Andersen A2 EV charger review

There's no denying it, the Andersen A2 charge point is a stunning-looking charge point that is bound to make a statement on any wall it's placed on.

All that style comes with a hefty price tag that will put many buyers off however, so you would hope that you get a lot of kit to match the pretty face.

Fortunately, that is the case as the Andersen features a power output of up to 22kW, two cable length options, solar built-in and a bunch of design features that make the home charge point experience feel a lot more premium.

Let's talk about that design

At first glance, some people might mistake the Andersen A2 for being an untethered charge point due to the lack of visible cables when the EV charger is not in use.

But the Andersen A2 is a tethered unit that comes with a hidden cable solution that involves coiling the charging cable around a recess located between the front panel and back panel and placing the connector in a handy cubby hole on the top.

Initially I found storing the cable a little tricky because the plug didn't always line up with the cubby hole at the top, which meant I had to unwind it and wind it up again a little tighter or looser to ensure the plug aligned with the the top.

But I soon got used to this and for day-to-day use I found the Andersen EV charger's cable tidy solution much better than other chargers where you need to wrap the cables around the main unit of the charge point, such as with the waEV-Charge EV1 or the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro charger.

The hidden cable solution does put the Andersen A2 on the big side however, coming in at 34cm wide by 49cm tall.

In terms of cable length you get two choices, 5.5 metres and 8.5 metres.

Cleaner and lighter cables

When taking a closer look at the Andersen A2, you will find that inside the cable storage has cleaning brushes that line the recess.

While these brushes won't keep the cable absolutely spotless, they do well at keeping water and surface grime off the cable. More often than not, it means you are handling a clean and dry cable whereas the cables on other products are more exposed to the elements.

Plus, the Andersen A2 comes with the "Evoflek" cable which it claims is the lightest and most flexible on the market. While I can't prove that particular claim, it was much lighter and more flexible than any other cable I have used.

Colour options galore

The Andersen A2 comes in a range of colour options too - more than 126 combinations to be exact.

As standard, the Andersen A2 comes with a choice of nine metal finishes for the front and body, which can be selected individually to create the ideal combination for your home.

For an extra £200 you can have your Andersen A2 fitted with an Accoya Wood front which comes in a choice of four different shades: Cotswold oak, Sorong Teak, French Walnut and Charcoal.

There's even a limited edition Carbon Fibre front panel which will set you back an extra £320.

The only product that comes close to the level of customisation of the Andersen EV charger is the Simpson and Partners Home 7 series, which has 107 colour combinations albeit without the option of a wood front.

Using the Konnect+ app

Just like the charge point it controls, Andersen's dedicated app (called the Konnect+ app) looks as pleasing to the eye as the Andersen itself.

While the app carries all the features you would expect in a smart charger, if you want super smart features such as tariff synchronisation and target charging then you are better off considering an Ohme charger.

UPDATE: Andersen has discontinued the Konnect+ app in favour of a new app which it simply calls the Andersen app. It retains a gorgeous visual appeal, however Andersen have opted for a softer theme for the new app with a classic-looking font for the wording. The app also adds handy visuals onto the home screen, such as a widget that tells you how much the current charge session is costing you.

Charge scheduling

Like all smart chargers, the Andersen A2 can be scheduled to charge a connected vehicle at particular times.

In my experience setting up schedules was easy and straightforward with the option to set as many schedules as you wanted for added flexibility.

You can even name schedules, which I can see being handy for those who work shifts or have an energy tariff that changes its off-peak hours depending on the time of year like EDF GoElectric Overnight.

You can even enter your energy tariff into the Konnect app's settings and the app will automatically generate a schedule based on its off-peak rate.

Using this feature might require a bit of user tweaking however; when I tried making a schedule based on my tariff (Octopus Go), it created a schedule between 01:00 and 05:29, which is 30 mins behind the the actual off-peak window of 00:30 and 4:30am.

UPDATE: When it comes to scheduling, the new Andersen app mimiks its predecessor by retaining all the scheduling features seen above.

Tracking costs and energy usage

Speaking of energy tariffs, the Konnect app can track energy costs and usage after either selecting your tariff from the tariff section or entering your peak and off-peak rates manually.

As with scheduling, however, I did have to manually adjust the peak and off-peak price after selecting Octopus Go from the tariff section as the default prices were incorrect.

The tariff selection section showed other signs that it hadn't been updated in a while too. For example, it's missing notable EV tariffs like Intelligent Octopus and EDF GoElectric Overnight.

There were even some tariffs on there from suppliers that don't exist anymore like Bulb and Bristol Energy.

This isn't too big of a deal however as you can always manually enter your energy rates instead.

In future, it would be nice to see Andersen communicating with energy suppliers to provide live prices in a similar way to how Ohme and waEV-Charge does with their products.

UPDATE: The new Andersen app revamps the cost tracking and energy usage features massively over the Konnect app.

To start, the tariff selection has been updated and now fetches prices for almost all of the major energy tariffs and suppliers. Support for smart tariffs like Ovo Charge Anytime is also coming soon.

The cost tracking feature also retains most of the same features, such as the ability to track how much power from each source (if you opt for solar) the sessions used. One new handy addition is that the new app will be able to tell you how many miles the charge session added to the vehicle, which is done by telling the app what car you have in the settings.

You can now also export charge session data to a spreadsheet, which I can imagine will be handy for company car owners looking to expense their mileage back.

Lock your Andersen A2

Another unique selling point of the Andersen A2 is its ability to be locked from the app.

When the lock is activated, the Andersen EV charger will not charge a vehicle even during times when a charge schedule is active.

We explain why it's unlikely a stranger will "steal" your electricity through your charger, but it is handy that the Andersen EV charger can lock for that extra reassurance.

UPDATE: The new Andersen app retains the locking feature.

Solar integration

If you have or are looking to get solar panels and want to charge your electric vehicle with them then you will be pleased to know that the Andersen A2 features solar compatibility.

Unfortunately, I don't have a solar array, so I wasn't able to test this feature myself but it's nice that Andersen includes this feature as standard rather than having to buy it separately like you do with the Easee One or Simpson and Partners Home 7.

Andersen has stated however that EV owners can use their Konnect app to either tell the Andersen A2 to charge a connected electric vehicle using 100% solar energy or a combination of solar and grid energy to bring the charging current to 7kW or 22kW if using a three-phase power supply.

The solar functionality of the Andersen A2 can be enabled remotely too, meaning no costly return visits should you wish to acquire solar panels for your property at a later date.

UPDATE: When utilising solar, the new app adds a handy infographic to the home screen that tells you how much power is being generated by your solar panels and where it's going.

Should you buy the Andersen A2?

If you're looking for a home EV charger that doubles as an outdoor wall art piece, has countless customisation options and you don't mind the price tag then the Andersen EV charge point could be the smart charger you're looking for.

If you are also looking for a product that suits your home and EV, particularly if you have a luxury vehicle such as a Porsche, Jaguar, Audi and so on, then an Andersen EV charge point is ideal compared to most other charge points. After all, why spend all that money on a premium vehicle only to plug it into a budget home charger?

Not to mention the A2 does not require an earth rod for the installation (as it has built in earthing protection) which keeps the final result nice and neat.

My only "nit-pick" would be that while the Andersen EV app complements the premium look and feel of the charger it connects to, it would be nice to see "smarter" features like better synchronisation with energy tariffs.

Andersen A2 or Andersen A3?

Andersen has two tethered chargers, the A2 and the A3 (We're not sure what happend to the A1 either).

Both chargers look almost identical to oneathother with a few subtle style differences, so which should you go for?

Well for most people, the Andersen A3 will be a better suiter for them: it's a newer charger, it comes in far more customisation options and most importantely, it undercuts the A2 in price.

The only reason to go for the Andersen A2 over the A3 would be if you are looking for a charger that supports three-phase power or you need a longer cable length, as the Andersen A3 only comes with a 5.5 metre charging cable.

If you would like to learn more of our thoughts on the Andersen A3, head over to our review.

If neither the Andersen A2 or A3 are to your liking, Andersen also makes an untethered charger called the Andersen Quartz.