Zaptec Go 2 vs NexBlue Point 2

Two V2G-ready chargers, £104 apart

Both the Zaptec Go 2 and the NexBlue Point 2 are untethered, V2G-ready, lightweight, backed by five-year warranties, and ship with subscription-free 4G. On paper they look like siblings. The difference is £104 — and what each brand chose to spend its engineering budget on.

• Zaptec Go 2 — £638. V2G-ready with a MID-approved energy meter, three-phase capability up to 22kW, and an established (if not enormous) UK presence. Scheduling is manual; tariff optimisation is your job.
• NexBlue Point 2 — £534. V2G-ready with OCPP 2.0.1, EcoPilot tariff automation, solar surplus via included CT clamp, and the newest open-protocol support in the catalogue. The brand is young and the UK install network is still growing.

What the Zaptec's £104 premium buys

Three-phase support. That is the single concrete advantage the Zaptec Go 2 holds over the NexBlue on a feature-by-feature reading. On a three-phase supply, the Go 2 delivers up to 22kW — roughly triple the 7.4kW single-phase rate. If you have three-phase power at home (fewer than 5% of UK households do), the Zaptec is the obvious pick and the NexBlue cannot compete.

For the other 95%, the premium is harder to justify on specs alone. The Zaptec carries a MID-approved energy meter — useful if you claim mileage for work or need legally certified readings for a shared supply. The NexBlue lacks that certification. But beyond those two items — three-phase and MID metering — the NexBlue matches or exceeds the Zaptec in every software category, for £104 less.

The NexBlue's software edge

EcoPilot is the feature that separates the NexBlue Point 2 from the Zaptec in daily use. It integrates with time-of-use tariffs — Octopus Intelligent Go, Octopus Agile, and others — to schedule charging around the cheapest half-hour slots automatically. The Zaptec's app handles basic scheduling, but the optimisation is left to you. On a flat-rate tariff like a standard variable, neither charger's software matters much. On Agile, where rates shift every 30 minutes, the difference between manual scheduling and automated slot-chasing is measured in pounds per month.

The NexBlue also includes a CT clamp in the box for dynamic load balancing and solar surplus diversion — the latter requiring the optional NexBlue Zen accessory but no additional sensor hardware. The Zaptec offers load balancing but has no solar diversion path of its own. If you have panels and want a single-box solution, the NexBlue is the more complete package at this price — though solar buyers chasing the most mature diversion logic should look at the myenergi Zappi GLO instead.

OCPP 2.0.1 is a quieter advantage. The Zaptec supports OCPP 1.6J; the NexBlue supports both 1.6J and 2.0.1. The newer protocol matters for future energy management platforms — particularly as V2G trials scale and aggregators need richer device communication. Whether that matters today is debatable. Whether it matters over a five-year warranty period is a more interesting question, and the NexBlue hedges it for free.

The brand-maturity question

This is where the Zaptec earns its keep for cautious buyers. Zaptec is a Norwegian company with a meaningful installed base across Scandinavia and a growing — if not dominant — UK network. NexBlue is newer to the UK market. Long-term reliability data does not yet exist. The five-year warranty offers protection, but warranty claims are only as good as the company honouring them in year four.

If brand track record is a significant factor for you — and for a piece of hardware bolted to your house for a decade, it reasonably might be — the Zaptec is the less adventurous choice. If you want tariff automation from a fully established brand and are willing to forgo V2G readiness, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 remains the benchmark for smart-tariff charging. The Ohme Home Pro vs NexBlue Point 2 comparison covers that trade-off in detail.

Which to buy

Buy the Zaptec Go 2 if:

• You have or plan to install a three-phase supply — it is the only charger here that scales to 22kW
• You need a MID-approved energy meter for business mileage claims or shared billing
• You prefer a more established brand and accept manual tariff scheduling

Buy the NexBlue Point 2 if:

• You are on a single-phase supply and want tariff automation included at £534
• You have solar panels and want load balancing and surplus diversion from one box
• You value OCPP 2.0.1 and ISO 15118 readiness for future energy platforms

For most single-phase homes on a time-of-use tariff, the NexBlue Point 2 offers more charger for less money. The tariff automation alone — something the Zaptec simply does not do — is worth more than £104 over the life of the unit. The honest caveat is NexBlue's youth as a UK brand. If that gives you pause, the Zaptec is a sound, if less feature-rich, alternative. If it does not, the NexBlue is the smarter buy.