Easee One vs Ohme Home Pro: which should you go for?

The Easee One and Ohme Home Pro are two of our best-selling electric vehicle charge points, and for good reasons.

Both charge points offer a great list of features at similar price points, so which one should you go for? Let's get started!

 

 

An overview of both charge points

The Easee One and Ohme Home Pro are both single-phase 7kW charge points meaning that they will add around 30 miles of range per hour depending on your vehicle.

Excluding the charging cable attached to the Ohme Home Pro, both chargers are similarly sized with the Easee only being a few millimetres taller and thicker than the Ohme.

One of the main differences between the two however is that the Easee One is an untethered home charge point as standard, whereas the Ohme is tethered and has a charging cable attached.

That means for the Easee One you'll need to have your own EV charging cable handy in order to use it. You'll likely get one with your new EV anyway or you can purchased one on our website or add it at checkout when you pay for your installation.

 

Pricing

The Easee One EV charger is slightly cheaper starting at around £918 or from £12.54 a month with installation (see our home EV charger installation explained guide for more information on what affects install price) or £499 for the charger only if you want to arrange for your own electrician to install it.

The Ohme Home Pro starts from £936.90 or £12.79 a month with installation or £612 for the unit only.

You can also buy the Ohme with an 8-metre cable, which will set you back an extra £95.

If you want to add solar capabilities to the Easee then you'll need to purchase and install the Easee Equalizer, which costs an extra £187. While the Ohme offers similar solar functionality straight out of the box, the Easee Equalizer can be installed at a later date if you wish to add solar EV charging after you've installed solar panels for example.

Finally, the Easee comes with swappable front covers but if you want any other colour than black then it will set you back an extra £35.

 

Design and Hardware

In our opinion, the Easee One EV charger comes out on top in terms of "kerb appeal".

The charger's angular and minimalist design is sure to look great on any wall it's installed on. Plus, the swappable faceplates make the Easee a great choice for those who like extra colour options.

You also get the ability to "daisy chain" multiple Easees on one circuit (up to three chargers to be exact) for extra expandability if you need it. Although you might want to see our guide on why you might not need two home charge points before you hit the x2 button on those Easees.

The Ohme Home Pro is by no means an ugly duckling but it is certainly a home charger that has more function over form.

Another point of comparison is the cable storage. While the Easee One will be used as an untethered charger by most drivers, therefore storing the cable in the car boot, it can be used like a tethered charger by locking the cable into the unit.

In this scenario, the cable storage is a little unwieldy when using the Easee U-Hook - which does not come as standard and is arguably too small for the amount of cable it's expected to have wrapped around it.

In contrast, the Ohme Home Pro comes with a larger and more robust cable hook, as well as a handy holster for the charging plug - plus they come as standard.

You do get an interactive screen with the Ohme Home Pro, however, which is handy for making changes to things like your target charge or starting a max charge session without having to take your phone out of your pocket.

 

Tethered or untethered (or both?)

Whether you're team tethered or untethered is a matter of personal preference.

If you verging on the side of tethered, then you can't do much better than the Ohme Ohme Pro in its price bracket.

The permanently attached 5m cable is light and flexible without feeling like it will break after years of use. The option to upgrade the cable length to 8m is also a big bonus, although it would be nice to have a 10m cable option like the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro for those with big driveways.

It is worth noting that Ohme does make an untethered charger called the ePod which is smaller than the Home Pro but sacrifices the built-in screen.

While the Easee One does mean you'll need to provide your own charging cable, the charger looks tidier on the wall. Having a universal socket also means that you can choose your own cable length with the added bonus of being able to use a Type 1 cable for older vehicles.

And if you're indecisive between tethered and untethered, the Easee One has another trick up its sleeve in the form of cable locking. At the tap of a button on the app, the Easee One can lock onto a connected cable turning the charger into a tethered unit. You can even buy a cable hook if you decided that you prefer the tethered form of the Easee One.

 

Getting online

Both chargers (as do all smart home electric vehicle chargers) require an internet connection in order to use features such as charge scheduling and reporting charge session costs.

With the Home Pro, Ohme has opted for a mobile data connection, via a universal SIM rather than a WiFi connection for internet connectivity. This not only means that the charger is connected to the internet as soon as power reaches it but it also saves the faff of potentially having to move your router or buy extenders if your WiFi range doesn't reach.

The only downside is that you might face connection issues with your charger if you live in an area with poor mobile coverage - the Ohme range of products may even be a no-go if your mobile signal is weak where you want the charger locating.

The Easee One, however, can use both WiFi and mobile data to connect to the internet giving you the versatility of both.

Both Easee and Ohme have stated that there will be no charge for the mobile data connection throughout the lifespan of the charger.

 

Charging your EV with your PV (aka solar panels)

Although it's a feature that is still in development as of writing, any Ohme ev charger installed after January 2023 has the ability to charge an electric vehicle using solar panels via "Solar Boost".

The way it works is not that easy to explain, so we'll let Ohme do the explaining in its own words:

The Easee One cannot charge vehicles via solar panels natively and instead requires the Easee Equalizer to enable the feature, which costs extra but can be installed at a later date after your Easee charger installation.

While the Equalizer is an added extra, it has more options than Ohme's current solar capabilities, including:

Surplus only - Charges your car exclusively via surplus power from your solar panels, using no grid energy whatsoever.

Surplus off - Uses only grid energy to charge a connected electric vehicle

Limited grid usage - Allows you to restrict the amount of grid energy your Easee uses whilst also using the max amount of surplus solar energy available.

Find out more about solar EV charging and why it might not be as great as you think in our solar charging article.

 

The smartphone app on both units

Both charge points have highly polished apps that are purpose built and easy to use. If I had to come off of my comfy spot on the fence, I would go for the Easee as its accompanying app is so simple to use that my grandmother can use it (and she does!).

The Ohme companion app is still incredibly intuitive to use and you should not be put off. However, it does have a larger suite of advanced features which may make it seem a tad more daunting to those who only want basic charging features.

But there is really very little in it.

 

API-days

Ohme's biggest trump card is its industry leading software, which comes loaded with features that make life as an EV driver more convenient.

To start, the Ohme can be fine tuned to charge a car based on how many miles, battery percentage or number of kWh you want to add. You can even set the Ohme to pre-condition a connected car's battery and even turn on its air conditioning/heating before you get in it too.

To pull off all these features, the Ohme connects to your vehicle via what's called an Application Programming Interface (API) which is done by giving the Ohme app your car's login details (if it has them).

There is a caveat to this however. Not all carmakers allow external companies to access their API details, meaning you might miss out on some features, such as what Ohme calls "precise charging" where you set a percentage charge target.

If your car is manufactured by one of the companies below, then you're in luck and will be able to use the features above:

• Audi

• BMW

• Cupra 

• Hyundai 

• Jaguar 

• Land Rover

• Kia

• Mini

• Nissan 

• Renault

• Skoda 

• Tesla

• Volkswagen

• Volvo

 

Setting charging schedules

But what about setting a simple charge schedule so that you can take advantage of any off-peak rates you might have? Well, like all smart chargers, both the Easee and Ohme can do this as standard.

Setting a charge schedule on the Easee app is a straightforward process with the user having the ability to set a start and end time for their charging session based on each day of the week. There's also an ability to set a one-off schedule or start an instant charge if you need it but other than those, the Easee on its own doesn't offer anything further.

Ohme on the other hand does things differently. Instead of asking for a start and stop time, Ohme just asks when you want a connected vehicle to be ready by (and to what battery percentage) and what days you want the schedule to apply to. Ohme then automatically calculates when to start and stop a charge based on those parameters.

But what if your tariff has an off-peak rate and you only want to charge during those hours? Well again, Ohme does things differently. When you first set up your Ohme app, it will ask what energy tariff you are on and find your energy rates. Once your Ohme has this information, you can set a price cap which prevents any charging taking place over your off-peak rate, for example.

 

EV tariff integration

With Ohme's ability to communicate with energy providers, their chargers can integrate with smart energy tariffs like Intelligent Octopus Go and OVO Charge Anytime natively without the need for a compatible electric vehicle.

This is something that other providers like Easee are rumoured to be working on but right now if you want to switch to Intelligent Octopus Go but don't have an EV that's on Octopus' compatibility list, then an Ohme charger is the only way to go.

You can find out if your car is eligible for Intelligent Octopus Go or OVO Charge Anytime by using our cost to charge tool.

 

 

Easee One or Ohme Home Pro: Which should you buy?

If you are after ease of use and versatility, go for the Easee One. Its app is dead easy to use, solar functionality can be added and the handy ability to swap its faceplate for different cover colours as well as switch between being a tethered or untethered charger makes the Easee a very user friendly unit, especially for those who are new to EV charging or are a bit technophobic.

If you're wanting to take your home EV charging game to the next level with features such as smart tariff integration however, the Ohme Home Pro should definitely be on your shortlist. Ohme's software remains unrivalled in its capabilities and I am confident in saying that this will continue to be the case for years to come. So if you want a charger that will be at the forefront of innovation, get an Ohme charger whether that is the tethered Home pro or ePod.