Rolec EVO review

The Rolec EVO is an untethered smart charger from Rolec, a British maker that built its name on marina and caravan hook-ups and now sells a wide EV range. It is among the cheapest chargers with a useful feature set: built-in PEN fault protection, open OCPP, a surplus-solar mode and a five-year warranty on Rolec’s own page. The catches are the app, which owners find fiddly, and the lack of generally available Intelligent Octopus Go (IOG) support.

Price and what’s included

Rolec sells mainly through wholesalers and installers, so there is no Rolec fitted price. The charger alone is £390 at LAMPS, including VAT. Eco Wizard sells the unit and arranges installation. Its charger plus its fixed-price standard installation comes to about £929. That installation covers up to 15m of cable, 3m of trunking, three hours’ labour and a surge protection device, with a five-year workmanship guarantee. Rolec connects buyers with a local installation partner on enquiry.

The EVO has a Type 2 socket and no cable, so you either use the lead that came with your car or buy one. Rolec sells a 5m lead as an accessory, with 10m options. A mounting post is also available. Our installation cost guide explains what pushes a quote up, and our Type 2 cable guide helps you choose a lead.

Where to buy (prices seen on 10 October 2026, and they can change):

• LAMPS: £390 inc VAT, charger only
• Eco Wizard: £430 inc VAT, in stock; standard installation £499 extra
• Rolec installer network: Rolec connects buyers with a local installation partner on enquiry

Smart features and tariffs

The free Rolec EVO app handles schedules, three charging modes and RFID. Charge Now charges immediately. ECO uses solar by day and tops up from the grid at night. ECO+ charges from surplus solar only. Rolec says you can also use any OCPP app, and Monta lists the EVO as supported hardware. OCPP is the open standard that lets a charger work with other providers’ apps.

Tariff support is the weak spot. Octopus’s public list shows the EVO at 7.4kW and 22kW as live but in testing for IOG, and OVO’s list of chargers for Charge Anytime does not include Rolec. Rolec says the app can “integrate with smart tariffs” but names none, so in practice you set a schedule that matches your tariff’s cheap window.

Solar and load balancing need a CT clamp, a sensor that clamps round your incoming supply cable to measure the whole house. A clamp and cable come in the box on single-phase models for load balancing. Rolec also sells a separate “solar CT clamp kit” and does not say whether the supplied clamp is enough for solar, so confirm that before you order. Our CT clamp guide and solar charging guide explain why. Connectivity is Wi-Fi and Ethernet; 4G is on the 22kW model only, with a subscription.

Installation and safety

The EVO is well protected. Rolec lists PME fault detection, so no earth rod is needed (our PEN fault and earthing guide explains why that matters), plus built-in AC 30mA Type A and DC 6mA protection with a test button, surge and over-temperature protection. The case is rated IP54 and IK10, so it has good impact resistance but a weather rating below Hypervolt’s or Wallbox’s. It measures 260 x 260 x 112mm and mounts on a wall or post. Rolec markets a modular base, module and cover that it says install in under 15 minutes.

The warranty is the murkiest part. Rolec’s page says five years. Eco Wizard adds “if installed by a qualified professional”, LAMPS says “subject to Rolec terms”, and What Car? says Rolec’s latest chargers carry three years. We could not find Rolec’s warranty terms, so get the length and conditions in writing before you buy. Rolec has been owned by Swedish group Sdiptech since 2021.

What owners report

Rolec scored 3 out of 5 in What Car?’s brand survey, joint ninth of 11. That survey is brand-level, not specific to the EVO, and sits on a page marked as sponsored by Pod. Installation was rated well, but 26% of Rolec set-ups had a defect and around a third of those were not fixed. Only half of repairs were free, and repairs were often slow. What Car?’s tester reviewed the older Rolec Zura, which worked reliably after some early unexplained stops.

For the EVO itself we found three Speak EV threads from late 2025 and early 2026. One owner’s app would not accept a Wi-Fi password until he typed the network name by hand, and the charger’s schedule clashed with his car’s. Another found that the EVO app would not run on any phone in the house, so he ran the charger offline and via OCPP. A third could not switch off the LED ring, even at its dimmest, and says Rolec support told him lights were a regulatory requirement, which he disputes. These are individual reports, not a pattern across thousands of owners. We found no independent hands-on review of the EVO.

How it compares

The Easee One is the closest rival: compact, untethered, OCPP and 4G, with IOG also still in testing and a three-year warranty. The Wallbox Pulsar Max offers a five-year warranty, tethered and socketed options and IOG generally available, though it needs an extra meter for solar. If a charger plays up, our troubleshooting guide covers the first checks.

Our verdict

We score the Rolec EVO 6.3 out of 10. It earns 9.3 for safety, 6.8 for price and 6.0 for flexibility, but only 4.7 for reliability because of the app reports and the brand’s repair record, and 6.0 for smart features while IOG is in testing. It suits a buyer who wants a cheap, open charger, is happy to use a third-party app or a plain schedule, and has checked the warranty terms. For IOG, choose an Ohme. For solar, choose a zappi. The best home EV chargers roundup shows how they rank, and the full scoring is on how we research.