Easee One vs Andersen A3

£489 or £900 — what does £411 actually buy?

The Easee One and the Andersen A3 deliver identical power to your car. Both are 7.4kW, single-phase, OZEV-approved, and rated IP54. The electricity that reaches the battery does not know which box it left. The £411 between them is not an electrical argument — it is an argument about materials, appearance, and how long you want the warranty to last.

• Easee One — £489. The lightest charger on the market at 1.5 kg, untethered, with built-in RCD protection that cuts install costs. Three-year warranty.
• Andersen A3 — £900. Anodised aluminium, 247 finishes, a hidden 5.5-metre cable, and a seven-year warranty. The charger you buy when the driveway is part of the house.

The install maths favour the Easee One twice over

Start with the sticker: £489 against £900. Then factor in what happens when the electrician arrives. The Easee One has a built-in Type B RCD and open-PEN detection — components that most other chargers, the Andersen A3 included, require the installer to add at the consumer unit. That typically saves £100–£200 in labour and parts. So the real installed gap is closer to £500–£600 in many homes.

For grant-eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — the £500 OZEV grant covers the Easee One's £489 unit price outright and puts the remainder towards the install. On the Andersen A3, the same £500 brings the hardware down to £400, but you still face a higher install bill without the built-in protection. The total out-of-pocket difference is stark.

The Easee is also untethered, which cuts both ways. No cable dangling from the wall when the car is elsewhere — the frontage stays clean. But you carry the cable, plug it in every session, and store it somewhere. The Andersen's hidden cable system is the opposite trade-off: a 5.5-metre tethered lead retracts inside the unit, invisible when stowed. It is the neatest cable management on the market, and there is nothing else like it. Whether that is worth £411 depends entirely on how much the wall matters to you.

The Andersen's real case — and its limits

The A3 is not a smarter charger than the Easee One. Its software is competent: it integrates directly with Intelligent Octopus Go and OVO Charge Anytime, which is more than the Easee manages — the Easee's scheduling is manual, with no tariff API. But if tariff intelligence is the priority, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 does it better than either, and for £361 less than the Andersen. Buyers torn between the A3 and a genuinely smart charger should look at the Ohme vs Andersen A3 comparison.

What the A3 does that nothing else can: it looks like furniture. Anodised aluminium fronts in 247 combinations — wood inlays, colour-matched paint, finishes that sit alongside a period front door without embarrassment. The seven-year warranty is the longest on the UK residential market, and the build quality is designed to justify it. This is a charger for a house where the driveway is visible, the exterior is considered, and a white plastic box would feel like an afterthought.

The constraint is the 5.5-metre cable. There is no longer option. If the mounting point sits more than about four metres from the charge port — a long garage wall, say, or a shared parking area — the cable will not reach. The Easee One, being untethered, lets you bring whatever length of Type 2 cable you like.

Connectivity and the 4G question

The Easee One has a built-in eSIM with lifetime 4G at no ongoing cost — a genuine advantage where Wi-Fi signal is weak at the wall. The Andersen A3 is Wi-Fi only. For a charger often mounted on an exterior wall at the far end of a house, Wi-Fi dropout is not hypothetical. If your router is two rooms away and the signal is patchy, the Easee stays connected; the Andersen may not. Worth thinking about before the installer drills the holes.

Which to buy

Buy the Easee One if:

• You want the lowest total installed cost — hardware plus electrician
• Your charger sits in a garage, carport, or anywhere it will not be seen
• You need 4G backup because Wi-Fi does not reach the wall

Buy the Andersen A3 if:

• The charger is visible from the street and kerb appeal matters to you
• You want the longest warranty on the market — seven years
• A hidden, retractable cable is worth paying double for

For most buyers, the Easee One is the right answer. It charges identically, installs more cheaply, and stays connected where the Andersen cannot. The £411 you save could buy an Ohme Home Pro and leave change — and you would have a smarter charger as well. The Andersen A3 is a beautiful object with a warranty to match. If the wall is the point, it earns its price. If the charging is the point, it does not.