An EV charger is rarely so small that you can cover the front of it with an iPad Mini, yet here we are with the EO Mini Pro 2, a teeny-tiny smart home charger.
Small, inconspicuous and probably a little too plain, the EO Mini Pro 2 is unashamedly simple to look at and use. It’s proof that less can be more, although there are a few things to bear in mind. Our review reveals all.
EO Mini Pro 2 review
Our verdict
The EO Mini Pro 2 is one of the smallest smart home chargers in the world, making it a great choice if you want something inconspicuous. The app requires improvement and an earthing device is needed, but everything else is solid.
Pros
- Small
- Tethered or untethered
- Well made
- Optional solar
- Available in four colours
Cons
- Requires a Garo earthing device
- App needs work
- Tethered version has no cable tidy
Quick review
The EO Mini Pro 2 is a tiny, inconspicuous ‘smart’ home charger available tethered or untethered, charging at speeds up to 7.2kW (single-phase).
It’s well made, available in black, white, grey and blue, and doesn’t need an earth rod if installed with a Garo earthing device. Optionally, you can add load management and solar matching functionality.
Notable missing features include a locking socket and in-built controls. Also, a WORD OF WARNING on installation – unless you use an EO approved installer, the Mini Pro 2 will only work as a plug and play charger with no smart features.
EO Mini Pro 2 models
There are three EO Mini Pro 2 models:
- EM201-PRO-DCL – Untethered
- EM201-PRO-T1-DCL – Tethered Type 1
- EM201-PRO-T2-DCL – Tethered Type 2
Additionally, you can pick up the charger in black, white, blue or grey. All versions are made from ABS, painted in Glasuirt 68 Line Paint.
How easy is the EO Mini Pro 2 to install?
Installation takes around four hours and is relatively straightforward. The EO Mini Pro 2 requires a dedicated 30mA Type A RCD on the supply circuit and has integral 6mA DC leakage detection, so no Type B RCD is required.
The EO Mini Pro 2 doesn’t have “O-PEN” protection built-in. O-PEN detects if the earth is faulty/missing coming into the property and shuts down the charger (if the earth is faulty or missing, and there’s a fault on the charger then the car body could become live).
Garo is an O-PEN device (Matt:e is another make, they do the same thing). So you have two options with the EO Mini Pro 2 (and others with no O-PEN built-in) – you can use the Garo device at an extra cost of about £125 or you can install an earth rod at a cost of around £20. The Garo/Matt:e is the preferred option.
EO recommend a 20A rated supply for a 16A charging station and a 40A supply for a 32A charging station. Your electrics will be rated for 16A or 32A already but may need upgrading depending on how much power you draw.
The EO Mini Pro 2 has an LED indicator for faults. For example, two short red flashes mean there is no earth connection, and four short red flashes mean the Live and Neutral conductors are reversed. The LED indicators are useful for testing, although an electrician will use their own equipment to test the charger.
No earth rod is needed if the charger is installed with a Garo earthing device; however, if this is unavailable, an earth rod should be used.
Installation takes around four hours, providing the existing RCD and electrical connections are robust enough to accommodate the charger.
One workaround with the need for a Garo earthing device is to have the charger installed in a garage and only charge indoors. This way, the EO Mini Pro 2 will use the house earthing and not need a separate earthing device. However, you will only be able to charge indoors – charging outside with this setup is dangerous.
Here’s what the Garo earthing device looks like:
The circuit board inside the EO Mini Pro has a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) that acts as the computer with a separate control board for power control. Both are capable of receiving firmware updates automatically.
EO Mini Pro 2 design
EO markets the Mini Pro 2 as the smallest smart electric vehicle charger, and we can see why. At just 175mm x 125mm x 125mm, a sheet of A5 paper covers it up!
The footprint is so small the EO Mini Pro 2 is perfect for installation on a post, like in this installation below (credit: @EvPoints):
Concerns over durability due to the size are unwarranted – this charger is a robust piece of kit. The case is made from ABS (UL94 HB Fire Rated), and it has IP54 protection, so it’s protected from water spray in any direction.
Because it’s so small, the EO Mini Pro 2 can be installed inconspicuously on posts and even trees. You can also drill through the wall behind the charger, creating a cableless installation from the outside.
We LOVE the design of the EO Mini Pro 2, or rather, the lack of it. It’s effectively a plain box with an EO logo on it. It’s small and inconspicuous, drawing hardly any attention. The only sign it’s on is a three colour LED indicator (green, blue, red).
The supply cable entry is created by drilling a 20mm or 25mm hole through the bottom of the enclosure. CT connections include an output for load management and one for output of solar array for solar charging.
We also like the white model:
The white EO Mini Pro 2 blends in with white and light stone walls and is a better choice when situated next to white installations.
Charging experience
The EO Mini Pro 2 is available tethered (Type 1 or 2) or untethered. If you’re unfamiliar, a tethered charger has a built-in cable, and an untethered charger has no built-in cable, so you need to plug your own cable into the box and then into your car.
We received the untethered version for our review, which isn’t as convenient but has the same features as the tethered version, bar the built-in cable.
Charging with the EO Mini Pro 2 is easy – plug it in, and your car starts charging automatically, providing you have set charging times in the smartphone app.
Although the EO Mini Pro 2 is nothing more than a black box with a charging outlet, I admire its simplicity and hope its successor follows the same lead.
LED status lights
A blue LED status light comes on when the EO Mini Pro 2 is ready to charge. Red means something is wrong, and green means your vehicle is charging. The LED lights also flash during installation.
You control everything with the EO smartphone app (more on this below), so your only real interaction with the EO Mini Pro 2 is handling the cable and plugging it in.
Charging speeds
The EO Mini Pro 2 charges at speeds up to 7.2KW. Annoyingly, you can’t set the charge rate in the EO app; your EO Approved Installer does this during installation.
At 7.2kW, the EO Mini Pro 2 is competitive with other fast chargers in the industry, and the output is impressive for such a dinky home charger.
7.2kW is a sufficient charge speed for most people — charging a Tesla Model 3 with the 75kWh battery from 0-100% takes 10 hours 40 minutes at 7.2kWh. It adds around 30 miles of range per hour.
Tethered or untethered
The EO Mini Pro 2 is available tethered or untethered. Our review unit is untethered, and I prefer the clean, tidy installation it offers. The tethered unit costs around 25% more but is more convenient. EO recommends the cable be stored on a wool hook when not in use (sold separately).
EO Smart Home app
The EO Smart Home App is simple to use and displays all important data, like energy use, charge duration and current session time on one screen.
While the app can be slow, it does the simple stuff fine. A look at reviews on the App Store and Google Play shows people are frustrated with the app experience due to bugs. Hopefully, EO gets this sorted soon.
If you don’t like the EO Smart Home app, you can use your vehicle manufacturer app instead if it has one, turning the EO into a charge point you just plug into.
The EO Mini Pro 2 doesn’t have a physical control panel. Everything is controlled via the EO Smart Home app, available on iPhone and Android.
Connecting is easy – the EO Mini Pro 2 is joined to your Wi-Fi when installed, and you connect your smartphone afterwards. It takes around 3 minutes to get up and running, and the app walks you through creating your account.
App screens
There are four screens in the EO app:
Main Screen
The main screen presents a synopsis of your settings and tells you whether your vehicle is charging. When your vehicle is connected, it displays the charge state, charging rate, energy supplied and the state of charge.
Charging Options
There are three charging options available:
- Off-Peak
- Solar
- Scheduled
These should be self-explanatory, but here’s a synopsis: off-peak means a charging window with reduced electricity rates, solar charging lets you charge from solar power only, and scheduled charging lets you set times the charger will work.
Solar charging
The optional solar charging feature is worth having if you have solar panels because it lets you charge your EV exclusively with solar power. With a small solar panel setup, you should be able to draw around 3.6kW or up to 7kW with a larger solar installation.
We didn’t test the solar charging but our electrician says the feature works perfectly and he would recommend it to anyone with solar panels.
Session Details
Session details are stored in the cloud, letting you view charging sessions at all times whether the vehicle is plugged in or not.
Menu options
Options include help and support, settings, history and your profile.
Firmware updates
Outdated firmware is the main cause of error codes in the EO app. The EO Mini Pro 2 has over-the-air updates with automatic updates, so you get no control over updates.
Customer support
Our installer, ecoEV, says that problems with the EO Mini Pro 2 are rare and get sorted under warranty quickly by EO when they arise. EO Approved Installers are obligated by EO and the OZEV grant to fix issues in a reasonable timeframe.
EO Mini Pro 2 verdict
Smaller than a piece of A5 paper and equipped with simple LED status lights, the EO Mini Pro 2 is the most inconspicuous EV home charger on the market. It’s reliable, well-made, simple to use and gets the job done. However, solar is optional, the app is average, and installation requires an earthing device.
Overall, the EO Mini Pro 2 scores 3.8/5.
Prices start from £449 with the OZEV grant, however, the Garo device is an extra cost of about £125.
Thank you to ecoEV for collaborating with us for this review.
EO Mini Pro 2 documentation
This review was produced in collaboration with ecoEV, expert installers of EV chargers from 7kW to 22kW in Hull. We extend our thanks to ecoEV for the photos used in this review. Be sure to visit them if you like what you see!
