — set the timer to 00:30–05:30 and forget — both cope.

The difference is reliability. The EVEC app draws the most consistent criticism: scheduled charging reported as intermittent, Wi-Fi drops with no 4G fallback. The Sync Energy's app has had its own growing pains — it migrated away from Monta, which confused early adopters — but it now offers TariffSense scheduling, energy monitoring, and OTA updates over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or Bluetooth. For locations with patchy Wi-Fi, the Sync Energy offers a 4G variant; the EVEC does not.

If tariff automation matters to you — properly chasing half-hourly rates on Octopus Agile, say — neither charger is the right tool. That's the Ohme Home Pro's territory, at £535. The comparison between these two budget units and that step-up is covered in our Ohme vs Sync Energy piece.

The OZEV grant covers both outright

Both chargers are OZEV-approved. The £500 grant — available to eligible renters and flat owners — covers either unit outright and chips into the installation costs too. At £362 and £369 respectively, neither charger leaves you out of pocket on the hardware if you qualify.

Which to buy

Buy the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 if:

• You want the longest cable available on a UK home charger — 7.5 metres
• You have or plan solar panels and want diversion included, not bolted on
• You'd rather have a 4G variant available for unreliable Wi-Fi

Buy the EVEC VEC03 if:

• Your consumer unit needs a separate RCD and PEN protection, and the built-in components will save you £100 on install
• You want the lowest possible total cost and don't need solar diversion
• OCPP 1.6J back-end flexibility matters — you want to run Monta or another platform

For £7 less, the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 gives you 2.5 metres more cable, solar diversion in the box, and a marginally more stable software platform. The EVEC VEC03 can undercut it on total installed cost in the right circumstances, but those circumstances are specific. For most buyers spending at this end of the market, the Sync Energy is the better £362.