Andersen A2 Review
One company, Andersen EV, is hoping its approach will win favour with a design-conscious audience, happy to pay for wood panelling and a range of colours over a plastic box on the wall outside your home. By most the stylish charger on the market, but with a price match to go with it.
The biggest difference to what’s available elsewhere on the market is that this doesn’t look like a charging box at all with all the different combinations in styles you can create. Available in a range of colours and materials including wood if you have the space it would make a good addition to your property, all be it a little large measuring 348mm wide x 494mm tall x 156mm deep.
There are two cable lengths – 5.5m and 8.5m – so you can hopefully reach your car’s charging socket regardless of how you park. The cable manually coils around the box clockwise or anticlockwise, hidden behind brushes that knock off any dirt each time you put it back away.
The Andersen A2 connects to your wireless network and has an accompanying smartphone app. The Andersen’s Konnect app allows you to create a schedule for your charger, lock it remotely, and analyse your past charging sessions.
The box is devoid of visible buttons and has three lights on the front to give you some idea of what’s going on. For the most part though, you’ll be controlling charging via your electric car.
With smart charging, if you just wanted to charge and be done with it, then the Andersen A2 allows you to do just that.
It also has 22kW capability built-in, if your home is one of the few in the UK to have three-phase electricity supply.
The Andersen A2 also only allows power balancing between energy-hungry devices in the home and your car. That’s something that is recommended but not essential, and ultimately means you won’t find yourself in a situation where there’s not enough energy to deliver a decent fast charge. Those keen to go off grid can also opt for the solar charging option, with Andersen offering the hardware to hook into your solar system.
The Andersen A2 isn’t the cheapest EV charger on the market by a long way, but it is stylish, and for many, especially those that are worried about the design aesthetics, this is sure to fit in nicely.