Guide
Tethered or untethered EV charger: how to choose
Updated
This is the one home charger decision that is genuinely about how you live rather than about regulations, so here is the honest version.
Question 1
Where will the car be parked while it charges?
Parking decides more than any other answer. Every home grant turns on whether the space is private and off-street.
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What the two words mean
- Tethered
- The charging cable is permanently attached to the unit, with a connector on the end. You plug in and walk away, and the cable coils on the unit or on a hook.
- Untethered
- The unit has a socket. You bring the cable that came with the car, plug it in at both ends and take it with you afterwards.
Choose tethered when
- You park in the same place every night and the cable reaches comfortably without stretching or trailing across a walking route.
- You want the fewest steps in the dark and the rain, which is the real day-to-day difference.
- Nobody else with a different connector will need to use it.
Choose untethered when
- Vehicles change, or more than one household car uses the point. The socket does not care which cable you bring.
- The unit is somewhere exposed and you would rather not leave a cable hanging on a wall in public view.
- You need cable length flexibility, because you sometimes park nose-in and sometimes reverse in, and the charge port is on the awkward side.
What does not decide it
Charging speed is set by the supply, the unit's rating and the car's onboard charger, not by whether the cable is attached. Grant eligibility does not turn on it either: the OZEV schemes fund a socket, and the conditions concern the property, the parking and the vehicle rather than the cable arrangement. Both types must meet the same smart charging requirements in law.
The part worth spending time on
Position. Get the installer to stand where you actually park, with the car there, before anything is fixed to a wall. Cable strain, a connector that will not reach in winter, and a lead crossing the path to the front door are the complaints that follow a rushed survey, and they are much cheaper to avoid than to move.
Once you know your grant position and your supply, the tethered decision is quick. Start with the checker.