myenergi Zappi GLO vs EVEC VEC03

A solar charger versus a clearance bargain

The myenergi Zappi GLO costs £599. The EVEC VEC03 costs £349. That £250 gap is wide enough to matter — and narrow enough to mislead, because these two chargers are not competing for the same buyer.

• Zappi GLO — a solar diverter first, EV charger second. Eco+ mode runs the car from roof surplus alone. Without panels, it is an expensive way to plug in.
• EVEC VEC03 — the cheapest OZEV-approved tethered charger still findable. Built-in RCD and PEN fault protection trim the install bill. But the model is discontinued, and the software has a reputation.

What the Zappi GLO's £250 buys

It buys a solar computer. Three diversion modes — Fast, Eco, Eco+ — let the Zappi match charging current to whatever the panels are producing, down to 1.4 kW in Eco+. No grid import, no cost per kWh, no tariff arithmetic. For a household with a 4 kW array generating surplus on a spring afternoon, Eco+ turns that surplus into miles instead of export payments.

The Zappi also slots into myenergi's wider ecosystem: pair it with an eddi to divert surplus to hot water, or a libbi battery to store what the car cannot use. That integration is proprietary — no other charger on the site does it.

Strip the solar away and the case collapses. At £599, the Zappi GLO is more expensive than the Ohme Home Pro at £539, which handles smart tariffs with direct API links the Zappi lacks. On Octopus Intelligent Go, the Ohme negotiates extra off-peak slots; the Zappi does not. Solar owners who also want tariff optimisation face a choice — the Ohme vs Zappi GLO comparison covers that ground in detail.

The VEC03's appeal — and its expiry date

At £349, the VEC03 undercuts almost everything in the catalogue. Its built-in Type A RCD with 6 mA DC leakage detection and PEN fault protection means an electrician does not need to fit a separate board — knocking roughly £100 off a typical install. For a renter or flat owner eligible for the £500 OZEV grant, the grant covers the unit outright and chips into the install costs too.

OCPP 1.6J support is a genuine plus: the charger is not locked to EVEC's own cloud, and third-party backends like Monta can manage it. The wide operating range — minus 25°C to 50°C — suits an exposed driveway.

The problems are hard to overlook. EVEC has replaced the VEC03 with the vecGO 2.0 and banners the successor on its own product page. What remains is run-out stock. The app draws consistent complaints about Wi-Fi reliability and intermittent scheduled charging. The 5-metre cable is the shortest tethered option on the site. And the IP rating appears as IP54, IP55, or IP65 depending on which EVEC document you read — not confidence-inspiring for a product you bolt to an outside wall.

Most concerning: no direct smart-tariff integration. The VEC03 is not on the Octopus Intelligent Go compatible list, has no OVO Charge Anytime hook, and cannot chase half-hourly rates on Octopus Agile. On a flat-rate tariff, that may not matter. On anything variable, it is a dead end.

Cheaper alternatives worth a look

If the VEC03 appeals on price but the discontinued status gives pause, the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 at £400 is a current-production budget tethered charger with OZEV approval. The Rolec EVO at £356 is another — UK-built, five-year warranty, still actively supported. Both avoid the run-out gamble. Our cheapest EV chargers guide covers the full field.

For solar buyers unsure about the Zappi's price, the GivEnergy EV Charger at £444 offers solar-aware charging within a battery-storage ecosystem — a different approach at £155 less. The best EV charger for solar guide compares them properly.

The verdict

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You have solar panels and want to charge from surplus generation — Eco+ is the reason
• You already own, or plan to buy, myenergi hardware (eddi, libbi)
• You value a 6.5-metre tethered cable and IP65 weatherproofing on a current-production unit

Buy the EVEC VEC03 if:

• You need the lowest possible upfront cost and your tariff is flat-rate
• The built-in RCD and PEN protection matter more to you than software polish
• You accept you are buying discontinued stock with uncertain long-term app support

For most readers landing on this page, these two chargers serve entirely different purposes. The Zappi GLO is the right wall box if you have panels on the roof — its solar diversion is unmatched at the price, and the myenergi ecosystem gives it a future. The VEC03, at £349 with protection in the box, is a defensible budget pick for a flat-rate household that needs little from its app — but its successor already exists, and the software complaints are persistent enough to warrant caution. If the VEC03's price is the draw but its status gives you pause, the Rolec EVO or Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 are safer bets at a modest step up.