ICS W7C EV Charger Review

Google Shopping probably brought you here. Or your electrician.

A search for EV chargers brings up a myriad of products, with the ICS EV charger – the ICS W7C – popping up frequently with few reviews to see.

The ICSW7C ‘Intelligent EV Charger’ is something of an oddity. Barely spoken about online, it’s mostly known in electrician circles as a dependable charger that offers excellent value for money.

Our ICS EV charger review reveals everything you need to know. The model under review is the ICS W7C, an untethered charger that costs around £899 with installation.

The ICS EV charger is also available as a tethered unit called the ICS WT7C. It has the same features but has a tethered cable.

Quick review

As untethered chargers go, this is a good one. The ICS W7C is easy to use and reliable, with a decent app, a handy LCD display readout and an RFID card with scan to charge. It’s an easy install and the internals are all of a high-quality.

Downsides? It isn’t small AND it has no support for solar charging, even optionally. But all things considered, the ICSW7C is highly recommendable.

How easy is the ICS W7C to install?

The ICS W7C has a standard installation with PME earth fault monitoring compliant with BS7671 regulation 722.411.4. This means it doesn’t need an earth rod in TN-C-S PME installations (where the neutral and earth are combined in one conductor (the PEN conductor) on the supply side of the installation).

The ICS W7C comes with a first-fix metal backplate that mounts the charger on the wall with minimal drilling, and it can be mounted on a wall or post safely. The first-fix base makes installation easier because the electrical box is attached to the metal base. The charger cover is fitted afterwards and it just clicks into place.

Providing no modifications are required to your electrical installation, the ICSW7C takes around an hour and a half to install including all tests. However, this depends on the amount of residual work needed.

ICS W7C design

The ICS Intelligent EV Charger has an Alienware style design that’s sleeker in real life than it looks online, reflecting light in interesting ways.

The front is gloss black plastic and the unit is rated for IP55 ingress protection, so it’s suitable for outdoor installations on a wall or post.

Measuring 360 x 260 x 146 mm, it’s taller, wider and thicker than the untethered EO Mini Pro 2, appearing gigantic next to the EO. However, the curved front end creates the illusion of a smaller device, and it isn’t offensive by any means.

A more apt comparison is the Hypervolt Home 2.0, which is relatively big, yet is still smaller across all three dimensions (328 x 243 x 101 mm). Could ICS make the charger smaller? Yes, and I hope they do for the next iteration!

Below the ICS logo, there’s an LED status light bar and an LCD screen. The 2.8″ LCD display shows the charging mode, charging time, charging output and connectivity, giving you information at the source – we wish more smart home chargers had one of these! It makes life that little bit easier.

The ICS W7C has an RFID reader for card activation or you can scan the QR code displayed on the screen to set it up. Scanning the card can activate and deactivate the charger, making it easy to charge and override schedules.

Above the charge port, there’s a configurable physical button that can start and pause charging, deactivate RFID cards and cycle charging modes.

Connectivity

The ICS W7C has 2.4G WiFi connectivity to connect to your home network, but it also has 4G connectivity with an integrated SIM. To insert a SIM card, you pop off the front cover plate and insert the SIM into the angled corner on the left. There’s also a hot spot mode that makes it easy to connect your smartphone to the charger.

We like the integrated SIM card and wish more EV chargers had one because home Wi-Fi isn’t always reliable.

Charging speeds

Somewhat confusingly, the ICW7C is labelled ‘7kW’ or ‘7.2kW’ online but rest assured there is only one model – the W7C – which charges at 7.2kW.

The ICS W7C charges at speeds up to 7.2kW, adding around 28 miles of range per hour. This is up there with the fastest charge speeds available with single-phase power – the only higher speed is 7.4kW which offers imperceptible gains.

Of course, the charger can be configured by the installer to charge at slower speeds if required (for example, if your power supply isn’t robust enough to cope with the maximum charge speed).

Charging experience

The ICS W7C can be configured for scheduled charging, where it will make charging available during time slots. Scheduled charging sessions are created in the ICS software/app and you can add multiple sessions for your week.

Because the ICS W7C is untethered, you need your own Type 2 cable. Untethered chargers look cleaner than tethered chargers because they don’t need a cable tidy, but they do create an extra step in the charging experience.

The ICS EV charger is also available as a tethered unit called the ICS WT7C. It has the same features but has a tethered cable.

When the ICSW7C smart charger is ready to charge, the blue LED status light illuminates. When charging, it flashes slowly. When the charger meets capacity (you can set it to charge for a certain length of time) it beeps and flashes.

You can also override scheduled charging using the app or at the source with an RFID card. The card makes life easier since you don’t need your phone.

Plugging into the charger, there’s no creakiness to the body. The charger connects with a satisfying connection and the ICS W7C locks the cable. To release the cable, you deactivate the charging mode and press the release button.

Overall, this is a nice charger to use.

iCS Lite app

The free version of the app is called iCS Lite. Setup is simple – the app requests the charger’s serial number with the app scanning for the charger with the hot spot enabled. You don’t need to insert any payment information.

Once paired, you can add charge schedules, control smart charging and enable or disable the charger in the app.

Setting a schedule is simple:

• Open the schedules screen
• Click the plus icon to add schedule
• Select a time
• Select repeat mode
• Set charge duration
• Create a label
• Save
• Activate and deactivate via the toggle

You can also start and delay scheduled starts within the app. Here’s a breakdown of the features in the ICS 2.0 Lite app:

• Start and stop charging
• Manage RFID cards
• Usage information
• Scheduled charging
• Smart charging
• Multiple drivers per charger
• OZEV usage reporting

App screens

The app is nicely laid out with several screens for information. The menu for the screens is displayed at the bottom.

The main menu items are as follows:

• Group: This screen shows the chargers in your network with a toggle for stations and schedules. Clicking a charger opens the charger info screen with staus, smart charging mode and any schedules created.
• Record: This screen keeps a complete record of all your charging sessions. The default record folders are 30-days and 1-year. The charging sessions are dated with a start time and an end time with a kWh field to show the power drawn.

Charger updates

You update the ICSW7C charger via the app. The settings menu has a section for firmware – all you need to do is click update if an update is available. The settings menu also displays rated power, device type, connector type, serial number and model.

Customer support

ICS responds to customer queries within 24-hours on average and they have a dedicated support page. They don’t have a significant review presence online but customers like their chargers and the company. Faults related to hardware and warranty issues are resolved by the installer with ICS picking up the tab.

Several electricians have vouched for ICS’s good customer service. The technical helpline can be called on 01253 791888.

ICS W7C EV Charger verdict

The ICS W7C is well-made and easy to install, inspiring confidence at every stage of installation. It’s one of only a handful of smart untethered EV chargers out there, and although it’s bigger than most, the app is good and the in-built screen is very useful.

The only thing that lets it down is the design. Taste is subjective but this charger is neither inconspicuous nor particularly handsome. However, you might love it, and it’s certainly more interesting than a black box like the EO Mini Pro 2.

Overall, this charger is a solid 4.1/5.

ICS charger alternatives

The Rolec WallPod is a decent option. It’s available tethered or untethered as a smart or dumb charger, charging at speeds up to 7.2kW.

Another option is the Sync EV charger (read our Sync EV review). It has RFID and optional 4G. We rated it 4.2/5.

ICS W7C documentation

• Datasheet

I hope you enjoyed this ICSW7C review. Do you have the ICS W7C intelligent home charger? Help out the Top Charger community by sharing your own review below!