myenergi Zappi GLO vs Andersen A3

£599 for solar logic, £900 for hidden cables

These two chargers barely compete with each other. The myenergi Zappi GLO exists to turn rooftop sunshine into miles — its Eco+ mode is the best domestic solar-diversion system on the market. The Andersen A3 exists to make your driveway look like it was designed by someone who cares. Both do the fundamental job — push 7kW into a Type 2 socket — but the £301 between them buys entirely different things.

• Zappi GLO — £599, solar diverting in three modes, 6.5-metre cable, 3-year warranty. The charger for people who own panels.
• Andersen A3 — £900, hidden cable system, 247 finish combinations, 7-year warranty. The charger for people who own a nice house and would like it to stay that way.

When the Zappi GLO earns back its price — and when it doesn't

The Zappi GLO's party trick is Eco+. In this mode, the charger waits until your solar panels are generating enough surplus, then feeds that — and only that — into the car. No grid import. On a decent summer day with a 4kW+ array, that is free miles. The standard Eco mode blends solar and grid power to maintain a minimum charge rate, which is more practical in spring and autumn when generation is patchy.

This makes the Zappi GLO the obvious choice for solar households. It also plugs into the wider myenergi ecosystem — pair it with an eddi for hot-water diversion or a libbi home battery and the whole system talks to itself. For a deeper look at how it stacks up against other solar-friendly options, the best EV charger for solar guide covers the full field.

The catch: without panels, none of this matters. At £599, you are paying for solar intelligence you cannot use. A buyer without solar who wants smart-tariff scheduling is better served by the Ohme Home Pro at £539 — it negotiates half-hourly slots on Octopus Agile in a way the Zappi does not.

What the Andersen A3's £301 premium actually buys

It buys materials and design. The A3's front panel is anodised aluminium, not plastic. The cable retracts inside the unit when not in use — no other charger in the UK catalogue does this. And the 247 colour and finish combinations mean you can match it to your front door, your render, your taste. For a wall-mounted appliance that sits next to the house for a decade, that is not nothing.

It also buys warranty. Seven years is the longest cover on the UK market — more than double the Zappi GLO's three. If longevity matters to you, the maths are worth doing: amortised over seven years, the A3 costs roughly £129 a year; the Zappi GLO over three years costs £200. The Andersen gets cheaper the longer it lives.

What it does not buy is better software. The Andersen app handles scheduling and supports Intelligent Octopus Go and OVO Charge Anytime, but the smart features are competent rather than sophisticated. There is no solar-diversion mode worth the name, no ecosystem of companion devices, no RFID for shared driveways. The cable is 5.5 metres — a full metre shorter than the Zappi's 6.5 — and there is no longer option. If your parking spot is more than about four metres from the mount, the A3 will not reach.

IP rating is another quiet difference. The Zappi GLO is IP65 — fully sealed against dust and water jets. The A3 is IP54, which handles rain but not a sustained hosing. Both will survive a British winter. The Zappi will survive a pressure washer.

The warranty gap matters more than it looks

Three years versus seven is a significant spread. Chargers are simple devices — solid-state power electronics, a contactor, a cable — but the cable is the wear item, and the A3's hidden-cable mechanism adds a moving part that could, in theory, need attention. Andersen's willingness to cover it for seven years suggests confidence in the design. myenergi's three-year term is standard for the industry but unremarkable. Buyers who want a longer guarantee without the Andersen price tag might look at the Simpson & Partners Home 7, which offers ten years at £649.

Which to buy

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You have solar panels — Eco+ mode is the entire argument
• You want RFID access for a shared driveway (up to 126 users)
• You are already in, or planning, the myenergi ecosystem with eddi or libbi

Buy the Andersen A3 if:

• The charger is visible from the street and you want it to look deliberate
• A 7-year warranty matters more to you than a lower unit price
• You do not have solar panels and the Zappi's main advantage is irrelevant

For most buyers, the Zappi GLO is the more rational purchase — it does something no other charger at its price does as well. The Andersen A3 is not irrational, but it is a design object first and a charger second. If your panels are already on the roof, the decision is already made. If they are not, and the charger sits beside a handsome front door, the A3 earns its keep in a way a spec sheet will never capture.