Choosing an EV charger: tethered, untethered and everything else

Decision one: tethered or untethered

This is the question everybody asks and the one with the least universally right answer. A tethered unit has the lead permanently attached, so charging is a ten second job and nothing lives in the boot. It also means the cable is outdoors year-round, coiled on a hook where it collects grit and, on exposed streets near the coast, salt. Leads are replaceable but not cheap.

An untethered unit is a socket. You plug your own cable in at both ends, which is fifteen seconds of extra faff and a wet cable in the boot afterwards. What you gain is a tidier wall, a unit that suits any car regardless of connector, and easy replacement if a cable gets damaged. Households with two electric cars, or anyone who expects to change car within a few years, tend to be happier untethered. Households with one car in one spot for the foreseeable future usually prefer tethered.

One practical tie-breaker: where the charge point has to be mounted somewhere passers-by can reach it, a socketed unit with a locking function is less inviting than a lead hanging in the open.

Decision two: how much power

Almost every home on Teesside has a single-phase supply, and 7kW is what that supports. It adds roughly 25 to 30 miles of range per hour, so a battery that arrives home with 20 percent left is full by morning with hours to spare. That is enough for the overwhelming majority of drivers.

Slower 3.6kW units still have a place: a plug-in hybrid with a small battery does not benefit from more, and a property with a tight main fuse and a lot of electric heating occasionally cannot support the full rate without load management. Faster 22kW units require an actual three-phase supply, which domestic properties here rarely have, and a car with a three-phase onboard charger, which most do not. Buying 22kW capability into a single-phase house achieves nothing except a bigger invoice.

Decision three: cable length and mounting position

More installations are regretted over cable length than over brand. Five metres is the standard and it works when the car parks nose-in with the charging port on the near side. Seven or even eight metres solves the awkward cases: ports at the back of the car, wide driveways, a spot where the car has to sit at an angle, or a household where two vehicles swap positions. The cost difference between a five and a seven metre lead is modest and it is the upgrade people most often wish they had taken.

Mount the unit where the cable can reach without stretching over a bonnet or lying across a walkway. Waist height keeps the connector clean and out of standing water. Avoid positions directly under a leaking gutter or above a gas meter, and think about whether the unit will be visible from the street, which some households care about and others do not.

Decision four: smart features worth having

All new domestic units in Britain are smart by law, but the quality varies enormously. What genuinely matters:

• Tariff integration. A unit that talks directly to your energy supplier's EV tariff and lets the supplier optimise charging usually beats one you have to schedule manually, because it chases the cheapest half hours rather than a fixed window.
• Reliable app and connectivity. Check whether the unit uses your home wi-fi, an ethernet cable or its own mobile connection. Wi-fi at the far end of a detached garage is a common cause of a "faulty" charger that is nothing of the sort.
• Energy reporting. Per-session kilowatt-hours, exportable, matters for anyone claiming business mileage or splitting costs.
• Load management. A current clamp on the incoming supply lets the unit reduce its rate when the oven, shower and immersion are all on. It prevents nuisance tripping and is essential on properties with a lower main fuse rating.
• Access control. A PIN, app lock or RFID card if the unit is somewhere accessible.

Features that sound impressive and rarely earn their keep: colour screens, vehicle-to-home claims that your car probably cannot support, and proprietary ecosystems that only work with one supplier's other products.

Decision five: build quality, rating and warranty

The unit will live outdoors through North Sea weather for a decade. Look for a robust ingress protection rating suitable for outdoor mounting, impact resistance if it sits where a wheelbarrow or car door might catch it, and a temperature range that covers a proper Teesside frost. Coastal properties around Redcar, Saltburn and the Headland should ask specifically about salt exposure, since corrosion around the connector and fixings shows up years before anything else fails.

Warranty length is the honest quality signal. Three years is common, five is better, and what matters as much as the term is who honours it: a manufacturer with a UK presence and a spares supply, or an importer who may not be there in year four. Ask the installer which brands they have had to warranty-claim on and what happened, because they will know.

A sensible default

If you want the short answer: a 7kW smart unit from an established manufacturer, untethered with a seven metre cable if there is any chance of a second vehicle, tethered with a seven metre lead if there is not, a five year warranty, load management enabled, mounted at waist height on the wall the car parks against, paired with an overnight EV tariff. That specification suits the large majority of Teesside driveways and rarely gets regretted.

Costs for each variation are in the Teesside cost guide, the grants guide covers who can knock £350 off, and if you already have a unit that is showing its age the replacement page explains what a swap involves.