Wallbox Pulsar Max vs Simpson & Partners Home 7: compact or built to last?

The compact specialist versus the British-built outsider

Two chargers aimed at different instincts. The Wallbox Pulsar Max at £536 is the one you buy when the wall is small and the budget is finite. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 at £649 is the one you buy when you want a British-made enclosure that will still look right in 2036.

The gap is £113. What it buys is longevity and finish, not function.

• Wallbox Pulsar Max — 198mm tall, five-year warranty, three-phase capable, tariff scheduling done by hand.
• Simpson & Partners Home 7 — 350mm tall, ten-year enclosure warranty, anodised aluminium, Accoya wood option if you want it.

Where the £113 goes

Almost entirely into the casing. The Simpson is UK-manufactured, anodised aluminium, with finishes that include Accoya wood and Cotswolds Green — the sort of details that matter if the charger is going on a front wall rather than down a side return. The ten-year enclosure warranty is the longest on the UK market. For a fixture bolted to the outside of a house, that's not nothing.

The Wallbox answers a different question. At 198mm × 201mm it's compact — one of the smallest proper 7.4kW chargers you can buy — and it comes in six colours, IK10 impact-rated, with a five-year warranty. If the install spot is awkward (narrow pillar, tight under a porch, squeezed between a downpipe and a window), the Wallbox fits where the Simpson won't.

Neither of these is about smart-tariff sophistication. Both schedule via their own app; both support solar in principle (the Wallbox needs the separate Power Meter accessory); both will do 22kW three-phase if your property has it. The Simpson lists explicit smart-tariff support for Octopus Go, OVO Charge Anytime and EDF GoElectric. The Wallbox leaves the tariff side to you.

Which smart tariff you're on changes the answer

If you're on a fixed-window tariff like Octopus Go (8.5p, 00:30–05:30) or E.ON Next Drive (7.5p, 00:00–06:00), either charger does the job. Set the schedule once and it runs for years.

If you're on Octopus Intelligent Go or Octopus Agile — where the half-hour rates move and the point of a smart charger is to follow them automatically — neither of these is the right tool. The Ohme Home Pro at £535 talks directly to Octopus and chases Agile prices every thirty minutes. Against that, the Wallbox's manual scheduling looks dated and the Simpson's app, while functional, isn't on the same footing. Tariff-first buyers should look at the Ohme vs Wallbox comparison or the Ohme vs Simpson comparison before deciding.

The installer question nobody mentions

Simpson & Partners has a smaller UK installer network than Wallbox, Ohme or Tesla. That matters. A charger is only as good as the electrician who wires it in, and if the nearest Simpson-certified fitter is two counties away you'll pay for the travel or get someone learning on the job. Before committing to the Home 7, check there's a local installer who has actually fitted one. Wallbox, being the bigger brand, is rarely a problem on that front.

The OZEV grant (£500, renters and flat owners only) applies to both — useful to know if you qualify, irrelevant if you own a house with off-street parking.

The verdict

Buy the Wallbox Pulsar Max if:

• The install spot is tight and a 350mm charger won't fit
• You want the cheaper of the two and don't need a decade of warranty
• Three-phase capability matters and you don't want to pay Simpson money for it

Buy the Simpson & Partners Home 7 if:

• The charger will be visible from the street and finish matters
• A ten-year enclosure warranty is worth £113 to you
• You like the idea of supporting UK manufacturing and have a local installer who knows the product

On a wall we'd choose the Simpson, but only where the wall justifies it — a front elevation, a considered house, an owner who will still be there in ten years. For most people, in most places, the Wallbox is the more sensible £113 to keep. And for anyone whose real question is tariff automation rather than build quality, the answer isn't on this page — it's the Ohme Home Pro.