Wallbox Pulsar Plus Review

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Who said small couldn’t be mighty? The Wallbox Pulsar Plus is one of the smallest smart home chargers money can buy, yet it can charge at speeds up to 22kW (three-phase) and 7.4kW (single-phase).

Things are good for Wallbox right now, with the company going public in October via a SPAC on the NYSE, listed under the ticker symbol WBX. The Pulsar Plus is their best-selling charger. The question is, should you buy it?

Short answer – yes! Read our Wallbox Pulsar Plus review to find out why.

Price when reviewed: From £988 with installation (no OZEV).

We recommend

Wallbox Pulsar Plus

The Pulsar Plus has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DC leakage protection and load balancing. It’s a small, well-made smart charger ideal for residential areas.

Buy On Amazon

2022 update

• The Wallbox Pulsar Plus now has solar integration as standard, so you can charge with solar panels.

2023 update

Wallbox has launched the Wallbopx Pulsar Max.

Quick review

In a sea of chargers that do the same job, the Wallbox Pulsar Plus stands out with an innovative LED status ring and an excellent mobile app.

The charging experience is as good as it gets and the charger’s footprint is tiny. It’s one of the smallest home chargers money can buy.

The build quality is solid and you get a 5m cable as standard. The app lets you schedule charge times and there’s a Power Boost mode that gives you access to the fastest charging speed instantly, overriding schedules.

Downsides? It’s tethered only, the cable tidy is primitive (on account of the charger being so small), and the app isn’t class-leading. Ohme and Hypervolt have better apps, although the Wallbox app is by no means bad.

Overall, though, this is a great charger and worth the money!

Is the Wallbox Pulsar Plus easy to install?

The Pulsar Plus is as easy as it gets for an electrician to install, taking two to three hours depending on your electrical installation.

Thanks to in-built earthing protection, no earth rod is required. It needs to be installed with an external Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) with a max of 32A or less and a Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) Type A.

For 7.4kW power single-phase is required, while 11kW and 22kW configurations require three-phase power, so are most suited to businesses and car parks.

The build quality is excellent and the circuitry is impressive. The circuit board has the Wallbox logo so it isn’t a generic piece of hardware. Everything is packed into the case to keep the size as small as possible.

Wallbox Pulsar Plus Design

How interesting can a black plastic box be? The Wallbox Pulsar Plus is proof that small home chargers can be stylish without silly gimmicks.

It has an innovative LED ring that communicates its current status clearly and everything is controlled via the myWallbox app, so all you need to do is plug the cable into your car (providing your scheduled charge mode is ready).

However, while the LED ring is useful, it can’t be dimmed or switched off when charging, turning it into a very bright night light (Wallbox is adding this feature soon).

A hack to reduce ring brightness is to buy 70% VLT tint and stick it to the front of the charger. But why should you have to? Come on Wallbox!!

The best word to describe the design is refined. It’s one of the smallest home chargers we’ve reviewed (166mm x 163mm x 82mm), and at 82mm thick, it’s significantly slimmer than the EO Mini Pro 2 which is a much fatter 125mm.

The gloss black front and matte black sides help the Wallbox Pulsar Plus blend in, but the LED ring ensures charging status is easy to see.

You can get the Pulsar Plus with an optional holster. The holster fixes to the wall and holds the charger head. It’s a neat solution and preferable to a hook, although the cable looks a bit fussy wrapped around the charger (see photo above).

The Pulsar Plus is also available as a white unit, which blends in with light walls:

Overall, the design is interesting, and we love the LED halo.

Connectivity

The Wallbox Pulsar Plus connects to your home Wi-Fi and requires a strong connection for smart features to work. Like all W-Fi chargers, connectivity issues can happen however you can also connect to it via Bluetooth. Bluetooth will let you access charging if your Wi-Fi ever gives up on you, so you always have the ability to charge.

With Bluetooth activated, you do not need a Wi-Fi connection to manage and control the Wallbox Pulsar Plus, although Wi-Fi is necessary for voice control.

Voice control

The Wallbox Voice Assistant uses Google Assistant, letting you start or stop a charging session, lock, or unlock your charger, set a charging schedule, and more. Setting it up is simple and once activated you can control your charger with your voice. You can set up voice control to work through your Android smartphone or Google Home.

Charging speeds

The Pulsar Plus is tethered (no untethered version is available) and it comes as standard with a 5m cable with a 7m cable optional. It charges Type 1 or Type 2 vehicles at 7.4kW on single phase power and Type 2 vehicles up to 11kW and 22kW on 3-phase power, so it is right up there with the fastest chargers on the market.

Power Boost

An optional feature, Power Boost is a dynamic load feature that monitors your home’s live energy use and adapts charging speeds accordingly. In other words, it makes sure your charger doesn’t knock out your lights, refrigerator and other electrics, which can happen when your charger draws too much power.

Charging experience

You set charging schedules in the app and can manually enable charging at any time, with the app connecting to the Pulsar Plus via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. If you have a schedule ready, all you need to do is plug the cable into your car.

You can set the charger to charge your car to a certain level like 80% and charge at certain times and intervals. You can take advantage of off-peak energy rates, monitor your charger status and access real-time energy statistics.

The charger is robust and feels incredibly solid, with the charger head a good size with a grippy surface. It slots into a holster when not in use.

Status lights

Understanding the Pulsar Plus’s LED status lights is simple:

• Green – ready to charge
• Turquoise – standby / charge complete
• Turquoise blinking – scheduled charge mode ready
• Dark blue slow blinking – charging
• Yellow – locked
• Red – error
• White roulette movement – firmware update

The lights are also synchronised in the myWallbox mobile app.

myWallbox app

The myWallbox app is one of the better EV charging apps on the market with reliable connectivity over Bluetooth (Wi-Fi can be a hit and miss).

You need a stable Wi-Fi connection, otherwise, the charger is dumb, although you can still control it via your vehicle.

Uniquely, the app is also available on the Apple Watch and Android Wear, so if you have a smartwatch, you can control charging from your wrist!

Getting started is easy:

• Download the app
• Register for a myWallbox account
• Confirm your email
• Sign in

Once signed in, you enter your charger’s serial number and UiD to add it to the app and connect to the charger via Bluetooth.

The app has the following features:

• Remote control of the charging speed
• View charging history, consumption, energy costs
• Track added battery power (kWh)
• Real-time information about the status of your connection
• Real-time information on the speed of charge and charging time
• Remote lock and unlock
• Access Customer Support right from the app

It’s reasonably responsive and reliable and we love the way the charger’s LED ring synchronises with the app, giving you colour-coded status information. The Bluetooth range is less than 32.8 feet so you need to stay inside that range.

Compared to most apps, the Wallbox is decent, although it isn’t as good as Ohme’s app (the Ohme Home Pro is a better charger overall).

Firmware updates

Thanks to over-the-air firmware and software upgrades, the Pulsar Plus simplifies updates and doesn’t need user intervention. Some chargers don’t have this feature and require you to download and install updates yourself. The Wallbox makes life easier in this sense, so it’s a good choice if you want a charger that’s easy to maintain.

Customer support

Wallbox isn’t a small company – they are publicly listed! As such, they have an excellent customer support service you can find here. They answer emails within 48-hours, although a phone number is difficult to find. I’ve saved you the hard work:

• Email: service@wallbox.com
• Phone number: +44 203 808 76 82

Issues related to warranties and other technical problems are resolved by Wallbox Approved Installers.

Wallbox Pulsar Plus verdict

Our time with the Wallbox Pulsar Plus was very pleasant indeed. It didn’t miss a beat, and the app gets better when you use it a few times.

With a small footprint, a unique LED light ring and support for single-phase and three-phase power, the Wallbox Pulsar Plus is an excellent home charger.

It has solar integration and a neat set of features like Bluetooth (in case the Wi-Fi won’t work) and an Android Wear and Apple Watch app.

Downsides? It doesn’t support dynamic tariffs (kWh price caps) and the cable tidy system is basic (wrap it around the charger), although Wallbox sells a cable holder you can use to tidy the cable.

Overall, the Wallbox Pulsar Plus scores 4.2/5.

Wallbox Pulsar Plus documentation

• Installation guide
• Technical datasheet

Wallbox Pulsar Plus alternatives

The best alternative to the Wallbox Pulsar Plus is the Ohme Home Pro, another small smart charger. The Ohme has a better app and an in-built display and control panel.

If you’re not bothered about an in-built display, the Sync EV charger is another good alternative. It’s a little cheaper with RFID.

The Pod Point Solo 3 is another good charger. It’s stylish and easy to use, with a simple but intuitive app that lets you set charging schedules and add tariff details (kWh prices) to track costs. Read our Pod Point Solo 3 review.

If you’re not sure how to choose an EV charger, our guide covers everything you need to know.

Do you have the Wallbox Pulsar Plus? Help out the Top Charger community by sharing your own review below!