myenergi Zappi GLO vs Simpson & Partners Home 7: solar or warranty?

Solar diverter or ten-year enclosure?

These two chargers are priced close enough that the decision sits on a single question: do you have solar panels on the roof? If yes, the myenergi Zappi GLO is built around you. If no, the Simpson & Partners Home 7 is the better £649 than the Zappi is a £750.

• myenergi Zappi GLO — £750, and worth every pound if surplus solar is going to feed it.
• Simpson & Partners Home 7 — £649, UK-made, ten years on the enclosure, and doesn't ask you to justify a feature you won't use.

When the Zappi's £101 premium earns itself back

Eco+ is the reason this charger exists. It waits until the panels are generating more than the house is drawing, then shunts the surplus into the car — free miles from the roof, no grid kWh billed. Eco mode blends solar and grid; Eco+ is the purist setting. If you already own an eddi for hot water or a libbi for battery storage, the Zappi GLO slots into the same app and behaves like part of a single system rather than three separate gadgets.

Without panels, none of that matters. You're paying £101 for a solar computer with nothing to compute, and the Zappi's smart-tariff handling is manual — schedule-based, not API-driven. On a fixed-window tariff like Octopus Go that's fine. On Octopus Agile, where rates move every half hour, the Ohme Home Pro at £535 does the job better and costs less. Solar buyers who also want proper tariff automation should read the Ohme vs Zappi GLO comparison before committing.

What the Simpson & Partners actually gives you for £649

A ten-year enclosure warranty, anodised aluminium, and finish options that include Accoya wood and Cotswolds Green — a charger designed on the assumption that a front driveway is a front driveway. The Andersen A3 plays the same design card at £995; the Simpson & Partners Home 7 plays it at £649 and throws in three-phase support.

Two caveats. First, the ten-year cover is on the enclosure, not the electronics — those get three years, same as the Zappi and most of the field. Second, the installer network is narrower than the household names. Before you order, confirm a local fitter is comfortable with it; it's the single thing that trips up buyers who jump straight to the cheapest quote.

The app is adequate rather than polished, which is the honest word for it. Scheduled charging works, smart-tariff windows work, energy monitoring works. If you were hoping for Ohme-grade software, you won't get it here — but you won't get it on the Zappi either.

Cable, power, weatherproofing

The Zappi's tethered cable is 6.5 metres; the Simpson & Partners is 5. For most driveways either is enough, but if the car parks nose-in and the charge port is on the far corner, measure before you buy. Both offer untethered versions if you'd rather carry your own cable.

Both do 7kW on single-phase and 22kW on three-phase — fewer than 5% of UK homes have three-phase supply, so this is a quiet bonus rather than a deciding factor. The Zappi is rated IP65, the Simpson & Partners IP54; both survive British weather, but the Zappi has a small edge if the unit sits fully exposed.

OZEV-wise, both are approved, so the £500 grant applies if you're a renter or flat owner. On either charger, that wipes out a big chunk of the unit price and contributes to install costs too.

The verdict

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You already have solar panels, or they're quoted for this year
• You own or plan to own a myenergi eddi or libbi
• IP65 matters because the unit will sit fully exposed

Buy the Simpson & Partners Home 7 if:

• You don't have solar and aren't planning it
• Finish and front-of-house design matter — Accoya wood, Cotswolds Green
• You want a long warranty and a local fitter who can actually install it

If we were picking one to put on a wall today, the question is the roof. Solar on it: Zappi GLO, no hesitation. Nothing on it: Simpson & Partners Home 7, and pocket the £101. The Zappi is a specialist tool; buying it without the specialism is how you end up with £101 of wasted capability bolted to a wall.