myenergi Zappi GLO vs Andersen A3: solar brain or wall jewellery?

Two chargers, two different arguments for spending extra

Nothing about this pairing is accidental. Both chargers sit well above the market's sensible middle, and both justify their price with one specific thing. The myenergi Zappi GLO at £750 is a solar computer with a charging cable attached. The Andersen A3 at £995 is the only charger on this site where the argument is how it looks on the wall.

The Andersen is £245 more. Neither premium makes sense unless you want the specific thing each charger does best.

• myenergi Zappi GLO — buy it for the solar diverting. Without panels, the price collapses into nonsense.
• Andersen A3 — buy it for the finish and the hidden cable. Without a wall that's seen, the price collapses into nonsense.

When the Zappi GLO earns its £750

Eco+ mode is the reason this charger exists. It watches your solar export in real time and diverts only the surplus into the car — so on a bright afternoon, the Tesla charges from the roof at zero marginal cost. Eco mode blends solar with grid top-up. Standard mode ignores the panels entirely. Three modes, one physical charger, and a genuine integration with eddi for hot water and libbi for battery storage.

If you have a 4kW-plus array and you're home during the day occasionally, Eco+ pays the charger back over time in a way no smart tariff can match. Free electrons are cheaper than 7p ones. That's the whole case.

Caveats worth naming. The tariff integration is manual, not API-driven — if you're on Octopus Agile and want half-hourly chasing, the Ohme Home Pro does that job properly and the Zappi doesn't. The on-unit screen from the old Zappi 2.1 is gone; everything now lives in the app. And the £750 includes no built-in 4G, just Wi-Fi, which is a notable omission at this price. Solar-first households whose needs this exact page doesn't cover should read the Ohme vs Zappi GLO comparison, which is the more relevant fight.

When the Andersen A3 earns its £995

The hidden cable is real, and no other charger on this site does it. The 5.5 metres retracts inside the unit when you unplug, so the thing on the wall stays a clean rectangle rather than a tangle. Add 247 finish combinations — anodised aluminium, real wood, bespoke colour-match — and a seven-year warranty, and the Andersen becomes the only charger you'd happily put on the front of the house.

That's the test. Is the charger visible from the street? From the front drive? From the kitchen window you look at every morning? If yes, the Andersen's premium is justified in a way no spec sheet captures — it looks like it belongs, and the neighbours will not comment. If no — if it's going on the side wall of the garage where only the meter reader sees it — you are paying £995 for appearance nobody sees, and the Tesla Wall Connector at £478 does the same electrical job for less than half.

The A3's smart side is competent rather than leading. It schedules against Octopus Intelligent Go and OVO Charge Anytime through its app, and it integrates with solar in a basic way — but it will not divert surplus the way the Zappi does. The 5.5-metre cable has no longer option, so the mount must sit close to where the car parks. Single-phase only: no 22kW path.

The verdict

These chargers don't compete. They answer different questions posed by different households.

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You have solar panels and want the car to drink from them
• You're already in the myenergi ecosystem with eddi or libbi
• You might want the 22kW three-phase option later

Buy the Andersen A3 if:

• The charger will be visible from the street or front drive
• You value the seven-year warranty and aluminium build
• The hidden cable matters to you

If forced to put one on a wall without knowing the house, it would be the Zappi GLO — because solar integration is functional and durable, while design preference is personal and sometimes fades. But the honest answer is that most readers of this page should probably buy neither. Without solar, the Ohme Home Pro at £535 does the smart-tariff work better than both. Without a visible wall, the Tesla Wall Connector at £478 does the electrical work for half. Spend the extra only when you know exactly what you're buying it for.