The 7kW decision that quietly halves your fuel bill.

Public rapid charging in the UK runs 55–85p/kWh; roughly the same per-mile cost as a 50mpg petrol car. The 'EVs are cheap to run' headline is built entirely on the assumption that you charge at home.

Home charging on a flat tariff is ~28p/kWh, or about 8p/mile in a typical EV. Home charging on a time-of-use overnight tariff (7p/kWh) is around 2p/mile; a third the cost of public rapid charging and a fifth of petrol.

If your day-to-day driving fits a home-charging pattern (returns to a parking space with a cable, drives under ~200 miles a day), the maths is decisive. If it doesn't, the EV decision itself needs more thought, not just the charger one.

A 7kW charger adds about 25–30 miles of range per hour. Plug in at 7pm, fully charged by 7am. For 95% of UK homes this is plenty; overnight is long enough.

22kW chargers need a three-phase electrical supply, which most UK houses don't have. Upgrading is £3,000–£8,000 if your street supports it, often impossible if it doesn't. Pay for it only if you have a genuine need (multiple EVs, very short charging windows, or commercial use).

Skip the 11kW option entirely. It requires three-phase but doesn't materially out-charge a 7kW on overnight schedules; niche use case, rarely worth the cost.

UK homes are typically supplied with 60–80A single-phase. A 7kW charger draws 32A continuously while charging. Add a kettle (10A), oven (32A), shower (40A) and you've blown the supply. Without load balancing, your main fuse trips at the worst possible moment.

Proper load balancing (a CT clamp on the incoming main, paired with the charger's app) lets the charger throttle itself down to avoid overload. Every charger sold in 2026 should have this; but cheap installs skip the CT clamp fitting, which is the bit that makes it work.

Insist on smart load balancing as part of the install. The certificate should show the CT clamp installed and the configuration tested. Without it, your charger is a future trip-the-house event waiting to happen.

Modern chargers (Zappi, Ohme, Easee, Hypervolt) can monitor your solar generation and divert excess export to the car instead of selling it to the grid at 5p/kWh. Properly configured, this delivers genuinely free EV miles whenever the sun is out.

The integration is dramatically easier at the same install as the solar (one electrician, one CT clamp installation, one commissioning). Retrofitting it afterwards typically requires a second site visit and £200–£400 of additional electrical work.

If solar is anywhere in your plan, even in 18 months' time, specify a solar-aware charger now. The few hundred pounds extra at install saves the retrofit cost later.

Intelligent Octopus Go (5h of 7p/kWh, smart-scheduled around your charging needs) is the default winning answer for most UK EV drivers in 2026.

Octopus Flux suits households with solar and a battery; it pays a high export rate during evening peak.

EDF GoElectric and OVO Charge Anytime are competitive alternatives if you're not in Octopus's footprint. Don't stay on a flat-rate tariff once the charger's in; it's leaving £400–£800 a year on the table.