Hypervolt Home 3 Pro vs Andersen A3

The £275 question

Both chargers push 7.4kW through a Type 2 tethered cable. Both schedule around off-peak tariffs. Both are OZEV-approved. The Hypervolt Home 3 Pro costs £625. The Andersen A3 costs £900. That £275 difference buys nothing electrical — no extra kilowatt, no faster charge, no additional phase. It buys aesthetics, materials, and a longer warranty. Whether that matters depends entirely on where the charger goes.

• Hypervolt Home 3 Pro — £625, IP66 + IK10, cable options up to 10 metres, 3-year warranty (extendable to 5). The competent generalist.
• Andersen A3 — £900, 247 finish combinations, hidden retractable 5.5-metre cable, 7-year warranty. The one people photograph.

Build and placement — where the Andersen earns its keep

The Andersen A3 is not a charger that pretends to be anything other than furniture. Anodised aluminium front panel, wood-effect or bespoke colour-matched finishes, a cable that retracts entirely into the body when you're done. No other domestic charger on the UK market hides its cable. If your charging point sits beside the front door, visible from the street, the A3 looks like it was designed by someone who cares about the house — because it was.

The Hypervolt Home 3 Pro is a different kind of well-built. IP66 means it laughs off a pressure washer; IK10 means it survives an impact that would crack a plastic housing. The Andersen's IP54 rating is adequate for rain, but it is not in the same durability class. For a side-passage install, a garage wall, or anywhere exposed to weather and the odd wheelie bin, the Hypervolt is the more sensible choice. It is also lighter — roughly 4.5 kg against the Andersen's 7.5 kg — which matters less once it's on the wall, but your installer will notice.

Cable reach and flexibility

The Andersen's hidden cable system is its party trick and its constraint. At 5.5 metres, it is fixed — no option to go longer. The charger must sit close to where the car parks, or the cable will not reach.

The Hypervolt starts at 5 metres (at the £625 price point) but offers 7.5-metre and 10-metre tethered options for more. A 10-metre cable is the longest available on any UK home charger. If your drive is deep, your garage offset, or you park two cars in different spots, that reach is worth more than any finish option. Measure the run from the proposed mounting point to the charge port — if it is over 5 metres, the Andersen is out of the conversation.

Smart features and tariff support

Neither charger is a tariff-chasing specialist — that title belongs to the Ohme Home Pro and its half-hourly rate optimisation. Both the Hypervolt and the Andersen handle scheduled charging competently. The Andersen integrates directly with Intelligent Octopus Go and OVO Charge Anytime, letting the supplier manage the session. The Hypervolt offers broader smart tariff integration and throws in a CT clamp for solar diversion — no extra hardware, no extra cost. The Andersen supports solar too, but the Hypervolt's inclusion of the clamp in the box is a tangible saving for anyone with panels.

If tariff intelligence is the priority rather than appearance, £625 on the Hypervolt leaves £275 in your pocket — or, more usefully, pays for a chunk of the install. Buyers who want the deepest possible tariff optimisation should look at the Ohme Home Pro vs Hypervolt comparison instead.

Warranty — the Andersen's quiet advantage

Seven years, no upsell. That is the Andersen's strongest non-aesthetic argument. The Hypervolt's base warranty is three years; extending to five costs £100, bringing the effective price gap to £175 — but still leaving the Andersen two years ahead. For a product bolted to the outside of a house and used daily, warranty length is not trivial. The Simpson & Partners Home 7 offers ten years at £649 for buyers who want longevity without the Andersen's price tag, though it lacks the design credentials.

Which to buy

Buy the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro if:

• The charger sits on a side wall, in a garage, or anywhere not on public display
• You need a cable longer than 5.5 metres
• You have solar panels and want the CT clamp included

Buy the Andersen A3 if:

• The charger will be visible from the street and you care about how the house looks
• You want the longest warranty on the market without paying extra
• You value the hidden cable — no dangling Type 2 lead between sessions

For most driveways, the Hypervolt is the right answer. It is tougher, more flexible on cable length, cheaper by £275, and does the same electrical job. The Andersen A3 is for the smaller group of buyers who treat the charger as part of the house, not just a thing bolted to it — and who are willing to pay accordingly. If that is you, the Andersen is the only charger on the market that takes the brief seriously.