The MyEnergi Zappi for Holiday Lets: Is It the Right Charger? (2026)

Quick answer: The Zappi is an excellent EV charger for a holiday let if the property has solar panels, because its ECO modes charge cars from surplus solar that you'd otherwise export cheaply. It's OCPP-compatible (via myenergi's cloud service) so you can bill guests through a platform like GuestCharge, and it has a dedicated commercial mode for charging users per kWh. The main things to know: for compliant guest billing it needs an external MID-certified meter fitted alongside, it needs a Wi-Fi-enabled unit on current firmware, and at £1,100 or so installed it sits at the pricier end. No solar? A cheaper charger may serve you better.

The Zappi, made by British company myenergi, is one of the most recognised EV chargers in the UK, and for home owners with solar panels it's often the default recommendation. But a holiday let is not a home, and the things that make the Zappi brilliant for a solar household don't all carry over to a rental you bill guests at. This guide looks at the Zappi specifically through a holiday-let lens: where it shines, where it doesn't, and what you need to get right if you want to charge guests for the electricity they use.

What the Zappi actually is

The current model is the Zappi v2.1. It's a smart charger available in 7kW single-phase (right for most UK properties) and 22kW three-phase versions, with a Type 2 connector, IP65 weatherproofing for outdoor use, and a choice of tethered (cable attached) or untethered (socket only). Since the v2.1 update it has built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet, so it no longer needs a separate myenergi hub for its smart features.

Its defining feature is solar diversion. The Zappi has three charging modes:

• FAST: charges at the full rate from the grid, like any ordinary charger.
• ECO: continuously adjusts the charge rate to use surplus solar, but tops up from the grid so the car still charges.
• ECO+: charges only from genuine surplus solar, pausing when there isn't any.

This is the thing no mainstream rival does as well, and it's the whole reason to choose a Zappi over a cheaper charger. To make it work, the installer fits a CT clamp around your meter tails so the unit can read your import and export in real time.

Where the Zappi is a strong choice for a holiday let

If the property has solar panels, this is the charger to get. A holiday let with a solar array is generating power through the day, often while the property is empty between guests or while guests are out. The Zappi's ECO modes let that surplus go into a guest's car (or your own) rather than being exported to the grid for a few pence. Over a season, in a sunny region, that's a genuine saving on the electricity your charger draws, and it's the one feature that justifies the Zappi's higher price.

It's well built and weatherproof. IP65 rating, a solid reputation, a British manufacturer with good support, and a tidy look with black or white finishes you can match to the property. For an unattended charger that strangers will use outdoors in all weather, build quality matters more than it does at home, and the Zappi delivers there.

It handles smart tariffs too. Beyond solar, the Zappi integrates with off-peak tariffs like Octopus Intelligent Go, so even without panels you could schedule charging to the cheapest overnight slots. For a holiday let that's a secondary benefit, but it's there.

Where the Zappi is the wrong choice

If the property has no solar, you're paying for a feature you can't use. The Zappi's premium price is almost entirely about solar diversion. Strip that away and you're paying £1,100-ish installed for a charger that, for pure grid charging, does nothing a cheaper unit doesn't. A Wallbox Pulsar Plus or similar will bill guests just as well for less money. So the honest rule: Zappi for solar properties, something cheaper for everything else.

The solar feature has a floor. ECO+ needs at least 1.4kW of surplus generation to start a charging session, an EV-protocol limitation rather than a Zappi fault. On dull days or with a small array, the solar benefit may not kick in at all. Worth being realistic about if your property's panels are modest.

The billing question: can you charge guests with a Zappi?

Yes, but it's worth understanding how, because the home-user reviews don't tend to cover the billing side at all.

OCPP and commercial mode. The Zappi supports OCPP, the open standard that lets a charger connect to third-party billing software like GuestCharge, but it does it through a cloud-to-cloud service: myenergi's servers translate between their own protocol and OCPP. In practice it behaves like any other OCPP charger, and myenergi has a dedicated commercial mode (on current firmware) built for charging users for the energy they consume. The practical requirements are that you need a Wi-Fi-enabled Zappi on up-to-date firmware.

The meter is the part people miss. To bill a guest compliantly for what they used, the measurement has to come from a meter certified for billing under the Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016 (MID). The Zappi does not have a built-in MID-certified billing meter, so for compliant guest billing it generally needs an external MID sub-meter fitted alongside at install. This isn't a dealbreaker, it's a standard bit of kit your electrician can add, but it affects your install cost and it's the kind of thing you want to know before you buy, not after. We cover the detail in our guide to MID-meter compliance for holiday let EV chargers.

So the billing picture for a Zappi: OCPP-capable through myenergi's cloud, commercial mode available, but budget for an external MID sub-meter on top.

What it costs

As a rough guide, the Zappi unit runs around £750 to £865 depending on version and where you buy, with installation typically £300 to £500 on top, so figure roughly £1,080 to £1,365 installed, before adding the external MID sub-meter you'll want for compliant billing. That puts it at the pricier end of the chargers a holiday let owner would consider.

One thing not to count on: the EV chargepoint grant for landlords (£500 per socket from April 2026) does not cover holiday lets. The landlord scheme is for residential tenancies and excludes short-term and holiday rentals, so most holiday let owners won't be able to claim it on a Zappi or any other charger. Budget for the full installed cost. The payback comes instead from billing guests for the electricity they use, which you can estimate with our earnings calculator.

The verdict for holiday lets

It comes down to one question: does the property have solar? If it does, the Zappi is the one to get. The solar diversion is genuinely excellent, no mainstream rival matches it, and over a season it meaningfully cuts what your charger costs to run, on top of being well built, weatherproof, and OCPP-capable for guest billing.

If there's no solar, the case falls away. You'd be paying a premium for the one feature you can't use, and a cheaper OCPP charger bills guests just as effectively. Either way, two things to carry into the purchase: the Zappi needs an external MID sub-meter for compliant billing, and you'll want a Wi-Fi unit on current firmware.

To see where the Zappi sits against the other main options, see our guide to the best EV chargers for UK holiday lets. And if you've already got a Zappi (or are about to), the next question is billing guests fairly for what they use; that's exactly what GuestCharge does, and the Zappi is on our list of supported chargers.