myenergi Zappi GLO vs Indra Smart PRO

£599 vs £395 — and what the gap actually buys

The myenergi Zappi GLO costs £599. The Indra Smart PRO costs £395. That £204 gap is wide enough to matter and narrow enough to agonise over — but the deciding factor is on your roof, not in the spec sheet.

• Zappi GLO — a solar-diverting charger built around Eco+ mode and the myenergi ecosystem. If you have panels, the extra £204 pays for itself in free miles.
• Indra Smart PRO — a budget-smart charger with surge protection and a CT clamp included, designed to minimise total installed cost. British-made, straightforward, and £204 cheaper.

When the Zappi GLO earns its premium

Eco+ mode is the entire argument. It holds the car until surplus solar generation exceeds the minimum charge threshold, then feeds the car from the roof alone — no grid import. Eco mode blends solar and grid. No other charger at this price does both as cleanly. The Zappi GLO also slots into the wider myenergi ecosystem: pair it with an eddi to divert surplus to hot water, or a libbi battery, and the whole house runs a priority queue for every watt your panels produce.

The Indra Smart PRO has a solar mode and ships with a CT clamp, so it is not blind to your panels. But its approach is simpler — it can bias toward self-consumption, not orchestrate a zero-grid charge session the way Eco+ does. For a 4kW array on a good day, the difference between "mostly solar" and "only solar" adds up across a year. If you already own or plan to install panels, the Zappi GLO is the correct charger. The best EV charger for solar guide covers the full field.

The Indra's hidden maths

At £395 the Indra Smart PRO already undercuts most smart chargers. Then you open the box and find a surge protection device — an SPD that installers typically charge £100–£150 to supply and fit separately. The CT clamp for solar and dynamic load balancing are also included. Add those up and the effective hardware cost drops toward £150–£250 once you account for what you are not paying your electrician.

Both chargers sit in the same £400–£600 install bracket, but the Indra's included SPD narrows the real-world gap further. Against the wider market, the only chargers cheaper on paper are the EVEC VEC03 at £349 and the Vorsprung Alpha Max at £265 — neither bundles surge protection. The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 at £400 is the nearest rival, but again, no SPD in the box.

Grant-eligible buyers — renters and flat owners — can claim the £500 OZEV grant, which covers the Indra's £395 unit price outright and chips into the install cost too.

Smart tariffs: a draw, mostly

Both chargers support scheduled off-peak charging on tariffs like Octopus Go and EDF GoElectric. The Indra lists compatibility with Octopus Intelligent Go and OVO Charge Anytime; the Zappi GLO supports smart tariff scheduling through the myenergi app.

Neither charger matches the Ohme Home Pro for tariff automation — particularly on Octopus Agile, where half-hourly rate-chasing matters. On Intelligent Go, the Ohme can negotiate extra off-peak slots that the Zappi does not receive. If tariff optimisation is the priority over solar, the Ohme vs Indra comparison is the more useful page.

For fixed-window tariffs — Go, GoElectric, E.ON Next Drive — both chargers schedule a session identically. No advantage either way.

Other differences worth naming

The Zappi GLO offers a 22kW three-phase option. Most UK homes cannot use it, but if yours can, the Indra is ruled out — it is single-phase only, capped at 7.4kW. The Zappi's 6.5-metre cable edges the Indra's 6-metre cable by half a metre. The Zappi carries IP65 weatherproofing against the Indra's IP54 — a real distinction if the charger sits exposed on a front wall rather than inside a garage. Both carry 3-year warranties.

The Indra is lighter at roughly 5.0 kg versus the Zappi's 5.4 kg and smaller in every dimension, which may ease mounting on tight walls. Its RFID lock includes per-card usage tracking — handy for shared driveways, though the Zappi's RFID supports up to 126 users.

The verdict

Buy the myenergi Zappi GLO if:

• You have solar panels and want Eco+ to charge the car from surplus generation alone
• You plan to add eddi or libbi and want a single ecosystem managing every watt
• You need 22kW three-phase or IP65 weatherproofing

Buy the Indra Smart PRO if:

• You do not have solar panels and want the lowest total installed cost
• The included SPD and CT clamp save you £100–£250 on installation extras
• You want a competent smart charger at £395 and nothing more

Without panels on the roof, the Zappi GLO is an expensive charger solving a problem you do not have. The Indra Smart PRO, with its bundled surge protection and sensible price, is the one to put on the wall. With panels, the arithmetic reverses — and it is not close.