Wallbox Pulsar Max vs Andersen Quartz

What £159 actually buys

The Wallbox Pulsar Max costs £513. The Andersen Quartz costs £672 — £159 more. Both are compact, tethered, single-phase 7kW chargers with app control and scheduled charging. The electrical job is identical. The question is whether the Andersen's longer warranty, better weather rating, and eleven finishes justify a price gap that, for grant-eligible buyers, widens further still.

• Wallbox Pulsar Max — £513, OZEV-approved, five-year warranty, the smallest footprint in the catalogue. The charger that disappears on a wall.
• Andersen Quartz — £672, seven-year warranty, IP65, eleven colour options. The charger that decorates a wall — if you care about that sort of thing.

The grant problem the Andersen can't ignore

The Pulsar Max is OZEV-approved. For eligible renters and flat owners, the £500 grant covers the £513 unit outright and chips into the install. The Andersen Quartz is not confirmed on the current approved list. That means a qualifying buyer choosing the Quartz could be paying £672 out of pocket while the Pulsar Max costs them, effectively, nothing for the unit itself.

Even for homeowners who don't qualify for the grant, £159 is a meaningful gap between two chargers that charge a car at the same speed. The Quartz has to justify itself on grounds other than kilowatts.

Where the Andersen earns — and doesn't earn — its keep

The Quartz's case rests on three things: warranty, weatherproofing, and finish.

Seven years versus five is a genuine difference. Two extra years of cover matters if the charger is on an exposed wall in Cumbria rather than tucked inside a garage in Surrey. The IP65 rating reinforces that — sealed against water jets, not just rain splashes. The Pulsar Max's IP54 is adequate for a sheltered wall but less reassuring in a fully exposed position. If your planned mounting spot catches the weather, the Quartz's combination of IP65 and seven-year warranty is a defensible spend.

Finish is the Andersen brand's territory. Eleven standard colours, optional Accoya and carbon inserts — the Quartz is designed to sit beside a front door without looking like electrical infrastructure. The Pulsar Max offers six colours and is handsome enough, but it doesn't pretend to be furniture. For a charger tucked around the side of the house, nobody will notice either way. For one beside the porch on a period property, the Andersen's range of finishes is hard to match from any other manufacturer short of the Andersen A3 at £900.

On smart features, neither charger leads the field. Both support Intelligent Octopus Go. The Quartz adds OVO Charge Anytime integration — useful if you're an OVO customer, irrelevant otherwise. Neither handles half-hourly tariffs like Octopus Agile; for that, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 remains the charger to beat. On solar, the Quartz includes a CT clamp for diversion out of the box, while the Pulsar Max needs a separate Wallbox Power Meter — an extra cost and an extra component. Neither rivals the myenergi Zappi GLO for serious solar households.

Cable and size

The Pulsar Max's 5-metre cable is the shortest in this comparison. The Quartz starts at 5.5 metres and offers an 8.5-metre option for £99 extra. If your parking spot is more than a couple of metres from the consumer unit wall, the longer cable avoids an awkward stretch — though at £99 it pushes the total gap to £258.

On physical size, the Pulsar Max is notably smaller: 198 × 201 × 99 mm and about 4.2 kg. The Quartz is taller at 286 × 172 × 110 mm but still compact by charger standards. Both are lighter and less obtrusive than most of the market. If tight wall space is the constraint, the Pulsar Max wins; it is one of the smallest proper smart chargers sold in the UK.

The verdict

Buy the Wallbox Pulsar Max if:

• You qualify for the OZEV grant — the £500 covers the unit and contributes to install
• Wall space is tight and you need the smallest possible charger
• You want three-phase capability at the same unit price (the Quartz charges £195 extra for 22kW)

Buy the Andersen Quartz if:

• The charger will sit on a prominent, exposed wall and finish matters to you
• You want a seven-year warranty and IP65 weatherproofing for an unsheltered position
• You're an OVO customer who values Charge Anytime integration

For most buyers — particularly those eligible for the grant — the Pulsar Max is the more rational purchase. It charges at the same speed, costs £159 less before grants widen the gap further, and fits on walls the Quartz can't. The Andersen is a nicer object. Whether "nicer object" is worth £159 depends entirely on where you plan to mount it and how much you'll have to look at it. If the answer is "by the front door, every day" — fair enough. If the answer is "round the back, behind the bins" — save the money.