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TeslaCharger

№ 30 · Reviewed · 2026 review

Vorsprung

Alpha Max

Price checked 14 Jul 2026
Updated By Joe McGrath

Review verdict

Vorsprung Alpha Max decision summary

Vorsprung Alpha Max. What stands out: £264.95 on Amazon — the cheapest OZEV-approved unit in this round-up, £135 under the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 and £84 under the EVEC VEC03. The current unit price is £265, with a typical installed total of £665–£865. The main limitation: The same charger is sold with three different warranties: 3 years on Amazon and in Vorsprung's FAQ, 5 on its product page, 1 at B&Q.
Unit only
£265
VAT included
Installed estimate
£665–£865
derived market estimate
Warranty
3 years (5 claimed on Vorsprung's product page, 1 at B&Q)
Grant position
Approved unit
Customer and property eligibility is separate

What stands out

£264.95 on Amazon — the cheapest OZEV-approved unit in this round-up, £135 under the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 and £84 under the EVEC VEC03

Main limitation

The same charger is sold with three different warranties: 3 years on Amazon and in Vorsprung's FAQ, 5 on its product page, 1 at B&Q
Read the evidence ↓View current price (affiliate) → (opens in new window)

The installed range is an estimate. The source date above is separate from the editorial review date.

Vorsprung Alpha Max — product shot

£264.95 on Amazon for the untethered unit, and on the government's eligible-chargepoint list — the cheapest OZEV-approved charger in this round-up, £135 under the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 and £84 under the EVEC VEC03. Vorsprung's own shop wants £294.95 for the same box and B&Q £299.95, so it holds that position at any of the three prices.

The caveat that decides whether the price means anything, up front: the Alpha Max has no line into any energy supplier. It is not on Octopus's list of chargers that can join Intelligent Octopus Go — a list most of the chargers here are on, running from the Ohme Home Pro at £539 down to that same Sync Energy at £400, which is £135 more than this one and on it. For most buyers that is the hidden cost that turns a cheap charger into an expensive one: a year of off-peak pricing is worth a great deal more than £135.

For a Tesla it doesn't apply, and the reason is worth being exact about. Octopus reaches a Tesla through the car's own API, not through the wallbox: its Intelligent Go setup guide for Tesla owners has you link the car in the Octopus app, and says in plain words that no smart charger device is required. The car does the job the charger can't, so a Tesla household can hang the cheapest listed box on the wall, leave it permanently enabled, never open its app, and charge on the Intelligent Go rate anyway. The catch is the exact shape of the exception. It holds only while the drive contains a car Octopus can talk to directly. Replace the Tesla with an EV that Octopus can only reach through the charger, and the Alpha Max is a timer again.

The warranty is the other thing to settle before paying. Amazon's listing and Vorsprung's own FAQ both say three years. Vorsprung's product page badges five. B&Q, selling the same charger, says one. Three is the number two of its own channels print — get it in writing from whoever takes the money.

Best for: Tesla owners on Intelligent Octopus Go who want an OZEV-listed box on the wall for as little as possible, and have no intention of asking it to think.

Installation

Fitting the Vorsprung Alpha Max.

380 × 169 × 151 mm on a dedicated 32A single-phase circuit, with the output adjustable down to 6A where the supply is tight. PEN fault protection is built in, which usually removes the need for a separate earth rod. Over-current, over-voltage, under-voltage and leakage protection are on the list as well — but no RCD type is stated for the leakage device, so assume a Type A still goes in at the consumer unit and price the job that way. The Easee One at £489 is the charger that puts a Type B RCD in the case and takes £100–£200 off the labour for it; the Alpha Max is £224 cheaper and does not. Vorsprung sells the hardware and not the fit, so the labour is a separate bill from a separate trade.

The untethered unit is IP55 and ships with no cable — the socket takes a Type 1 or Type 2 lead, whichever the car came with. The tethered version is IP65, arrives with a 5-metre Type 2 cable attached, and costs £54.50 more at £319.45. That gap is mostly the cable. Both ratings carry a 5 as the water digit, so both units are rated against jets from any direction; what IP65 adds is dust-tightness, not rain resistance, and a retailer's "IP65 weatherproof" badge does not mean the cheaper box leaks. Which is just as well, because the tethered SKU is the one to avoid: at £319.45 it is dearer than the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2, which starts at £302 with a longer cable. Full walkthrough in our home charger install guide.

Specification

Max Power Output
7.4kW (single-phase, 32A); adjustable 6–32A
Connector
Type 2 socket, untethered (no cable supplied); tethered 5m version sold separately
Connectivity
Wi-Fi, Ethernet
Protocol
OCPP 1.6J
Access
RFID (two cards supplied)
Dimensions
380mm × 169mm × 151mm
IP Rating
IP55 (untethered) / IP65 (tethered) — same water rating; the tethered unit adds dust-tightness
Protections
PEN fault, over-current, over-voltage, under-voltage, leakage (RCD type not stated)
Certification
OZEV-approved, residential (model codes 20321/BCP-B2N-P and 20320/BCP-A2N-P)
Warranty
3 years on Amazon and in Vorsprung's FAQ; 5 years on its product page; 1 year at B&Q

Tariff compatibility

What it costs to run.

Intelligent Go is covered above: with a Tesla the charger is a bystander and Octopus schedules the car; without one, the tariff is out of reach, and the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2, tethered from £302, is the cheapest way back onto it. Everything else is manual.

Scheduling happens in the charger's own app, and even that is unresolved. The listings sell a free Powerverse app; owners in the Amazon reviews describe pairing the unit with Monta instead, and checking that the charger and the app agree on an OCPP URL. Both can be true of an OCPP 1.6J charger — the protocol is what lets the box be pointed at an open back-end rather than one company's cloud — but it is not a tidy out-of-the-box story, and app pairing is the recurring complaint in the reviews.

On a two-rate tariff like Octopus Go, none of that matters much: set the off-peak window once in the app and leave it alone. On Octopus Agile, where the price moves every half hour, it is the wrong charger — the Ohme Home Pro reads tomorrow's prices and books the cheap slots itself. For the pattern across the market, see our smart-tariff chargers guide.

Best pairing

EDF GoElectric

Off-peak rate
6.99p
Saving / year
£546

Estimated at 10,000 miles a year against the 26.11p/kWh standard rate.

Compare every tariff

Price

What you actually pay.

The unit is currently £265. £400–£600 is the working installation range, putting a typical installed total at £665–£865. Rounded from £264.95 for the untethered model.

Five-year total

£1,764

Charger, installation, and five years of electricity on EDF GoElectric, at 10,000 miles a year.

Less £500 if you qualify for the OZEV grant.

Against the field

How it compares.

The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 is the comparison that decides it. Socketed, the Sync is £400 — £135 more than the Alpha Max, and for the £135 it adds solar diversion through a CT clamp, IP65 with IK10, and a place on Octopus's Intelligent Go list. Tethered, the argument collapses: the Sync starts at £302 with a 7.5-metre cable, £17 under the Alpha Max's tethered SKU and still on the tariff list. The case for this charger is the untethered price or nothing.

Against the EVEC VEC03 at £349: £84 cheaper untethered and £30 cheaper tethered-for-tethered, and what the EVEC gives back is a cable in the box, a Type A RCD with 6 mA DC leakage detection, and a warranty stated as one number rather than three. Against the Tesla Wall Connector at £475: £210 cheaper, and grant-listed where the Tesla isn't — but the Tesla brings a 7.3-metre cable and a four-year warranty nobody disputes. Against the Ohme Home Pro at £539: £274 cheaper, and the Ohme is what you buy if you want the tariff automation to outlive the car. That is the one thing the Alpha Max cannot promise.

What we loved

  • Plus£264.95 on Amazon — the cheapest OZEV-approved unit in this round-up, £135 under the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 and £84 under the EVEC VEC03
  • PlusOn the DfT's eligible-chargepoint list (20321/BCP-B2N-P, 20320/BCP-A2N-P), so the £500 OZEV grant applies if you rent or own a flat
  • PlusWith a Tesla on Intelligent Octopus Go, the car does the scheduling — the missing supplier API costs you nothing
  • PlusPEN fault protection built in, which usually removes the need for a separate earth rod
  • PlusOCPP 1.6J — it can be pointed at an open back-end rather than one company's cloud
  • PlusOutput adjustable 6–32A, Wi-Fi or Ethernet, RFID access with two cards supplied

What we didn't

  • MinusThe same charger is sold with three different warranties: 3 years on Amazon and in Vorsprung's FAQ, 5 on its product page, 1 at B&Q
  • MinusNo supplier API, and not on Octopus's list of chargers that can join Intelligent Octopus Go — the automation only exists if the car provides it
  • MinusSell the Tesla for an EV Octopus can't reach directly and the charger drops back to a fixed timer
  • MinusNo RCD type stated, so budget for a Type A at the consumer unit — the EVEC VEC03 and Easee One both put one in the box
  • MinusUntethered unit ships without a cable; the tethered SKU is £54.50 more and still £17 above the Sync Energy's tethered version
  • MinusWhich app you end up in is unclear — the listings sell Powerverse, owners describe pairing with Monta, and pairing is the recurring complaint in the reviews
  • MinusOnly the Alpha Max is OZEV-listed; the cheaper Vorsprung models are not

After the evidence

Ask installers to price this exact charger.

The installation brief carries Vorsprung Alpha Max as your preference, together with the property and parking details needed for a useful response.

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