Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 vs Rolec EVO: the £87 question

The £87 question

Two budget-smart chargers, separated by £87 and quite different philosophies. The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 is the cheaper unit at £362 — or £302 tethered, with a 7.5-metre cable that outreaches the Tesla Wall Connector. The Rolec EVO costs £449 and answers back with a five-year warranty, British manufacturing, and enough built-in protection hardware to pull real money out of the install quote.

• Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 — the cheapest route to a long tethered cable and solar diversion.
• Rolec EVO — the quiet value pick once install savings are counted.

What the Rolec's extra £87 actually buys

Three things, and they all matter. First, a five-year warranty versus the Sync's three — two extra years of cover on a wall-mounted object that lives outside and handles 32 amps. Second, PME fault detection, a Type A RCD, and surge protection all built in. On many installs that removes the separate earth rod or matt-earth device, and the labour around them; Rolec's own literature points at £100–£250 off the install line, and that tracks with what installers quote. Third, a Red Dot Award 2024 and a manufacturer based in Boston, Lincolnshire, that has been making commercial EV chargers for over a decade.

The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 matches the PEN protection — that much is even — but the warranty is three years, the manufacturer is newer to consumer chargers (the brand sits under Luceco PLC), and the app migration from Monta left some early buyers confused. Do the sums honestly and the Rolec's £87 premium is often erased by the install, leaving you with a longer warranty for free.

Where the Sync still wins

Cable length and unit price, which between them are not a small thing. A 7.5-metre tethered cable at £302 is the cheapest way onto a smart charger with a physical cord already attached — no separate Type 2 cable to buy, no socket to fiddle with in the rain. If your parking is awkward, if the consumer unit is on the wrong side of the house, if you don't want to think about cables, the Sync is the pragmatic choice. The Rolec EVO is untethered only; you supply your own cable, and the spec sheet will not tell you how long a good one costs.

Solar owners get a CT clamp included with both, which is rarer than it sounds at this price point. The Sync calls it SolarCharge, the Rolec calls it Eco and Eco+; functionally, both divert surplus generation rather than drawing from the grid. Neither replaces a dedicated myenergi Zappi GLO for a serious PV array, but both are perfectly competent if the panels are modest.

Neither is the right answer on Intelligent Go

Worth saying plainly: neither charger has a direct supplier API. Both optimise through schedules — you tell the app when electricity is cheap, and it charges then. On Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive, or Scottish Power EV Saver, where the window is fixed, that's fine. On Octopus Intelligent Go, where the supplier wants to shift charging around the grid in real time, a schedule-based charger will leave savings on the table. If Intelligent Go is your tariff, look at the Ohme ePod at £409 instead — it's the same budget bracket and it talks to Octopus directly.

The verdict

Buy the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 if:

• You want tethered and cheap — £302 with a 7.5-metre cable is the lowest price here for a smart charger.
• Your parking geometry makes a long fixed cable useful.
• You don't need a five-year warranty to sleep.

Buy the Rolec EVO if:

• You already own (or are happy to buy) a good Type 2 cable.
• The install quote matters as much as the unit price.
• A British manufacturer and a five-year warranty are worth £87 on their own.

If forced to pick one for a wall with no other context, it's the Rolec EVO. The install savings narrow the price gap to near-zero, and the extra two years of warranty are genuine value on a device that will sit outside for a decade. The Sync holds its ground only when the tethered cable is doing real work — and when it is, the £302 starting price is hard to argue with. For solar-first buyers who want more than diversion, the Zappi GLO vs Rolec EVO comparison is the next page to read.