myenergi Zappi GLO vs Ohme ePod

£100 apart, entirely different priorities

The myenergi Zappi GLO costs £599. The Ohme ePod costs £499. That £100 gap is not a quality premium — it is a statement about what each charger was built to do. The Zappi GLO is a solar diverter that also charges your car. The ePod is a tariff-chasing brain that fits in the palm of your hand. Choosing between them is less about features and more about what is already on your roof.

• myenergi Zappi GLO — a tethered, 6.5-metre charger designed around solar surplus diversion and the myenergi ecosystem. £599.
• Ohme ePod — an untethered, 1.48 kg charger designed around smart tariff integration. £499, plus the cost of a Type 2 cable.

The Zappi GLO only makes sense with solar

Eco+ mode is the whole proposition. It monitors your solar generation in real time and feeds only the surplus into the car — nothing drawn from the grid. If your panels are producing 3 kW of surplus, the car gets 3 kW. When a cloud passes, charging pauses. The result: genuinely free miles, provided you are parked during daylight hours.

Pair it with myenergi's eddi (hot-water diverter) or libbi (home battery), and the entire house becomes a single energy-routing system. No other charger at £599 offers that depth of integration. The GivEnergy EV Charger at £444 ties into GivEnergy's battery ecosystem, but its solar diversion is less mature than the Zappi's, which has had years of iteration.

Without solar panels, none of this applies. The Zappi GLO becomes a £599 charger whose headline feature you will never use. On a grid-only home, the ePod does more for less.

The ePod's hidden cost — and hidden advantage

The ePod's £499 price is deceptive. It ships without a cable. A decent 5-metre Type 2 lead runs £100–£200, which pushes the real outlay to £599–£699 — matching or exceeding the Zappi GLO. Factor that in before treating the £100 gap as settled.

Where the ePod earns its keep is tariff intelligence. It carries the same API integration as the Ohme Home Pro — a direct line to Octopus, British Gas, and others. On Octopus Intelligent Go, at 8p/kWh, it negotiates extra off-peak slots beyond the standard 23:30–05:30 window. The Zappi GLO supports smart tariffs but does not get those additional slots. On Octopus Agile, the ePod chases half-hourly pricing automatically; the Zappi relies on broader scheduling.

The built-in 4G SIM is the other quiet advantage. The Zappi GLO needs Wi-Fi, which is fine if your router reaches the drive. If it does not — detached garage, end of the garden — the ePod connects on its own. The trade-off: the ePod has no Wi-Fi fallback, so check your mobile signal at the mounting position before ordering.

Size and installation

The ePod weighs 1.48 kg. The Zappi GLO weighs roughly 5.4 kg. That is not a marginal difference — it is the gap between a device that hangs off a bracket and one that needs proper fixings into masonry. For renters, flat owners, or anyone with a narrow wall beside a shared path, the ePod's footprint is a material advantage. Its IP54 rating means it should sit under some shelter; the Zappi GLO's IP65 is happy fully exposed.

Both are OZEV-approved, so eligible renters and flat owners can claim the £500 grant. On the ePod at £499, that covers the unit outright and contributes towards install costs. On the Zappi GLO at £599, the grant leaves £99 on the hardware before install.

Which to buy

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You have solar panels and want surplus diversion — Eco+ is the best in the residential market
• You already own, or plan to buy, other myenergi hardware (eddi, libbi)
• You prefer a tethered charger with a 6.5-metre cable included in the price

Buy the Ohme ePod if:

• You do not have solar panels and want the smartest tariff integration for the money
• You need cellular connectivity because Wi-Fi does not reach your charging spot
• Wall space is tight, or you want an untethered socket so the cable lives in the boot

For most grid-only homes on a smart tariff, the ePod is the sharper buy — once you accept the cable surcharge. For solar homes, the Zappi GLO remains the default. If you want Ohme's tariff brain with a built-in cable and display, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 is the tidier middle ground — and our solar charger guide covers the wider field for panel owners weighing their options.