Don’t want a cable on show? Get an untethered EV charger.
Untethered chargers sacrifice convenience for looks. Simply put, untethered chargers don’t have a cable looped around them or dangling from a hook, creating a cleaner installation that blends in with your house.
Sure, going tethered makes life easier because the cable is ready to go, but for many, the ability to remove the cable (and upgrade it!) is a massive plus. Our article on tethered vs untethered goes into the pros and cons in more detail.
If you want an untethered charger, we’ve listed your best options below. All the chargers we’ve recommended have been expertly reviewed by our team.
Let’s jump in!
Best untethered chargers
- Best overall: Indra Smart Pro
- Most stylish: Easee One
- Smallest: Sync EV
- Best for solar: Zappi v2
- Good all-rounder: Pod Point Solo 3
- Worth considering: ICS W7C
Of these, the Indra Smart PRO and Easee One stand out the most.
Best overall: Indra Smart Pro
The Indra Smart Pro is the joint best EV charger we’ve ever reviewed, achieving an impressive score of 4.5/5. It’s available tethered and untethered with an in-built display and has the best web app we’ve used (powered by Kaluza). It’s so good the Indra Smart Pro makes our list of the best EV chargers.
You should buy the Indra Smart Pro if tariff integration and smart scheduling are your priorities. If you have an EV tariff or another dual-rate tariff, you can set it to only charge between certain times and at certain prices, ensuring the cheapest possible charge. The web app is easy to use, and the overall charging experience is top-notch.
A common misconception with the Indra Smart PRO is that it doesn’t have Wi-Fi. While the charger only ships with Ethernet, there is a port in the charger for a 2.4/5GHz Wireless USB Wi-Fi Adapter or 4G dongle.
Read our Indra Smart Pro review for the full picture.
Most stylish: Easee One
The Easee One is the most stylish EV charger we’ve reviewed and also one of the top 4, achieving an impressive score of 4.4/5. This is an untethered charger only, but it has a cable lock so you can attach your cable permanently to the unit.
It also boasts RFID, a lifetime 4G eSIM and a decent app. The product is built to an extremely high quality with an LED light strip for at-a-glance status viewing. It’s available in matte black of matte white, with the black model my preference. You should buy the Easee One if you want a stylish charger that always gets the job done.
A unique feature of the Easee One is you can have 3 charging units on one fuse, so you can run two or three chargers from one electrical installation. The additional units piggyback off a single fuse, simplifying multi-charger installs.
Read our Easee One review for the full picture.
Smallest: Sync EV
The Sync EV is a great charger, full stop. It’s our favourite small, untethered charger, with RFID as standard. The app is average, but it’s reliable, and the front of the charger has a handy LED status light ring.
Like the Easee One, the Sync EV requires no earth rod. You can set custom charging rates in case you have periods of high loads, such as 32-amps and 16-amps. It has Wi-Fi and Ethernet; Ethernet is more reliable but means feeding it with a cable. Another option is 4G, although you need to supply your own roaming SIM card.
The build quality is solid, and the charging experience is decent. We gave it 4.2/5 in our review. A charger that is often compared to the Sync EV is the EO Mini Pro 2, but this has a very poor app and a simple LED status light.
Read our Sync EV charger review for the full picture.
Best for solar: Zappi v2
The Zappi v2 is a brute of an untethered charger that is extremely popular with people who generate renewable energy at home. It has terminals for solar, wind and micro-hydro feeds, making it the best option if you want to move off-grid.
The Zappi v2 has excellent ratings online, and our review gave it a commendable score of 4.3/5. We marked it down due to the sheer size of the unit, and the fact you need a separate device, the Myenergi Hub, to use smart features. The hub is sold separately, and it adds complexity to the system, although the setup is easy.
The build quality is up there with the best and the in-built screen is very handy. The app is good bordering on average. There are ECO and ECO+ charging modes for renewable energy and there’s a boost mode for maximum power at any time.
Read our Zappi v2 review for the full picture.
Good all-rounder: Pod Point Solo 3
The Pod Point Solo 3 is a stylish untethered charger that works well with schedules, charging at 7kW on a 32A single-phase supply. The app is simple but works well, and you can add your tariff kWh prices to accurately track charging costs at home.
We like the design and think it’s one of the best-made untethered chargers. A notable missing feature is a boost mode to override schedules. Other than that, it’s a good option if you want a stylish and reliable home charger.
Read our full Pod Point Solo 3 review.
Worth considering: ICS W7C
The ICS W7C is a solid untethered charger. We gave it 4.1/5 in our review because it has a decent app, RFID support and an in-built display for at-a-glance status viewing. It requires no earth rod and is a robust piece of kit.
The downside to the W7C is the size of the unit and the design. It’s huge and not particularly good looking. We don’t mind ugly chargers providing they are inconspicuous, but this thing stands out like a sore thumb (if you like the design, this isn’t a problem). Other than this, and no solar support, it’s a good option.
Read our ICS W7C review for the full picture.
Overall
Overall, the best untethered EV charger is the Indra Smart PRO, followed by the Easee One and then the Sync EV. Here’s a recap:
- Indra Smart PRO – solar, great, tariff integration, reliable, in-built display.
- Easee One – stylish, lifetime 4G eSIM, RFID, piggyback 3 units on one fuse.
- Sync EV – small and inconspicuous, RFID, decent app.
- Zappi v2 – solar, wind and micro-hydro feeds, reliable, well made.
- Pod Point Solo 3 – stylish, simple app, in-built earthing
- ICS W7C – cheap, well made, good app, RFID
Overall, you can’t go wrong with any of these untethered EV chargers.
Another option is the Anderson A2. Although it is tethered, the cable is hidden within the casing until you need it, creating a neat untethered look.
If you want a dumb charger, the QUBEV charger is your best bet, charging at speeds up to 7.2kW. You control it via your vehicle app.
If you are just starting your search for an EV charger, read our article on how to choose an EV charger.
