myenergi Zappi GLO vs Indra Smart PRO: solar or surge protection?

Two chargers solving different problems

On price alone, this looks like a straight fight: the Indra Smart PRO at £599, the myenergi Zappi GLO at £750, a £151 gap. But the two chargers aren't competing for the same buyer. One is a solar-first charger with the ecosystem to prove it. The other is a quietly well-kitted British unit that justifies itself on the installer's invoice, not the sticker.

The shortest version:

• myenergi Zappi GLO — the charger for people with panels on the roof. Pointless without them.
• Indra Smart PRO — the charger that throws in an SPD and a CT clamp, which takes £150-ish off the install bill.

When the Zappi earns its £750

Eco+ is the reason to buy it. The Zappi watches your solar export, waits until the panels are generating more than the house is using, and dribbles that surplus into the car. Set the threshold, leave it alone, and you're charging from what would otherwise spill back to the grid for pennies. Three-phase homes get the 22kW option on top — a minority case in UK housing, but a real one.

Plug in an eddi and the same logic runs your immersion heater. Add a libbi and you have a home battery in the same app. That ecosystem is the actual product; the charger is the entry point. If you're not buying into it — no panels, no plans for panels, no interest in battery storage — the £750 is buying you a sophisticated controller with nothing to control. A Tesla Wall Connector at £478 does the charging part better, and the Ohme Home Pro at £535 does the tariff part better.

The solar-curious should also look at the Zappi vs GivEnergy comparison — GivEnergy's angle is battery-first rather than diverter-first, and the calculus changes if you already own their inverter.

What the Indra's £599 actually buys

The headline spec is modest: 7.4kW single-phase, Wi-Fi, app, RFID, 6-metre cable. Nothing unusual at this money. Look inside the box, though, and two things change the maths.

First, the surge protection device. Most UK installers will either insist on an SPD or strongly recommend one, and fitting it adds £100–£150 to the labour line. The Indra includes it. Second, the CT clamp for solar monitoring, which is typically a £50–£100 add-on elsewhere. Both are in the box.

Net the two against the £599 sticker and the Indra lands in the same effective territory as the Easee One at £405 or the Tesla Wall Connector at £478 — except you get dynamic load balancing, RFID with per-card tracking, and native scheduling for Octopus Intelligent Go, OVO Charge Anytime, Octopus Go and EDF GoElectric. That's a reasonable value story.

The caveats are honest. The app is basic — functional, not polished. The V2G angle is Indra-the-company, not Smart-PRO-the-product. No three-phase option. The installer network is thinner than myenergi's or Ohme's, so get a firm quote before committing.

Solar versus install extras: pick one

The two chargers answer different questions, so the buying decision comes down to which question applies to you.

If you have solar, the Zappi's Eco+ pays for itself in a way no install bundle can match — every kWh the panels send to the car is a kWh you don't buy at peak rate. The £151 premium over the Indra is a rounding error against a few years of surplus diverting. Solar owners weighing the ecosystem angle more broadly should also read the Ohme vs Zappi GLO comparison, which digs into whether the diverter advantage holds up against Ohme's tariff smarts.

If you don't have solar, the Indra's install savings are the only real reason to pick it over cheaper chargers. Ask your installer what they'd charge for a Type 2 SPD. If the answer is £120, the Indra just became a £479 charger. If the answer is "I don't fit them", the story collapses and the Tesla Wall Connector or Ohme Home Pro make more sense.

The verdict

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You have solar panels, or will within the year
• You want (or already own) an eddi or libbi
• You have three-phase and want 22kW

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• Your installer quote already lists an SPD as an extra
• You want British manufacturing and dynamic load balancing without paying Andersen money
• You charge on a supported smart tariff and don't need bleeding-edge app polish

If I had to put one on a wall today, with no solar and a single-phase supply, it would be neither — the Tesla Wall Connector or Ohme Home Pro is the more sensible buy. Give me panels on the roof and the Zappi goes up without much thought. Give me an installer quote with an SPD line-item and the Indra earns its place.